The National Basketball League has announced the starters for the 2012 NBL All-Star Game to be played in Adelaide on 22 December, with Cairns Taipans big man Cameron Trigger' Tragardh set to lead the North All-Stars after receiving the most fan votes of any iiNet NBL Championship player.
NBL fans have been voting for the past month on the players they want to see line-up for the North and South All-Stars at the league's showcase event at Adelaide Arena on Saturday 22 December. Each fan has been allowed to submit one ballot in an on-line poll based on player positions, with the top two vote-getting guards, two forwards and one centre for both the North and the South automatically selected to be starters in Adelaide.
Cameron Tragardh led all players with 1,401 fans voting for him to start for the North at the centre slot. Sydney King star Ben Madgen (863 votes) and Wollongong Hawks import Adris 2Hard2Guard' Deleon (856) will start at the guard slots for the North, while Sydney Kings import Darnell Lazare (740) and Wollongong Hawks captain Oscar Forman (663) will start at forward.
For the South All-Stars, New Zealand Breakers import Cedric Action' Jackson polled the most votes with 1,125, and will be joined by Perth Wildcats star Kevin Lisch (1,008) in the backcourt guard spots. Jackson's Breakers teammate Tom Abercrombie (960) and Melbourne Tigers import Seth Scott (881) will fill the starting forward positions for the South, while Adelaide's Daniel Johnson (650) will start at centre.
Perth's Matt Knight was originally voted as a South starter by the fans with 816 votes, but will be unable to participate due to injury and has therefore been replaced by Johnson.
Townsville's Gary Ervin actually received more votes than both Lazare and Forman for the North, but missed out on starting as the guard slots had already been filled by Madgen and Deleon with a higher number of votes. Ervin remains a strong chance to still be included in the All-Star Game however with the league set to announce its selections for the five bench players for each team shortly.
New Zealand's Andrej Lemanis will coach the South All-Stars, while Wollongong's Gordie McLeod will coach the North due to the pair having the best records in the NBL after Round Nine.
South: Cedric Jackson, Kevin Lisch, Thomas Abercrombie, Seth Scott, Daniel Johnson.
North: Adris Deleon, Ben Madgen, Oscar Forman, Darnell Lazare, Cam Tragardh.