NBA All-Star balloting officially began a few minutes ago, and this year’s voting process is not quite like previous years. One key difference is that you can vote for anyone, not just the few dozen players the media selected. So if you want to toss some votes at Cam Bairstow in recognition of his 2 offensive rebounds last night and enthralling Aussie swagger, have at it. If you’d like to try to instill some confidence in Snell and McShooty through the democratic process, go right ahead.

Based on the season to date, obviously I could’ve enthusiastically labeled this fanpost VOTE FOR JIMMY and prompted a joyous gif party full of sunglasses, martinis, excitable children, Mark Wahlberg, and PMW apparel. However, I wanted to highlight another key aspect of this year’s ballot: for one time only, we have the power to raise the payroll of the Bulls’ chief rival.

The source of our awesome power is, interestingly enough, the "Derrick Rose Rule," whereby a player’s max salary on his rookie-contract extension can increase from 25% of the cap to 30% under certain conditions. Derrick Rose makes a few million dollars more a year than Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love because Rose won the MVP on his rookie deal. The rule is great for any qualifying player but represents an extra cap constraint for the team. Apart from winning MVP, a player can meet the criteria for the 30% max by making 2 All-NBA teams or twice being voted an All-Star starter.

Since Kyrie Irving was voted as the 2nd starting guard for the East last year (largely as a result of Derrick’s injuries), he’ll qualify for the 30% max if he’s voted in again. That seems likely considering that last year’s top vote-getter, Dwyane Wade, is in decline, and in the interim Kyrie’s profile has increased due to (a) winning the All-Star MVP, (b) playing well for Team USA, and (c) joining forces with LeBron and Love to form ESPN’s new favorite trio. But Rose is back and John Wall will surely mount more of a campaign this year, so it’s by no means guaranteed.

That’s why it’s up to us to vote for Kyrie, no matter how much we personally may find it distasteful. At the start of the season the Bulls declined to pay Jimmy the 4/$56M he requested or increase their offer above 4/$44M, and instead they’ll likely have to pay him 4/$70M this summer to keep him. That’s on GarPax, and it was entirely out of our control. Our trade ideas, draft analyses, suggested contract offers, and proposed lineups—no matter how consistently awesome—almost certainly have little if any actual impact on the team. This is different. Fans like us are solely responsible for determining whether the Cavs will pay Kyrie Irving $70 million or $84 million over the next 4 years. Let’s do our part to limit Cleveland's future cap space and, in doing so, improve the Bulls’ competitive position. From now through January 19, the best way to support the Bulls is to stuff the ballot box for Kyrie.





