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Elena Delle Donne leads all players in early returns for the 2013 All Star Game

Early returns for the 2013 WNBA All Star Game at the Mohegan Sun Casino are in, and Chicago Sky rookie forward Elena Delle Donne is leading all players with 16,761 votes in this round of returns according to a press release from the league.

Chicago Sky forward Elena Delle Donne (L) has the most votes in this year's All Star Game in early returns.  Angel McCoughtry (R) who's getting posted up on is also doing well in early returns.
Chicago Sky forward Elena Delle Donne (L) has the most votes in this year's All Star Game in early returns. Angel McCoughtry (R) who's getting posted up on is also doing well in early returns.
USA TODAY Sports

Without rehashing everything from the press release, here are some notable things from a numbers perspective.

1. If the All Star Game were today, the Eastern Conference Team's starters would consist of a backcourt of Cappie Pondexter of the Liberty and Epiphanny Prince of the Sky with Pondexter getting more votes. The frontcourt consists of Tamika Catchings of the Fever (2nd in voting), Angel McCoughtry of the Dream (3rd), and the aforementioned Elena Delle Donne who leads in voting. For the Western Conference's starters, if voting ended today, the backcourt would consist of Diana Taurasi of the Mercruy and Seimone Augustus of the Lynx. The frontcourt would consist of Candace Parker for the Sparks, Maya Moore of the Lynx, and Brittney Griner of the Mercury.

2. Contrary to what some people may have thought, the Big Three picks aren't all dominating All Star voting even though EDD is leading everyone. Brittney Griner was nowhere close to leading the vote count among Western Conference frontcourt players, and the Shock's Skylar Diggins didn't even make second place among Western Conference guards. Perhaps voters are factoring player's on court accomplishments moreso than popularity into All Star voting decisions, and I take this as a good thing. It wouldn't surprise me however if she does overtake Seimone Augustus at some point because she had 9,095 votes as of now, and Diggins has 7,764.

3. We've made some not-so-subtle announcements advocating that people should vote for Tulsa Shock forward Glory Johnson and Washington Mystics guard Ivory Latta into the game. Though they are not starting in the game as of today, Johnson is 4th among Western Conference frontcourt players and Latta is third among guards. I don't see Johnson overtaking 3rd place Griner (10,620 votes to 6,031), even though I still am advocating her as a starter for this game, but Latta is very close to Prince (6,898 to 6,772) in early returns, and perhaps a Mystics winning streak could be enough to put her into the starting lineup.

4. Last year's MVP, Tina Charles is 4th in the East in early returns among frontcourt players. Even if she's not voted into the game, I don't see her being omitted as a coaches' selection.

You can vote for the All Star game by clicking here.

And here are my picks for the game as of today, and yeah, I'll let you see my write in too:

All_star_ballot_july_2_medium

I was debating on whether to keep Latta in the lineup or replace her with Epiphanny Prince, but I ultimately decided to keep her in. So keep voting for your stars, and someone at the NBA Headquarters, troll the "Write-in" section for me, please?