There is only a week left for All-Star voting and one Boston Celtics fan wants to make sure his favorite player is on the team. It's not Kevin Garnett. It's not Paul Pierce or Ray Allen. It's not Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins either. It's Brian Scalabrine.

For the past two years Brett Schneider has been campaigning for Scal on Facebook. The 19-year-old from Westchester, New York has been a fan of Scalabrine since his days with the New Jersey Nets. Impressed by his work ethic and dedication, Schneider thought it was time for him to get recognition.

"There are guys who get voted in every year regardless of their performance," he explained. "Why shouldn't role players who often do better for their teams than the so-called superstars have a monopoly on the game?"

Schneider was inspired by VoteForRory.com, an online effort to get Rory Fitzpatrick to the 2007 NHL All-Star Game. Like Scal, Fitzpatrick was a long shot for votes, so Schneider made his own Facebook group to promote writing Scalabrine in on the ballots.

"I've been surprised as to how many people joined the group," he said. "I sent the invite to a few friends and there are over 4,000 people in the group now. I thought people would react well to it, but I was surprised as to how quick it caught on."

Although he was unsuccessful last season, Schneider is still confident his plan could work. With online ballots closing on January 19, it will take a large push for Scal to make the team. As of last week, LeBron James led all Eastern Conference forwards with over 1.5 million votes and Garnett is right behind with 1.1 million.

"If enough people vote, it's simple math, he will play in the All-Star game," he said. "If 100,000 people vote every day for 3 weeks, then he'll play. If 1,000,000 people each vote for him twice, he'll play."

There's no denying that Scalabrine does not have the same stats consistent with All-Star honors. He is ranked 148th in points, 159th in rebounds, and 126th in field goal percentage among all NBA forwards. Even so, there's one number Schneider can't ignore.

"Scalabrine has more championships than LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Yao Ming combined," he said. "The numbers don't lie."

Schneider isn't the only Celtics fan pushing for All-Star votes. John Karalis and Chuck McKenney, founders of the blog RedsArmy.com, have been promoting a Rajon Rondo campaign for months. Their “Vote Rondo” icon has been circulating around the Internet and was recently featured on Yardbarker.com.

“On a team full of All Stars, it's Rajon Rondo's play that most affects the outcome of Celtics games,” Karalis said. “And even though the Celtics have gone through a very high-profile stretch of bad play, they are still tied for the most wins in the league. So it would make sense that the heart and soul of one of the best teams in the NBA – not to mention, the defending champs – would make it to the All-Star Game. I think it's clear that as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics.”

Karalis doesn’t think the Celtics skid should deter voters from recognizing Rondo’s overall game. He is fourth in the league in steals per game, and ranks in the top ten among all guards in assists, rebounds and field goal percentage.

 

“Individually, Rondo has gone up against the best of the best and matched their play,” Karalis said. “He is a true point guard who can destroy a team's point of attack on both offense and defense. At his best, he can get anywhere on the court that he wants, whenever he wants.”

Despite Rondo’s hot start this season, he has still failed to crack the top ten in voting at his position. He has received fewer votes than point guards on sub-.500 teams, like the Milwaukee Bucks’ Luke Ridnour, and even less than those who haven’t played all season.

“It would be great to get Rondo's name up there on the list just so voters in other cities can see and recognize it,” Karalis said. “Name recognition goes a long way. It’s why Allen Iverson gets so many votes even though he doesn't really deserve them this year. It's why Gilbert Arenas, who has played 13 games since the beginning of last season, is up there. Fans in other cities need to see Rondo's name on the list so they can vote for him in the future. Besides, I think it would be a nice show of confidence from the Boston fans if he sees a surge in voting. He can probably use it right now.”

Voting for the 2009 NBA All-Star Team is available online at www.nba.com. The All-Star Game will be played on Sunday, February 15 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jessica Camerato is a regular contributor for WEEI.com.