MIAMI -- Chris Bosh is now playing center. So logic says he should be listed on the NBA All-Star ballot as a center.
That's certainly the way Bosh sees it.
"That's my position now," the Miami Heat star said in an interview with FOX Sports Florida. "I think wherever you start out the season at, I think that's the most logical place as far as ballots are concerned."
There will be some intrigue when the All-Star ballot comes out in November. If Bosh is listed at center, rather than forward, the Heat have a decent chance to become the first team since the 1990 Los Angeles Lakers to have three All-Star starters. That's because the center spot for the Eastern Conference could be wide open with the departure of Dwight Howard from Orlando to the Lakers of the West.
Heat forward LeBron James, who has started eight straight All-Star Games, and guard Dwyane Wade, who has started seven straight, are anticipated to open the Feb. 17 game in Houston. If Bosh is listed once again at forward, he probably wouldn't be voted a starter by fans since New York's Carmelo Anthony has a stronghold on the second forward spot.
Bosh started at power forward for the Heat during last year's regular season and to open the playoffs. However, he was moved to starting center in the NBA Finals against Oklahoma City, and he expects to be in that spot to open this season.
A NBA media panel will select the All-Star ballot. A league official said no decisions so far have been made.
With Howard heading West after five straight starts for the East, the leading candidate to get the nod at center for the East could be Philadelphia's Andrew Bynum. However, it remains to be seen how the popularity of Bynum, who started last season for the West before being traded by the Lakers, will translate to his new team.
If Bosh is listed at center, Boston's Kevin Garnett also should be. Garnett, who moved over from power forward to start at center the second half of last season, would then have a shot at being voted to a 12th overall All-Star starting berth.
Besides Bynum, top centers who are locks for the East ballot are New York's Tyson Chandler, Chicago's Joakim Noah, Atlanta's Al Horford, Indiana's Roy Hibbert and Brooklyn's Brook Lopez.
Bosh has been a starter once before in the All-Star Game. Despite playing in the NBA outpost of Toronto, Bosh was popular enough to have been voted in at forward in 2007.
"It was a great experience and I did enjoy it," Bosh said. "It was awesome."
It's a feeling Bosh hopes to have again.
"He should be on the All-Star ballot as a center," said Heat forward Udonis Haslem. "He most likely will be the starter in the East barring injury if he has the type of season that he's capable of having and that we know he's going to have."
If James, Wade and Bosh all are voted in, Miami would become the first NBA team to have three All-Star starters since the Lakers in 1990 with guard Magic Johnson and forwards James Worthy and A.C. Green.
"That would be amazing," Haslem said.
"That would be cool," Bosh said. "I think it's our time now."
Bosh, entering his 10th season, has played in the past seven All-Star Games and figures to make it eight in Houston. But for Bosh to be a starter, it could come down to whether a media panel truly considers him a center.
There have been issues in recent years about whether a player should be listed at forward or center. San Antonio's Tim Duncan, who always has been designated in box scores as a forward but regularly plays center, was placed on the ballot at center in 2007-08. But after the voting process started, the NBA moved Duncan back to forward and he eventually earned a starting berth.
Amar'e Stoudemire, who had been listed as a forward in 2007-08, was deemed a center for the next season's ballot even though he was then called Phoenix's power forward and Channing Frye the center. Stoudemire ended up winning the vote.
"Whatever they put by my name, whatever that first symbol is, let it ride," Bosh said of believing the C by his name in the box score should result in him being listed at center.
Stay tuned for when the ballot comes out. It will be an intriguing early-season moment.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com
or on Twitter @christomasson
