The Dog Days of August Thread - now with 100% more team previews

[Son of Skeletor]

Starting to miss the daily Woj bombs and the sounds of laughter that accompany the Knicks signing yet another power forward? Desperately seeking that next NBA fix?





You called?



Uh... yeah. Anyway, this is the thread for you. Nostalgia, pointless trivia, bad puns - you'll find it all right here.

This thread will mainly be a daily entry thing. If you like a little light reading over breakfast or dinner, jump in and get involved. As we get closer towards the new season, there may even be some team-by-team previews, time and laziness permitting.

We're going to begin with a look at the top ten players in recent history never to make an All-star team, alongside a critique of the worst ten players to ever be selected as an All-star.

I've tried to keep the time-frame to the last 30 years or so, partly because that's what people will mostly remember, and partly because I can't be stuffed it's harder to judge credentials when going back further. The lists are in no particular order, and needless to say will be 100% subjective. But also totally right.

Brevity will be the aim for most of what goes into this thread. Hopefully this will make for daily entries and more enjoyable reading. With that said, let's dive right in...

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The Everything But an All-Star All-Stars


#10 Drazen Petrovic






First up in our list of witnesses for The NBA All-star Selection Process Has Always Been Fatally Flawed case is the original Euro flame-thrower himself, Drazen Petrovic.

Naysayers might say that he only ever played two seasons as a full-time starter (technically true), or that he was just a shooter above all else (never stopped Reggie Miller though, did it?).

The fact remained though that Petro put up two straight 20 ppg seasons in New Jersey on near 60% TS (phenomenal for a guard), in the meantime helping the previously woebegone Nets to successive playoff appearances. And while he was one of the first truly dangerous three point threats in NBA history (a sizzling 44% from beyond the arc in New Jersey) there was more to his game than mere catch and shoot.







You can see the parallels with Miller's game when watching Petrovic's highlights, that constant slithery movement and hair-trigger release. It's also possible to see visions of a very real NBA future in his ability to both get to the basket and let fly from deep without hesitation. But there was even more than that to the Croatian's game: nifty ball handling and creative shot making were also evident in abundance. And while his game pointed towards the future of the league, it also reveals some lost arts: head and shot fakes, a deadly mid-range game and the dying art of off-ball movement.

When Petro died tragically aged 28 in 1993, he was a newly minted all-NBA third team member and Olympic silver medalist. Suffice to say, he should have been an NBA All-star too.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The All-Fraud All-Stars


#10 Dana Barros







Dana Barros in many ways is the poster-child for the big-stats-on-a-bad-team syndrome. The kind of syndrome that enables questionable All-star selections, and even more questionable big-money contracts

Barros was never a bad player. In fact as a scorer he was quite efficient, and as a shooter often elite. But for most of his career he was a classic 'tweener', a shooting guard stuck in the body of a (small) point guard. And this meant that the role he played for most of his career - and like many players of his type (think Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, even Lou Williams) - was that of a bench sparkplug.

However a two year stint with the disastrously talent-deprived 76ers in the mid-90s gave Barros the platform to audition for a big pay day from another talent starved team (his hometown Celtics) and... incredibly... his lone All-Star berth.

It's probably worth throwing a disclaimer in here - Barros' 1994-95 season does make for pretty good reading. Averaging 20 & 7 on near 50/40/90 shooting is certainly not a feat to be sneezed at. The fact that the three point line was shortened in 1994 certainly helped him in shooting a career high 46% from distance. The fact that all this was accomplished on a 24 win Philly team however should have set alarm bells ringing.




Just a reminder that Corey Brewer has also done this.


Sadly for the Celtics, Barros would indeed prove a false prophet. Boston supremo M.L. Carr gave Barros a hefty six year, $21 million contract (no really, that was a gargantuan contract in 1995), in the hopes that men in green had found their new Bob Cousy. Barros played out five of those years in Boston, and the Celtics would go on to miss the playoffs in all five of those years... so, yeah.

In Celtic green, Barros went back to being what he what had always been (94-95 excepted) - a 5'11 guard who could knock down 40% of his threes and good for about 10 points and 3 assists per night off the bench, defence optional. This was not the star the Celtics were seeking.

In another life, Barros would have been remembered as an efficient role player and excellent shooter. Unfortunately, a one-time audition for a stricken team in Philadelphia turned into a six year headache for another fallen giant in Boston... and a selection on our all-time worst All-stars list.

 

[fidstar]

BJ Armstrong definitely on the fraud All Star list.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Dana Bruce Barros. Splendid trip down memory lane Son of Skeletor

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

BJ Armstrong definitely on the fraud All Star list.

Tyrone Hill can join him

 

[fidstar]

Drazen Petrovic would be perfect for today's game.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

BJ Armstrong definitely on the fraud All Star list.

Tyrone Hill can join him

I can neither confirm or deny at this stage, but they're definitely in the ballpark.

Drazen Petrovic would be perfect for today's game.

Same with his countryman, Mr. Kukoc. Would've made a nice stretch four.

 

[peternorth]

BJ Armstrong definitely on the fraud All Star list.

Dana Bruce Barros. Splendid trip down memory lane Son of Skeletor

Tyrone Hill can join him

Chris Gattling says hi

oh wat?? Just found this lol

Former NBA All-Star and first-round pick Chris Gatling has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for running a fraud scheme.

wait for it

"It disgusts me that this guy, who lived a lavish lifestyle, ripped people off and continued to buy clothes for himself and go to restaurants and strip clubs," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The "I can't believe he's not an All-star" All-stars


#9 C.J. McCollum





Are you not entertained? Am I not an All-star?


Next on the list of the tragically overlooked is Blazer bucket getter and newly minted $100 million man C.J. McCollum.

After a slow start to his career, the 10th pick of the 2013 draft has quickly made some of the teams who passed on him (and Giannis) in order to select luminaries such as Anthony Bennett, Ben McLemore and Kentavious Caldwell Pope look rather silly.

Four straight 20 ppg seasons, with a career TS% of a respectable 55% and 40% three point accuracy speaks volumes about McCollum's consistency and sheer volume of scoring. The fact that the Blazers have been a playoff team in a strong conference for the entire duration of his career also adds weight to his case.

And while 'pure scorers' like C.J. have (to a degree) gone out of vogue in player evaluation, there's no doubt that shot creation remains a pivotal skill in the NBA. Just 26% of McCollum's baskets inside the arc have been assisted, testament to the skill of his off-the-dribble game. Pull ups, step backs, crossovers, floaters - you name the scoring trick, McCollum can perform it.

When the playoff roll around, the value of players who can create in the half-court only increases; and McCollum, with a career playoff scoring average of nearly 20 and shooting just a shade under 40% from three, hasn't let the Blazers down there either...






So how is it then that 'the other half' of Portland's dynamic backcourt has never been an All-star? Well, more than anything it probably comes back to the strength of the Conference that McCollum plays in. Now, if we were to look at a recent Eastern Conference All-star...

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The Ill-starred All-stars


#9 Kyle Korver





Overrated? Perhaps, but he'll always have his looks.


So, how about that Eastern Conference, eh? There have been some shocking 21st century Eastern All-star picks, and it would be fair to say that some of them meant straining to find twelve credible players to represent the less talented side of basketball's Iron Curtain.

One prime example is Kyle Korver. A late call-up in 2015, Korver was ostensibly a good news story - a solid citizen who built a meaningful long lasting career on the back of his work ethic and dedication to his art. And make no mistake, when it comes to his art - shooting the damn basketball - Korver is one of the finest practitioners to ever play the game. The sniper with the choir boy looks already ranks 4th all time for three pointers made and 9th all time for long distance shooting accuracy (43%), the latter particularly impressive given the sheer volume of shots Korver has launched.

However... the fact remains is that Korver is a career role player. An elite role player certainly, one of the finest shooters of all time... but nonetheless, a role player. As a guy who has played the majority of his career off the bench. has a career scoring average in single figures and topped out at a pedestrian 14 ppg, it's hard to justify The Human Machine Gun as a bona-fide All-star. Especially as he wasn't even in the top three players on his own team that season...






Korver has been a plus wherever he has played in a well-traveled career, a floor spacer par excellence who helps his team/s in a quantifiable way. A genuinely good guy who has had a superb career for a player selected deep in the second round of the 2003 Draft. But an All-star? Hmmm

With any luck we'll find the person responsible for making Kyle a star. One day.

 

[fidstar]

CJ would be a 4 time all star if in the East. Sucks being a guard in the West.

And it's not like he's hard done by and been that unlucky.

Lillard/Curry/Harden/Westbrook are automatic selections and he's competing with Thompson and others for one of the extra two spots.

 

[peternorth]

Absolute quality Sos

 

[Son of Skeletor]

Absolute quality Sos

Like NBA stars avoiding international hoops, I'm putting in a big pre-season.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The "Hot Damn, Hot Rod's not an All-star?" All-stars


#8 Rod Strickland




How come my teammate to the left made more All-star appearances and much, much more money than me? I want Answers.


In 1990, Rod Strickland was traded from the New York Knicks so that Mark 'Man Down' Jackson wouldn't have any serious competition for the starting job. One might surmise that leaving the Big Apple may also have been the death knell on Hot Rod's hopes of ever becoming an All-star.

Strickland would go on to spend the (very productive) prime of his career in San Antonio, Portland and Washington, racking up more twisting lay-ups and dimes than you could poke a stick at. His teams frequently made the playoffs too, where the indomitable point guard would more than hold his own. But still, out of sight, out of mind... out of All-star calculation.






In his prime Strickland was a nightly 20/10 threat and virtually impossible to keep out of the paint. You'd figure a guy who to this day ranks 12th all time in assists, 31st all time in steals, made an all-NBA team and could play like this against the eventual 1994 champions would've figured to garner at least one All-star jersey, but alas no.

So please, raise a glass to the quintessential forgotten 90s guy (and quintessential gypped All-star) Rod Stickland.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The "I'll never trade away my All-star jersey" All-stars


#8 Danny Ainge





#44 stands for the number of first round draft picks I hope to trade for in my future career.


Coming in at #8 on our list is the proverbial fifth wheel on those 80s Celtics, the wheeler-dealer himself, Danny Ainge.

Look, in all seriousness Ainge was a pretty good fifth wheel - although he was more of a 7th wheel on the '84 Celtics, and a 6th wheel on the '86 Celtics (if you include Bill Walton) - to have. Ainge developed into a deadly long range shooter over the years, and seldom turned the ball over... and when your other four starters are Bird, McHale, Parish and Dennis Johnson, that's exactly what you need from your fifth guy.

That said, it's pretty hard to argue that the fifth best player on any team (no matter how good) is also simultaneously one of the twelve best players in that conference. Solid starter? Sure. Above average role player? Absolutely. A deadly shooter? You betcha. But an actual All-star? No sirree, Bob.

Although when it came to trolling and pushing buttons, Danny definitely had few peers...





Late in his career, Ainge settled into a perfect role as the third guard on loaded teams in Portland and Phoenix, where he genuinely excelled. Between the Celtics, Blazers and Suns, there's no doubt that Dealer Danny contributed to a lot of winning basketball.

But just like years later when dealing with a certain Billy King, there's also no doubt that Ainge once pulled some serious wool over non-discerning eyes in order to end up with an All-star jersey. For that he's earned his spot on this list of infamy.

 

[peternorth]

Like NBA stars avoiding international hoops, I'm putting in a big pre-season.

May I see your ID?

 

[peternorth]

The "Hot Damn, Hot Rod's not an All-star?" All-stars


#8 Rod Strickland


View attachment 721795

How come my teammate to the left made more All-star appearances and much, much more money than me? I want Answers.


In 1990, Rod Strickland was traded from the New York Knicks so that Mark 'Man Down' Jackson wouldn't have any serious competition for the starting job. One might surmise that leaving the Big Apple may also have been the death knell on Hot Rod's hopes of ever becoming an All-star.

Strickland would go on to spend the (very productive) prime of his career in San Antonio, Portland and Washington, racking up more twisting lay-ups and dimes than you could poke a stick at. His teams frequently made the playoffs too, where the indomitable point guard would more than hold his own. But still, out of sight, out of mind... out of All-star calculation.






In his prime Strickland was a nightly 20/10 threat and virtually impossible to keep out of the paint. You'd figure a guy who to this day ranks 12th all time in assists, 31st all time in steals, made an all-NBA team and could play like this against the eventual 1994 champions would've figured to garner at least one All-star jersey, but alas no.

So please, raise a glass to the quintessential forgotten 90s guy (and quintessential gypped All-star) Rod Stickland.

I always like Rod. But I seem to remember media surrounding him labelling him as a malcontent.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

I always like Rod. But I seem to remember media surrounding him labelling him as a malcontent.

Definitely recall him having some troubles in New York and San Antonio.

 

[peternorth]

Definitely recall him having some troubles in New York and San Antonio.

I recall also something about him sitting out games due to a disagreement. maybe not

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The "Making an All-star team shouldn't be this much of a Grind" All-stars


#7 Mike Conley





I could become an old man waiting for that All-star call. In fact, I already have done.


Coming in at unlucky #7 in our list of the terminally pooh-poohed is Memphis stalwart and new City of Utah citizen, Mike Conley.

To say that Money Mike has toiled away in relative anonymity in the deep South is probably a stretch too far, as his Grizzly Bear teams became so infamous for their unfashionable style that they landed one of the few dynastic labels of recent years that has actually stuck - the Grit n Grind Griz.

However Conley still took a long time to shake that 'quiet achiever' label, despite being a blue-chip draft prospect. Early doors it was Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo who stole what limelight there was in Memphis, and later it was the big bears inside in Z-Bo and Gasol who (along with Tony Allen) became the leitmotif for their team. Nonetheless, playoff appearance after playoff appearance and steady year-on-year improvement meant that, eventually, the basketball world caught on to Conley's quiet excellence.

Well, most of the basketball world that is...






Incidentally, it was that same 2016-17 season that provided Conley's biggest All-star snub. While his career was never about numbers during Memphis's long playoff run this decade, Conley put up 20 & 6 that season with a PER of over 23, and a TS% in excess of 60. In the playoffs he upped those numbers again, going for 25 & 7 knocking down a sizzling 45% of threes with an even better PER and TS%. Take that for data!

Eventually all good things have to end, and with Memphis finally rebuilding the last Gritty Grizzly will now have a chance to Jazz up his resume' in Utah. Quite apt really, as the art of jazz is reputedly all about making it up as you go along... much like All-star selection reasoning.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

The "Mo All-star jerseys than I rightfully should have" All-stars


#7 Mo Williams




Hey, these guys play defence the same way I do!


Poster child for the Mo buckets means Mo All-star votes brigade? Exhibit A in how to piggyback ride off a generational talent to your own dubiously earned accolades? Exemplar in how to turn easy games in a soft conference into easy money at the All-star game? How about all of the above?

There's no denying that Mo Williams fashioned a pretty fair career for himself after being taken as an afterthought in the second round of the 2003 Draft. After a few years in Milwaukee in which he parlayed his sweet shooting stroke into a starting point guard gig, Mo got his chance to shine when he was traded to a Cleveland team heralded by a guy taken slightly earlier in that same 2003 Draft... one LeBron James.

And to be fair, Williams did what a player with his skill-set should do playing alongside one of the greatest to ever lace 'em up - he made jump shots. Lots and lots of jump shots. And when it came to outside shooting, Mo was one of the best of his era: off screens, off the dribble, off balance... some days it scarcely seemed to matter.





The catch though, was that shooting was pretty much all there was to Mo's game. As a nominal point guard he was an un-inventive floor leader and a sub par defender. When he was hot Williams could put up points in bunches, but when his shot wasn't falling he wasn't bringing much else. He spent most of his post-LeBron career as a gun for hire on no less than six teams, with a moderate amount of success at best.

Mo did bring us plenty of entertainment though, particularly in his post-divorce relationships with both LeBron and the Cavaliers . So perhaps Mo shouldn't have been an All-star, but he did leave us with one of the all time great allegories in NBA history... and so despite his place on this list, he'll always retain a place in our hearts.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

The "I'll never trade away my All-star jersey" All-stars


#8 Danny Ainge



View attachment 721830

#44 stands for the number of first round draft picks I hope to trade for in my future career.


Coming in at #8 on our list is the proverbial fifth wheel on those 80s Celtics, the wheeler-dealer himself, Danny Ainge.

Look, in all seriousness Ainge was a pretty good fifth wheel - although he was more of a 7th wheel on the '84 Celtics, and a 6th wheel on the '86 Celtics (if you include Bill Walton) - to have. Ainge developed into a deadly long range shooter over the years, and seldom turned the ball over... and when your other four starters are Bird, McHale, Parish and Dennis Johnson, that's exactly what you need from your fifth guy.

That said, it's pretty hard to argue that the fifth best player on any team (no matter how good) is also simultaneously one of the twelve best players in that conference. Solid starter? Sure. Above average role player? Absolutely. A deadly shooter? You betcha. But an actual All-star? No sirree, Bob.

Although when it came to trolling and pushing buttons, Danny definitely had few peers...





Late in his career, Ainge settled into a perfect role as the third guard on loaded teams in Portland and Phoenix, where he genuinely excelled. Between the Celtics, Blazers and Suns, there's no doubt that Dealer Danny contributed to a lot of winning basketball.

But just like years later when dealing with a certain Billy King, there's also no doubt that Ainge once pulled some serious wool over non-discerning eyes in order to end up with an All-star jersey. For that he's earned his spot on this list of infamy.

I used to look at Danny Ainge daily in my childhood via this poster.

 

[nahnah]

The "Mo All-star jerseys than I rightfully should have" All-stars


#7 Mo Williams


View attachment 722404

Hey, these guys play defence the same way I do!


Poster child for the Mo buckets means Mo All-star votes brigade? Exhibit A in how to piggyback ride off a generational talent to your own dubiously earned accolades? Exemplar in how to turn easy games in a soft conference into easy money at the All-star game? How about all of the above?

There's no denying that Mo Williams fashioned a pretty fair career for himself after being taken as an afterthought in the second round of the 2003 Draft. After a few years in Milwaukee in which he parlayed his sweet shooting stroke into a starting point guard gig, Mo got his chance to shine when he was traded to a Cleveland team heralded by a guy taken slightly earlier in that same 2003 Draft... one LeBron James.

And to be fair, Williams did what a player with his skill-set should do playing alongside one of the greatest to ever lace 'em up - he made jump shots. Lots and lots of jump shots. And when it came to outside shooting, Mo was one of the best of his era: off screens, off the dribble, off balance... some days it scarcely seemed to matter.





The catch though, was that shooting was pretty much all there was to Mo's game. As a nominal point guard he was an un-inventive floor leader and a sub par defender. When he was hot Williams could put up points in bunches, but when his shot wasn't falling he wasn't bringing much else. He spent most of his post-LeBron career as a gun for hire on no less than six teams, with a moderate amount of success at best.

Mo did bring us plenty of entertainment though, particularly in his post-divorce relationships with both LeBron and the Cavaliers . So perhaps Mo shouldn't have been an All-star, but he did leave us with one of the all time great allegories in NBA history... and so despite his place on this list, he'll always retain a place in our hearts.

My all time favourite player. Invite a vampire to your house, you're gonna get bit!

 

[Son of Skeletor]

I used to look at Danny Ainge daily in my childhood via this poster.

View attachment 722453View attachment 722453

The colours children, the colours!