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League talent is at an all time low, imo. Especially 2 way players.
Over the last several years the game has turned into an absolute joke, but those early 2000s ASGs were great imo. I'd say that 2003 and 2004 were my favorites.
As for the best starting 5, I can't speak for any of 80s/90s teams, but that 2000 West starting unit w/ Kidd, Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, and Shaq would be tough to top from a talent perspective. That lineup featured 4 of the 5 best players post-MJ.
For comparison's sake, the starters for this year in the "stacked" west will be Curry, Harden, Aldridge (probably), Davis, and Gasol.
League talent is at an all time low, imo. Especially 2 way players.
It depends. You put some hot outside shooting with some hotshot PG and a freakish rebounder and you might beat any other team.
That one was awesome too, mostly toward the end, but I just remember 03 and 04 as being great throughout the entire game. That's another classic though. The top talent in the league at that time was amazing.
I watched too much of the Starters ... Confidence Baby ... CONFIDENCE!!!
When Carter stopped going, I pretty much stopped watching. Vince in his day was the only OK version of monkeyball tbh
I agree that the 2000 West with Kidd/Bryant/Garnett/Duncan/Shaq was the best.
There were some great 90s teams too. They were showing the 93 and 94 all star games on NBA TV recently. The west had Robinson and Olajuwon...and the east had Shaq and Ewing. In the 88 game, the west had Hakeem as a starter and Kareem and Moses off the bench...Centers were so much better back then.
It's also interesting to observe how the game has changed. In the 80s and 90s, even a good shooter would pass up an open 3 if there was a big man open in the paint.
1998 was solid
Eastern Conference
Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls)
Anfernee Hardaway (Orlando Magic)
Dikembe Mutombo (Atlanta Hawks)
Shawn Kemp (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Grant Hill (Detroit Pistons)
Reggie Miller (Indiana Pacers)
Rik Smits (Indiana Pacers)
Tim Hardaway (Miami Heat)
Glen Rice (Charlotte Hornets)
Steve Smith (Atlanta Hawks)
Antoine Walker (Boston Celtics)
Jayson Williams (New Jersey Nets)
Western Conference
Gary Payton (Seattle Sonics)
Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers)
Shaquille O'Neal (L.A. Lakers)
Karl Malone (Utah Jazz)
Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Nick Van Exel (L.A. Lakers)
Eddie Jones (L.A. Lakers)
David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs)
Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs)
Jason Kidd (Phoenix Suns)
Vin Baker (Seattle Sonics)
Mitch Richmond (Sacramento Kings)
This goes way back but the one I remember vividly as a kid was the 1989 game. I grew up a Pistons fan and obviously an Isiah Thomas fan, and he had one of the most exciting games of passing I can recall, even for an all star game. This was already after the alleged freeze out of Jordan (back in 1985), but Isiah had no less than 3 spectacular highlight passes to just Jordan, including one full length baseball bounce pass and a no look pass off the backboard for a Jordan dunk. It was a fastbreak where he was ahead and he just knew Jordan (or somebody) was trailing him he but never looked back, which made it really cool.
I mean, this was at a time where the ASG did start to have a lot more showboating, but players also still played hard and tried to win and didn't just worry about not getting injured. I don't know if I've paid much attention to the ASG in a decade plus.
I can't find the quotes anywhere so this is just based on 25 year old memory, but I remember vaguely that after the game Jordan said he would love Isiah to play with him on the Bulls. So while there was obvious some animosity between the two after the walk off that would happen a couple years later and by the time of the 1992 Olympics, I don't know that the alleged "freeze out" was really the beginning of the conflict between the two of them.
MJs last ASG was pretty good; went to double OT if memory serves. Though there were some ty players on both squads iirc.
I didn't watch the NBA back then, so everything I know is based off of what I saw/see in Hardwood Classics games, but it definitely seemed like they cared more and took the game more seriously. The games now look more like the old Rookie/Sop re games. I also think that the level of elite talent and marquee names have dropped too (for example, there are probably only 2 or 3 superstars in the league today).
That was 2003, which was awesome. There were a few questionable selections (
Be glad you didn't have to see some of those jerseys.
Best Allstar game in history:
Allen Iverson was named the game's 2001 All-Star Most Valuable Player after he rallied the East to garner an improbable 111–110 comeback victory over the West. The East trailed 95–74 with nine minutes left after the West dominated the first 39 minutes behind its superior size. Iverson sparked the comeback scoring 15 of his 25 points in the final nine minutes of the game. Stephon Marbury also helped the East by hitting two three-pointers in the final 53 seconds, including one with 28 seconds left, which proved to be the game-winner.
nothing comes close to that (allstarwise)
I don't remember much about any of them except 1992. Magic's return after announcing he had AIDS. Hit a last second shot prayer from beyond the arc. Wasn't a close game but it was entertaining. Also nice to see him play well and take home the MVP.
Yeesh...I'm guessing those were the jerseys from the 96 game in SA. Those 90s teams were pretty stacked too. 90s seemed to be the era of the center, 2000s (till 2006) was the era of the PF, and the no handcheck rule has turned this new era into a guard-oriented one. Still can't stand that no-handcheck rule...Be glad you didn't have to see some of those jerseys.
Haha, I went to the 96 all star game when I was 7 years old...I remember Shaq going hard at Robinson throughout the game. He really wanted to demonstrate his superiority.
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