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All-time NBA all-star snubs
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Sam Cassell appears a mortal lock to make his
first NBA all-star team as a Western Conference reserve. This selection is
more overdue than the copy of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" I took out of the
Brooklyn Public Library in 1986. "Sam I Am" averaged 19.1 points per game
during his previous four seasons in Milwaukee, but never made the squad.
This year, Cassell has been lights out, maybe the most valuable player on
the T-Wolves, averaging 21 points and 7.4 assists. He might have the best
right-handed shot going left in the game. I relish Cassell's selection
because perpetual All-Star Game snubbing for top-flight players is the
ultimate slap in the face.
Everyone else, it seems, gets a turn. Lest we forget, Christian Laettner
was an all-star. Ricky Green also was an all-star. Hersey Hawkins was an
all-star. Heck, even the two immortal Boston College chuckers, Dana Barros
and Michael Adams, were all-stars. And when Jeff Hornacek opens his car
dealership, he can call it Hornacek's All-Star Cars.
But, as Cassell demonstrates, there have been great players who have gone
entire careers forced to eat a "snub sandwich." Here is my starting
All-Star Snub Squad, made up of four retired and one barely active players.
These guys might never get to be called all-stars, but they could take on
on any five you can bring to the playground:
PG Rod Strickland - The only active player on this list, Hot Rod led the
Washington Bullets into the playoffs in 1997. For that alone, he should be
frozen in a cryogenics lab for future generations to study.
Strickland was good enough in his 30s to be traded for Rasheed Wallace. He
was good enough to lead the NBA in assists in 1998. He was good enough to
have gotten 20 assists in a game three times. But not good enough to make
the all-star team. Rod's time is gone. He should have an all-star next to
his resume.
SG Derek Harper - Harper, the player who would have been finals MVP for
the 1994 Knicks if John Starks had bothered to go 4-19 instead of 2-19,
was a stalwart player for the Dallas Mavericks for eons. His unselfish
play made all-stars out of Rolando Blackman and Mark Aguirre. Yet Harper,
despite being only the second player in NBA history (along with Isiah
Thomas) to register 15,000 career points, 6,000 assists, and 1,800 steals,
never made the team.
Harper averaged between 16 and 19 points seven-straight years for the
Mavs, and better than seven assists in five of them. He also made the
All-NBA defensive second team for two years. We can only assume David
Stern has a distant cousin named Jo Jo English (see "beat-downs, playoffs,
1994").
C Arvydas Sabonis - What was the worst result of the Cold War? Was it a
nuclear arms race that threatened humanity? The proxy wars in South East
Asia and Central America that claimed millions of lives? The slave camps
of Josef Stalin? The "Rambo" movies? Perhaps. But not far down the list
has to be that the iron curtain shielded us from the USSR's Arvydas
Sabonis until he was past his prime.
In his youth, Sabonis strode the court like a James Bond villain complete
with wispy mustache, no-look passes, three-point shooting, and thunderous
dunks. He dribbled circles around players like David Robinson in
international competition. By the time Sabonis came to the NBA, saddled
with a Portland franchise containing players who probably could have used
a month or two in the gulag, he was cashed -- playing on knees made of
balsa wood and setting records for number of times dunked on by Shaq.
SF Chuck Person - The Rifleman ended his career fourth all-time in
three-pointers made and attempted. He was a Rookie of the Year and an
underrated rebounder, as well. Person is most remembered for matching
Larry Bird shot-for-shot in a Pacers' playoff loss against the Celtics.
Unfortunately, he lost a couple of years in the Frigidaire of pre-K.G.
Minnesota. But Person had star appeal for many a-season... at least more
than Laettner.
PF Drazen Petrovic - "Brazen Drazen" was at least a decade ahead of his
time. He was the first Euro import (and some would argue the last) who
played with an asphalt attitude, no fear, and as comfortable stroking a
trey as knocking out your front teeth.
His importance to the early 1990s Chuck Daly-led resurgent Nets was seen
when his tragic death led to the spiraling of the overhyped squad built
around Derek Coleman and Sam Bowie. Ironically, he was a third-team
All-NBA his last year after averaging 22.4 ppg. Yet was not an all-star.
So tip your glass to the great Drazen and all the players who never got to
climb the mountain ascended by luminaries like Tyrone Hill and Kenny
Anderson. And tip your glass to Sam Cassell. The snubbed shall inherit the
earth.
Dave Zirin is the News Editor for the Prince George's Post, in Prince
George's County, Maryland. He can be reached at editor@pgpost.com. To
read more of Zirin's work, check out EdgeofSports.com.
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