It’s that time of year again. The NBA is on vacation for a few days as the top players (according to casual fans anyway) gather in San Francisco to showcase their abilities in contests on Friday and Saturday before facing off against each other in a tournament on Sunday afternoon.
You might have been raised on the idea that the skills contests were held on Saturday and the ASG was played on Sunday, but things are a little different this year. There are three all-star teams of eight players, and they will face off with the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge to compete in a first-to-40 shootout three-game tournament on Sunday afternoon before the championship round Sunday evening.
Before the clock strikes midnight on the way ASW has been for the majority of our lives, Bryant Knox (BK) and Casey Mabbott (CM) take you on a guided stroll down memory lane of some of the best moments in All-Star weekend history as well as some favorite Trail Blazers players to make an appearance in those weekends.
Who is the greatest all-star in Portland Trail Blazers history?
BK: When looking at the raw All-Star Game stats, Damian Lillard is the most productive. He averaged 19.5 points across six showings with a high of 32 points, and I’m pretty sure he was also the first to ever hit a pull-up jumper beyond half-court just because he knew he could.
That said, Clyde Drexler made eight All-Star Games during his time with the Trail Blazers. That’s the most of any player during their time with the franchise. And he was voted in as a starter each of his final three seasons with the team.
I also can’t ignore how competitive the All-Star Game used to be and how it more closely mimicked a star-studded NBA game instead of an NBA 2K showcase. That makes Clyde’s 10.6 PPG average in those contests mean that much more. And I’d draft Clyde over Dame in an All-Time Trail Blazers All-Star Fantasy Draft.
CM: I can’t disagree with Bryant here. Clyde is the best all-star in many ways, the most important of which is that he was selected the most with eight appearances. Clyde was nearly an annual staple at the ASG from 1986-1994. Lillard is closest with 6, LaMarcus Aldrige and Sidney Wicks were selected for four consecutive, and Brandon Roy and Maurice Lucas went to three straight.
Clyde’s appearance in the 1992 All-Star game was his best, in my opinion, as he was finally voted in as a starter and scored 22 points in helping the West beat the East in a 153-113 blowout featuring the return of Magic Johnson. Everyone remembers Magic’s performance that day, and rightfully so, but Drexler was the only other player to break 20 points in a game full of scoring by some legends of the era who would cement themselves as all-time greats over the next few years.
What’s your favorite Trail Blazers moment from All-Star Saturday Night events?
BK: There are a lot of fun individual events to choose from. One that I lowkey loved, even though the results weren’t the best, was Rudy Fernandez’s 2009 Dunk Contest. But I’m going to cheat here and go with Damian Lillard’s entire 2014 All-Star Saturday Night showcase.
On Saturday, Lillard participated in the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Contest, and the Slam Dunk Contest. The night’s triple showing was part of a bigger theme: Dame becoming the first player in league history to participate in all five major All-Star Weekend events.
The night before, Lillard had shown out in the Rising Stars challenge. And on Sunday, he made his first All-Star appearance in just his second season. The whole weekend was something Rip City could be proud of, and yes, seeing Lillad dribble, shoot, and dunk on Saturday was an eye-opening moment for fans across the league of what Lillard could do, too.
CM: Many people remember the 1988 Slam Dunk contest for the legendary final round between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins, and not everyone remembers that Clyde Drexler was there and dunked from just inside the free throw line in the first round, eventually being eliminated in the second round. He didn’t win the contest, and it didn’t become a poster for the ages, but it was an amazing dunk, as you can see at the 8:40 mark here. This was a dunk Dr J did at the ABA all-star game in 1976. You can see that dunk here at the 1:20 mark. Clyde pulled off the same dunk this time in a single attempt, the same dunk Jordan got to retake after missing it in the final round. So perhaps Clyde is a better dunk artist all the time than we give him credit for.
The contest took place in Chicago against the two best dunkers of the era, and there is an argument that they were the best of all time. For Clyde the Glide to finish third in that contest is pretty incredible and is kind of the story of his career, just coming up short against some of the best to ever lace up a pair of sneakers while still being an all-time great in his own right.
Which player did you think deserved to be in the all-star game and was snubbed?
BK: It might be weird to choose the player who made the second-most All-Star Games in NBA history, but Lillard was a snub between 2016 and 2017. And he knew it.
“I’ve gotten frustrated just for the fact that it feels like I always got to be the fall guy, and every other guy has been deserving,” Lillard said back in 2017 in an ESPN report. “… I think I’ve gotten over the emotional part of it the last few times that I didn’t make it. Now I’m kind of like expecting it to go that way, but I feel like I should be there.”
A number of stats showed Lillard was a top-10 offensive player (if not higher) in both of those seasons as the All-Star voting concluded. But the reality is that neither that nor the team’s record really matters because Lillard was more a victim of playing in the same conference as Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson.
CM: I would love to know how Clyde Drexler missed out on the 1987 all-star game. He averaged 27 points per game and made 50% of his field goals while averaging six rebounds and six assists per game. And, oh yeah, he led a ragtag bunch of guys to third place in a very competitive Western Conference. What more did they want from Clyde?
Apparently, he wasn’t on the level of reserves for Rolando Blackman, Sleepy Floyd, and Walter Davis. It was the second and final time the game would be hosted in Seattle and wasn’t slated to feature a player from Seattle or Portland until West coach Pat Riley selected Tom Chambers of the SuperSonics to replace Ralph Sampson as starting center.
If you could go back in time and relive any moment from all-star weekend, what would you choose?
BK: The year was 2003. Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Jordan was eight days away from his 40th birthday and mere months from his final retirement. That Sunday, February 7 All-Star Game in Atlanta would be his last, and as it turned out, it would become one of the most classic versions of the game we’d ever see.
Starting with Vince Carter conceding his starting spot to MJ, all the way through maybe the most iconic MJ shot in All-Star Game history—a baseline, mid-range fadeaway that caught nothing but net and gave the East a two-point lead with 3.0 seconds to go—to, of course, Kobe Bryant’s subsequent free-throws, born out of sheer stubborn competitiveness, that led to a West win in OT, it was an instant classic.
MJ, being the ultimate competitor, probably wouldn’t have wanted Kobe to lay down and take the loss. But there’s also the lasting image of Jordan walking off the court after regulation, smirking, no doubt thinking to himself: “That motherf—-r.”
If I could go back and relive any All-Star Game moment, there might be a debate in my head for a minute. But choosing anything else would mean choosing against that MJ fadeaway. And to me, that’s the deciding factor.
CM: I would love to go back to 1978 to see Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas, and Lionel Hollins share the court with Skywalker Thompson and Rick Barry while being coached by Dr Jack just a few months removed from winning the championship. And the three amigos from PDX would get to play against two all-stars from the same Philadelphia team they defeated in June of the previous season. The West didn’t emerge victorious in that game, but that doesn’t change the greatness of the moment.
If you had to bet your house on a current Blazers player being selected to the all-star team during their time in Portland, which player would you bank on?
BK: Oof, the whole house? Can I bet just the garage, or maybe that weird closet I can’t remember what it contains in the guest bedroom?
Betting anything on any current Blazers player to make an All-Star Game feels like a long shot. But as I wrote this week, I think the most likely player is Scoot Henderson.
Despite his early-career struggles and injuries, Scoot has recently shown that his box scores can match his athleticism and his expectations. Few young players seem as motivated as he is to reach his potential, and with all respect to Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan, I’d put my money down on Scoot to do it first—if I had to.
CM: I don’t know if I am betting my house on any of the current Blazers but gun to my head I would say Donovan Clingan. Portland has some great guards on their roster, but it’s so much tougher to get in as a backcourt player these days unless you average a lot of points and produce a lot of highlight reels for the casuals. If he can stay healthy, Cling Kong should be able to put together some Jokic-type numbers, especially against the leaner and weaker centers in the league who have to add extra guys to defend him, which will only open up his chances to collect assists. To be frank, Portland hasn’t had a guy like Walton in forever, not since 78. It would be neat for a monster under the basket to reclaim Walton’s throne and maybe even take Portland back to the Finals.
Just the other night, Clingan had 17 points and 20 rebounds against the Nuggets, which is the guy he should be modeling his game after, while his counterpart had 26 points and 15 rebounds. For a rookie to do that against the best in the business is incredible, but he needs to get his assist numbers up. I think he will once he gets used to the physicality and speed of the NBA and starts looking to pass. If the basket isn’t right in front of him or at least between him and a smaller or shorter player, he can dunk over it.
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