The NBA All Star game is coming soon, lets take a look at the best players never to make an NBA All Star game. We also take a look at some of the best seasons and biggest snubs among the top 50.
Rod Strickland was one of only four players to make an All NBA team, but never make an All Star team. He also led the league in assists that season he would make the 2nd team All NBA. That is the highest All NBA team a non all star has ever made along with Phil Ford. Strickland would average 17.8ppg, 10.5apg, 5.3rpg, 1.7spg 19.6 PER. His team was 42-40 just missing the Playoffs.
Al Jefferson would also make the All NBA Team and not make the All Star team. He finished 3rd team All NBA, but even more impressive was he finished 8th in the MVP voting that season. Jefferson averaged 21.8ppg, 10.8rpg with a 22.7 PER leading Charlotte to a 43-39 record and first round sweep at the hands of the Heat.
Petrovic is another player to make an All NBA (3rd) team but not an All Star team. He is also a Hall of Famer, mostly from his international contributions. He averaged 22.3ppg, 3.5apg, 2.7rpg, 17.3 PER for a 43-39 Nets team in his All NBA season, losing in the first round of the playoffs.
Scott averaged 21.7ppg, 4.1rpg, 4.1apg, 1.9spg 19.2 PER for a Lakers team that won the Championship in 1988. Statistically, he was the 2nd best player in the regular season on the Lakers over Worthy and Kareem. The Lakers won 62 games that regular season too.
Harper has multiple seasons he could have have made it, as the best or 2nd best player on 47+ win teams. There were years he was all defense and the best statistical player. He averaged 17.0ppg, 7.7apg, 2.0spg 18.0 PER on a 53 win western conference finals team. 16.0ppg, 7.9apg, 2.2spg 20.0 PER on a 55 win team. Another 18.0ppg, 7.4apg, 2.3spg 19.8 PER on a 47 win playoff team.
Rose wasn’t very impressive by the analytics, but was the leading scorer on a 56 win NBA Finals team. He should have made it. That season he averaged 18.2ppg, 4.8rpg, 4.0apg, 16.7 PER. He also averaged 20.5ppg, 6.0apg, 5.0rpg 17.8 PER leading a 41-41 team the following season. Consecutive seasons like that should have garnered more respect.
Williams had the added benefit of playing for the New York Knicks in a major market. Even averaging 20.9ppg, 5.0rpg, 6.2apg, 2.0spg, 21.7 PER for a 39-43 team couldn’t get him in. He was 9th in PER that season in the entire NBA and easily the best statistical player on a major market respectable team. He also had another similar season for a 20.4ppg, 6.0apg, 4.0rpg 19.0 PER for a 44 win playoff team.
Ever hear of a player that averaged 28.0ppg, 5.1rpg, 3.0apg, 1.5spg and didn’t make an NBA All Star Game? Purvis Short is that guy. Shot was actually 4th in the NBA in scoring that season, and then followed it up with a 5th place scoring finish the next season averaging 25.5ppg. The problem is the teams he was putting these numbers up on were terrible. The Warriors won 22 games the year he scored 28ppg and 30 games the year he scored 25.5ppg. Putting up that kind of top 5 scoring numbers in an era where counting stats were much more valued it’s surprising. Analytics didn’t really exist and you would think he would have been an All Star after multiple seasons like that. Short would have 3 seasons in the top 10 in the league in scoring, so it wasn’t a flash in the pan.
Jefferson averaged 22.2ppg, 7.3rpg, 4.0apg on a 42 win team that just missed the playoffs. The PER and efficiency weren’t that great at 16.6 PER, but he had contributed on 2 NBA finals teams. You would have thought he would have had more respect. He finished 9th in the league in scoring that season and those were some serious counting stats and the team was still relevant.
McCollum averaged 21.0ppg, 4.0rpg, 3.0apg, 17.0 PER on a 53 win Western Conference Finals team. The numbers aren’t crazy but he was clearly the 2nd best player on a very good team that deserved to make an All Star team. He finished in the top 20 in the league in scoring 4 times with a high of 11th in scoring on a consistent playoff team.
The 1989 6th Man of the Year probably shouldn’t have started, averaging 21.5ppg, 4.4rpg 19.4 PER in only 29.2 minutes per game. He helped the Suns win 55 games that season and made the Western Conference Finals.
Richardson was never a key player on a team that was very successful. He’s probably the definition of an empty stats guy. His best season he averaged 23.2ppg, 5.8rpg, 3.1apg 19.2 PER for a team that was 34-48. He was 13th in the NBA in scoring that season. He was also 13th another season as well as, 16th and 20th ranked seasons as well. With 4 times finishing in the top 20 in NBA in scoring and you would think at some point he would have made an All Star team giving himself chances.
Another 6th Man, Lou Williams was three time 6th Man of the year in his career. He was one of the more efficient players on this list and averaging. 20.0ppg, 5.4apg 21.1 PER for a 48 win playoff team. Those are the kind of numbers that should probably get you on an All Star team.
14. Phil Ford
Ford’s best season, was his rookie season in the NBA averaging 15.9ppg, 8.6rpg, 2.2spg and a 15.8 PER on a 48 win playoff team. He also won Rookie of the Year. His numbers really don’t stack up that great, but he did make a 2nd team All NBA, although it seems less deserving than the others. As the 2nd pick in the NBA draft there was hype and expectations so I’m somewhat surprised he didn’t make it given the early hype. He was also 8th and 12th in MVP voting two seasons, and his team was successful in making the playoffs his first three seasons including a western conference final Cinderella run as a 40-42 team.
Ellis gets a lot of disrespect but he did average 25.5ppg, 4.0rpg, 5.3apg, 2.2spg inefficiently with a 16.7 PER finishing 6th in the league scoring one season. The Warriors won 26 games that season. His best season would come the following season when he averaged 24.1ppg, 3.5rpg, 5.6apg, 2.1spg, with a 18.6 PER on a respectable 36 win Warriors team. He was 8th in the league in scoring that season. Probably his biggest claim to fame historically was being the lead dog in those early years on a team with Steph Curry. He put up some great counting stats if you ignore the efficiency. He actually had 5 seasons in the top 20 scoring, including 4 in the top 11. That’s pretty serious accumulation to not have an all star appearance.
