Cleveland won't quite rock like it should
Members of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team are the true stars of this All-Star Weekend, but I'm told that absentees are expected among the players poised to be recognized
You did not have to attend the NBA's last All-Star Weekend in Cleveland in 1997 to remember it well.
Kobe Bryant, as an 18-year-old rookie, won the dunk contest. Michael Jordan, days away from his 34th birthday, posted the first triple-double (14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) in All-Star Game history. And at halftime of the big game, 47 members of the league’s 50th Anniversary Team came together for an unforgettable celebration marked by the distinctive letterman-style jackets worn by the honorees.
Similar flashbulb moments that fete the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team are what I and many other nostalgists are looking forward to most this weekend, when All-Star 2022 invades Cleveland from Friday through Sunday. Yet you must be forewarned: Attendance for another presumed jacket ceremony at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will not be nearly as close to complete this time.
In 1997, all but three of the 50 honorees were present. Pete Maravich was the lone member of the 50th Anniversary Team who had died before the team was chosen; Shaquille O'Neal (recovering from a knee injury) and Jerry West (who needed surgery to treat an ear infection) missed out because of health reasons.
There are 61 living members among the 76 players selected to the 75th Anniversary Team in October. A still-being-tabulated number less than 61 is expected in Cleveland and attendance has not been presented to those players as mandatory, league sources say, given the worrisome travel climate that persists during this third successive NBA season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and the advanced age for some of the greats still with us.
This will look much more like a typical All-Star Weekend than the scaled-down version held last March in Atlanta, where all the on-court events were held on the same day in a State Farm Arena that was essentially empty apart from 1,500 invite-only guests and media members as well as the Turner personnel responsible for broadcasting proceedings. Yet the weekend will also still fall well short of its usual revelry in the less-than-glamorous Rust Belt, with fewer sponsors anticipated on hand than normal, access to players likely limited and various All-Star staples scrapped.
Jordan’s annual Friday night party, to name one example, has long ranked as the standout social gathering of any All-Star Weekend but was never even planned this year because of COVID-19 concerns. The league’s popular Tech Summit, known to attract a high-wattage array of panelists, is back Friday after a one-year hiatus, but there is obvious disappointment within the NBA scouting community that Basketball Without Borders Global — which brings the best international prospects to All-Star to scrimmage in front of representatives from all 30 teams — had to be nixed given the travel complexities involved. (Sunday will serve up a game for scouts pitting the G League Ignite against the Cleveland Charge before the actual All-Star Game.)
“COVID and the destination is a bad combination,” said one Western Conference team official when asked what was keeping him away.
I nonetheless hope to take in as much as I can in Cleveland and relay as much as I see. This much seems safe to promise: At least five active members of the 75th Anniversary Team should be there, because Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Phoenix’s Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James are on course to play in the All-Star Game. Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, captain of Team Durant, is expected to attend even though he has been ruled out of the game through injury.
Whether we catch a glimpse of Philadelphia’s newly acquired James Harden, who also snagged a spot on the 75th Anniversary Team but will not play Sunday because of his ongoing hamstring issues, remains TBD.
Like too much for all of us — still — in these coronavirus times.
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Paying Tribute
As noted above, Pistol Pete was the only member of the 50th Anniversary Team who died before the team was unveiled.
We have sadly lost 15 honorees from the 75th Anniversary Team who will be recognized posthumously this weekend. In alphabetical order:
Paul Arizin
Elgin Baylor
Kobe Bryant
Wilt Chamberlain
Dave DeBusschere
Hal Greer
John Havlicek
Sam Jones
Moses Malone
Pete Maravich
George Mikan
Dolph Schayes
Bill Sharman
Nate Thurmond
Wes Unseld
Open Forum
Perhaps I should leave this invite here every Tuesday.
Consider this section our virtual suggestion box to discuss content ideas … NBA and otherwise.
What would you like to read more of in 2022? Or less of? What do you really think of my (largely pretend) idea to launch a complementary coffee Substack? Or a Substack about BlackBerrys?
I've got a lot of things planned already in terms of stories I hope to tackle in coming months, but I would love to hear your ideas either in the comments below or via marcstein@substack.com.
Numbers Game
🏀 7
There will be at least seven debutants in Sunday's All-Star Game in Cleveland. The latest first-timer is the Cavaliers' Jarrett Allen, who was selected Monday to replace the injured Harden (hamstring). The other All-Star newcomers: Memphis' Ja Morant, Golden State's Andrew Wiggins, Toronto's Fred VanVleet, Charlotte's LaMelo Ball (replacing Brooklyn’s injured All-Star captain Kevin Durant), San Antonio's Dejounte Murray (replacing Golden State's injured Draymond Green) and Allen's Cleveland teammate Darius Garland.
🏀 7-15
Even after Tuesday's win over Sacramento, Brooklyn is just 7-15 since Kyrie Irving made his season debut in a Jan. 5 victory at Indiana. Irving has missed eight of those 22 games, including the win over the Kings, because they were played in Brooklyn, where he remains ineligible to play because he's unvaccinated for COVID-19.
🏀 8
Only 11 of the Nets' remaining 25 games are road games ... and Irving is eligible to play in only eight of those 11 because two are at Madison Square Garden and another is in Toronto. Irving is currently ineligible for games in those buildings, too, but the Nets remain hopeful that a change to the vaccine mandate in New York City could still be forthcoming and increase Irving’s availability after the All-Star break.
🏀 43
James Harden missed 33 regular-season games through injury or rest in his two partial seasons with the Nets. From his rookie season in 2009-10 through 2019-20, Harden missed only 43 regular-season games combined.
🏀 35
Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan has scored at least 35 points in six consecutive games. The only longer such streak by a Bull, according to Stathead, belongs to Michael Jordan, who had runs of 10 and seven games in a row with at least 35 points.
🏀 14
Former Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, who won the award over Golden State's Stephen Curry in 2009-10, was reinstated to the NBA on Monday after a drug ban that lasted more than two years. He will now try to become the first player in 14 years who was expelled from the league for the minimum of two years after testing positive for a "drug of abuse" and resumed his NBA career, dating to Chris Andersen's deal with Charlotte in March 2008.
🏀 15
As the All-Star break approaches, Denver's Nikola Jokić leads the league with 15 triple-doubles, followed by San Antonio's Dejounte Murray (11). Three players (Dallas' Luka Dončić, Philadelphia's James Harden and the Los Angeles Lakers' Russell Westbrook) are tied with nine.
🏀 21
West teams have combined to post a higher percentage than East teams in games between the conferences in 21 of the past 22 seasons. It's happening again this season even though the East — for the first time in memory — appears to be by far the stronger conference 1 through 10. The West was 176-161 against the East entering Tuesday's play.
🏀 0-1-2-3-4
A tweet from my pal @hmfaigen of Silver Screen and Roll to illustrate the interesting jersey numbers straight that Andre Drummond has crafted at his five NBA stops:
Has it ever been made clear what Tyreke Evans tested positive for? I've heard some really ridiculous rumors.
Is Kenny Smith's All-Star party still on?