GSWFan1994 wrote:scrabbarista wrote:GSWFan1994 wrote:
And I'll tell you what... looking back, it was an AMAZING feeling.
You never knew what to expect.
I vividly remember my surprise when, in the 1994 All-Star weekend, I got the sunday newspapers and saw the East starters:
Shaq
Derrick Coleman
Pippen
Kenny Anderson
BJ Armstrong
I was like,
"Who are Coleman and Anderson?"
And, most importantly... "how the heck is BJ Armstrong an All-Star?"
I remember seeing a bunch of Bulls games, and never thought Armstrong was THAT good...
I had this thought while reading your comment.
I don't believe the rumour that MJ was forced to retire by Stern because of his gambling, but if you imagine some kind of backroom power struggle between Stern and Jordan, then you can imagine Stern pulling strings to prove to Jordan that the league made him and not vice versa. Hence, delusionally: "See, we can make BJ Armstrong a star, just like we made you a star."
As I said, I don't believe any of this, but it's an interesting idea.
I mean, the dude was clearly not an All-Star... starter...
Yes, I don't believe it either. I think the motive is his father's death, it's pretty clear to me. That caused a huge effect on him. As far as I know, he was very close to his father.
As for Armstrong, it's very strange indeed, but when you take into account the All-Stars starters were determined by fan voting, and that Chicago was overachieving greatly that season (Jordan had just retired), it could be explained that way. Also, Horace Grant was voted in as a reserve as well.
Grant had the stats to back up being an allstar that year. Heck he had the stats to be all nba that year. His WS and VORP especially were crazy that year. BJ's pre allstar scoring was what got him in and it dropped off post allstar game a good bit. Mind you...pre allstar he still didn't have allstar stats lol.