1997 all-NBA teams

[Hook_Em]

Wild year:

- Grant Hill and Tim Hardaway were 1st team

- Glen Rice and Mitch Richmond were 2nd team

- Anthony Mason and Vin Baker were 3rd team

Was the talent just down or any retroactive changes you’d make to the teams or anyone who missed all other?

Spoiler:

[DirtyDez]

Maybe this was a lifetime achievement award for Hardaway who probably didn’t get the respect he deserved in Golden State but the Miami version wasn’t better than Stockton/Payton.

Hill vs Pippen you could debate till the cows come home but I’m fine with Hill there that season.

Vin Baker is laughable.

[One_and_Done]

Pre-alchoholic Baker was actually a good player to be fair.

[eminence]

I would not have had Shaq on there over Mourning, not sure what team Mourning would've made honestly.

Good chance I would've gotten Mookie Blaylock onto a team, a big Mookie fan. Richmond probably the guy left off all the way from team 2. Fine with Tim on the 1st team. Could see Penny's missed games leaving him off a team as well.

Pippen over Hill 100%. Rice/Mason/Baker all pretty weak All-NBA guys, though I'd get at least one of the Charlotte guys on the 3rd team. KG/Webber my immediate candidates to replace the other two.

[migya]

Those guys all had career seasons, most of them mentioned. Many feel off soon after. Mourning maybe should've made a team.

[lessthanjake]

Mourning, Webber, Mutombo, Barkley, Blaylock, and maybe Kevin Johnson were probably all better than at least one or two guys who made all-NBA that year. Of course, it wasn’t a position-less thing back then, so a guy like Mutombo wasn’t going to make the team since there were definitely three better centers. But yeah, I think Webber and Barkley could’ve been in there over Vin Baker and Anthony Mason, and probably over Glen Rice too. For Barkley, him not being in was probably just because he missed a lot of games. Mourning should’ve been in over those guys too, if he could’ve been considered a PF, but it’s a bit tough to get him in at center. Meanwhile, I’m not much of a Mitch Richmond fan, and I think Blaylock or Kevin Johnson could’ve been in over him (with Blaylock probably being the better of those two that year IMO). That said, Richmond did have a bit of a career year, so his inclusion was understandable.

EDIT: Also, Reggie Miller is someone who probably has an argument for being in. He was definitely quite underrated during his era and was arguably as good or better than certain players that were above him here. That said, the Pacers had a losing record that year, so not including him this year seems fine to me.

[Ancalagon]

The shortened three point line had an outsized effect that seasons.

Shoe-ins at Guard with the team I would have put them on:

Jordan (1st)
Stockton (1st)
Payton (2nd)
Tim Hardaway (2nd)

Mookie Blaylock (17, 5, and 6 with 2.7 steals) was a strong candidate. He shot 36-37% from 3 from 1995-97 on a lot of attempts (7.7 per game) and was always below 33% or so before and after (shooting typically less than 4-5 attempts per game. Hawks went 56-26.

So statistically he had a much higher impact that year.

Beyond that you had guys like Reggie Miller, KJ, Kenny Anderson who probably had more impact than Mitch Richmond on a 34-win team.

At forward you had (teams I would put them on):
- Malone (1st)
- Hill (1st)
- Pippen (2nd)
- Anthony Mason (yes, he was getting MVP and DPOY votes that year)

It gets tough beyond that. Laettner in his only All-Star season on a 56-win Atlanta team? How about Shawn Kemp?

At Center, everyone at the time (and it seemed so at the time) would have said Olajuwon. And that is probably right. But statistically his rebounds had dropped off quite a bit and were significantly behind guys like Ewing and Mutombo (wow, I keep going back to that Atlanta team).

[DirtyDez]

I would not have had Shaq on there over Mourning, not sure what team Mourning would've made honestly.

Good chance I would've gotten Mookie Blaylock onto a team, a big Mookie fan. Richmond probably the guy left off all the way from team 2. Fine with Tim on the 1st team. Could see Penny's missed games leaving him off a team as well.

Pippen over Hill 100%. Rice/Mason/Baker all pretty weak All-NBA guys, though I'd get at least one of the Charlotte guys on the 3rd team. KG/Webber my immediate candidates to replace the other two.

Grant Hill was 3rd in MVP that year and was a top-5 player. Twilight Joe Dumars was his best teammate.

[benson13]

Tim Hardaway was an example of the best player on one of the league's best teams getting rewarded. You could argue it was Zo, but he missed 16 games. That's likely the reason he got in over Payton. Stockton probably didn't get it because Malone was already there. Either Juwan Howard or Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett or Tom Gugliotta should have been picked over Anthony Mason and Vin Baker.

Charlotte was a good but not great team. Anthony Mason was a good but not great player. So Glen Rice was really the only deserving Hornets player, and Baker was on a terrible team.

[homecourtloss]

I would not have had Shaq on there over Mourning, not sure what team Mourning would've made honestly.

Good chance I would've gotten Mookie Blaylock onto a team, a big Mookie fan. Richmond probably the guy left off all the way from team 2. Fine with Tim on the 1st team. Could see Penny's missed games leaving him off a team as well.

Pippen over Hill 100%. Rice/Mason/Baker all pretty weak All-NBA guys, though I'd get at least one of the Charlotte guys on the 3rd team. KG/Webber my immediate candidates to replace the other two.

Grant Hill was 3rd in MVP that year and was a top-5 player. Twilight Joe Dumars was his best teammate.

Hill had a good season, but I don’t see any separation between him and Pippen. Overall weak talent these including Baker who never should have been on any all-nba team as he was an awful defender who was a black hole on offense. Ewing over Shaq…Richmond over Stockton…would have KG as a forward over Rice