First off we want to send our apologies to the 1998 NBA Eastern Conference All-Star roster.

Over the weekend NBA TV replayed the 1994 NBA all star game and realized we made a grave mistake. A few years ago we suggested that the 1998 All-Star roster that had Jayson Williams, Glen Rice, Steve Smith, and Rik Smits may have been the worst dozen all-stars to represent a conference in the history of the midseason game. We’re here to eat crow because the 1998 squad is many times better than another “star-studded” roster that I came across recently.

A league in transition

In 1994 the league was in a transition. It was post-Michael Jordan first retirement and the icons of the 1980’s Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas had retired. It’s not like the league lacked for all-stars, but it was clear the league was missing something. Shaq could have filled that role, but keep in mind that O’Neal was only a second-year player at this point, so he wasn’t the Shaq we know now.

Yes there was Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Kemp, David Robinson Scottie Pippen, Gary Payton, and John Stockton, but none of them were seriously considered as the next face of the league.

On top of that, eight of those ten veteran players played in the Western Conference and that made for a huge imbalace of star power between the Eastern and Western Conference that particular game. That set up an All-Star roster that may have had the least amount of star power in the history of the game.

Ladies and gentleman… B.J. Armstrong!

We’ve been paying attention to the NBA since 1980, so we’re confident about the hot take we’re about to explain to you. Sure we can look at all-star rosters pre-1980, but without having lived through that area, it’s really difficult to say how much impact those all-stars actually made in that season much less their overall career.

With that caveat, the 1994 Eastern conference roster might be the worst compilation of the best NBA players in the last forty years.

Why? As with any evaluation of how great a team is, its not one or two of the best players that make the team but it’s the overall combination of players. With an NBA all-star roster, it’s obviously a great collection of players but it’s greatness is in direct comparison with other NBA all-star seasons.

With the eastern conference All Stars in 1994, it was littered with first time all stars. Seven out of twelve players to be exact. Of course that’s not an issue — every player has to start off somewhere. The problem with that is that every one of those first time All-stars would never make another all star game again; making them the equivalent of one-hit wonders.

To add, these seven players weren’t the most impressive or memorable players after their careers were all said and done. Charles Oakley, Horace Grant, John Starks, and BJ Armstrong were certainly more remembered as good role players for good teams than actual All-Stars.

The other three players – Mookie Blalock, Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman – had better stats and played bigger roles for their mostly-forgettable teams but they weren’t impactful over a long period of time in the way superstars should be. When reflecting on 1990’s, we would very rarely think of Anderson, Blaylock or Coleman to be named in the top 10 at their position.

Funnily enough, one wouldnt find much of discussion if we were to say that Oakley, Horace Grant and Starks were more well-known and impactful than Blalock, Kenny Anderson and Coleman as far as NBA lore is concerned.

You would think that maybe this was a year that there was a lot of injured players in the east but the only injury replacement was Oakley taking the place of Alonzo Mourning who was out with a leg injury.

These seven players joined multiple all star selections and hall of famers Shaquille Oneal, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, and Dominique Wilkins. The final player was four-time all-star Mark Price, a very good player, but is forgotten even when we discuss the best point guards of their era.

No comparison

Who were these Eastern Conference all-stars up against? The West had just as many Hall of famers as the East had one-timer all stars. The West boasted the legendary Olajuwon, Malone, Drexler, David Robinson, Stockton, and Payton. That was followed by hall of famer Mitch Richmond and multiple all stars Shawn Kemp, Latrell Sprewell and Kevin Johnson.

Danny Manning was a 2x all star while Portland’s Cliff Robinson was the only one time all-star on the West. There’s really no comparison.

Again this is no offense to Kenny Anderson, Armstrong, Blaylock, Coleman, Horace Grant, Oakley and Starks, but in the long history of NBA All star games this one severely lacked the shine and high voltage star power of other all star games. All that said, the east would end up winning the game behind the play of Price’s first-half shooting and all star MVP Scottie Pippen.