Reggie Miller Only Made Two Consecutive All-Star Appearances

[L.Kizzle]

Reggie Miller was a five time All-Star in his 18 year career but only two of those selections were in consecutive seasons. 1995 and 1996.

Reggie was also an All-Star the following seasons:
1990 All-Star
1998 All-Star
2000 All-Star

The 1994 All-Star game was the season that Michael Jordan was playing baseball.
This also might be the weakest selection of guards for the mid-season classic.

The East starting guards were two 1st timers in BJ Armstrong and Kenny Anderson. The reserves were a few regulars Mark Price and future Hall of Famer Joe Dumars. John Starks and Mookie Blaylock rounded out the guards for the East. How the hell did Reggie Miller not get selected as a guard for that season?

[tpols]

Because he was supremely underrated due to a non athletic game. Nerdy looking skinny loud mouth... not marketable back then and played in a nobody city.

If Reggie played for the Knicks in Madison Square with Ewing they'd have won chips and he'd have 10x more accolades.

The advanced playoff metrics don't lie.

[iamgine]

Reggie Miller was the Jamal Murray of his era. Decent in the regular season, turn into a beast in the playoff.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Reggie Miller was never a big time scorer. We remember him because he hit big shots in the postseason, especially against the Knicks. Got into it with Spike Lee. In 94 he was likely averaging around 20 points because through his prime that was the level he was generally around. He wasn't the clutch legend he became that a few years later. Him missing the all star game would be like a 22 ppg scorer missing it today, has a legit argument to be made but when you try and figure out which guard he's better than it's not a clear-cut argument.

[dankok8]

It's really puzzling. Reggie should have made about 10 all-star teams EASILY. He was a top 15 or so player from about 1990 to 2001.

Reggie put up much worse stats in the regular season most of his career and then exploded in the playoffs. There was no internet back in the day and his season numbers just didn't look impressive and so he was snubbed. That's my explanation.

[tpols]

Reggie Miller was the Jamal Murray of his era. Decent in the regular season, turn into a beast in the playoff.

This is another good reason. Reggie upped his game in the playoffs and had the highest points scored in the 90s playoffs only behind Hakeem, MJ, Barkley, and Malone. And on better efficiency than all of them besides Sir Charles and Jordan.

[tpols]

Reggie Miller was never a big time scorer.

How does a clown become a mod?

[Phoenix]

Ah, the first of two annual Reggie threads that goes 10 pages with the same forces arguing over what he was and wasn't.

[ShawkFactory]

I mean its not that weird. In the early 90s guard spots you had Jordan, Isiah, Dumar, Mark Price, etc.

The Pacers weren't anything special as a team during that period. They were almost exactly .500 from 90-94. And it's not like Reggie was putting up crazy numbers warranting him to be on the team over more established guys on much better teams.

[Kblaze8855]

He didn’t make it often because coaches pick most all stars and coaches didn’t think he was as good as fans who don’t remember his prime assume. It’s really that simple. Coaches…especially then…liked do it all guys and defenders. They didn’t make Mookie Blaylock an all star over Reggie due to marketability. They did because he made it hell to run offense with his on ball pressure and playing passing lanes. They didn’t pick Alvin Robertson over Reggie because of a pretty game or who looked nerdy. They picked him because Alvin was a borderline DPOY for years and was one of the toughest and best all around guards of his era.

It’s just basketball. Reggie was not considered a top player by the people who watched all the film and coached every game. Off the top of my head 4 coaches had Derek McKey as the best player on the pacers when they turned it around in the mid 90s. Think maybe…it’s because he was an elite defender and all around player coaches always fall for?

It’s really not complicated. Coaches have never been as enamored as fans with the guy who scores but isn’t much of a defender and can’t really make plays. Coaches lean towards the total game and heavily towards defense. It isn’t much more than that. Old school coaches are only going to pick so many pure scorers at a time.

You might get Reggie or Michael Adams but usually not both. Dumars, Price, and Reggie Lewis gets those spots. They picked Detlef from the pacers one year and not Reggie. Many won’t know but Detlef was a really good do it all type. Coaches have always been enamored with that.

Most(though not quite all) the people picked by the coaches were just more well rounded players. Can’t expect a gathering of nba coaches not to lean towards D and all around basketball more than fans do.

[L.Kizzle]

Because he was supremely underrated due to a non athletic game. Nerdy looking skinny loud mouth... not marketable back then and played in a nobody city.

If Reggie played for the Knicks in Madison Square with Ewing they'd have won chips and he'd have 10x more accolades.

The advanced playoff metrics don't lie.

Not marketable? He was probably a guest star on more TV shows in the 90s than any current player at that time.

[L.Kizzle]

Reggie Miller was the Jamal Murray of his era. Decent in the regular season, turn into a beast in the playoff.

To be fair, Reggie was usually suiting up 75+ games a year. Jamal, not so much.

[SouBeachTalents]

The claim Reggie upped his playoff scoring significantly seems like a disingenuous argument to me when virtually all of these instances occurred in first round losses. If you want to argue the semantics that he still technically upped his scoring average, ok, but I don't read too much into 3-4 game sample sizes.

In playoff runs past the first round he averaged 23, 25.5, 20, 20 & 24, you average that out, it comes to 22.5 ppg. During his prime, let's say 1990-2000 to cover all his all-star seasons, he averaged 21 ppg. So as you can see, it's a very moderate increase at best. Even if you want to include all those first round L's, the sample size is so small that over that timeframe it only bumps the average up to 23 ppg.

[dankok8]

He didn’t make it often because coaches pick most all stars and coaches didn’t think he was as good as fans who don’t remember his prime assume. It’s really that simple. Coaches…especially then…liked do it all guys and defenders. They didn’t make Mookie Blaylock an all star over Reggie due to marketability. They did because he made it hell to run offense with his on ball pressure and playing passing lanes. They didn’t pick Alvin Robertson over Reggie because of a pretty game or who looked nerdy. They picked him because Alvin was a borderline DPOY for years and was one of the toughest and best all around guards of his era.

It’s just basketball. Reggie was not considered a top player by the people who watched all the film and coached every game. Off the top of my head 4 coaches had Derek McKey as the best player on the pacers when they turned it around in the mid 90s. Think maybe…it’s because he was an elite defender and all around player coaches always fall for?

It’s really not complicated. Coaches have never been as enamored as fans with the guy who scores but isn’t much of a defender and can’t really make plays. Coaches lean towards the total game and heavily towards defense. It isn’t much more than that. Old school coaches are only going to pick so many pure scorers at a time.

You might get Reggie or Michael Adams but usually not both. Dumars, Price, and Reggie Lewis gets those spots. They picked Detlef from the pacers one year and not Reggie. Many won’t know but Detlef was a really good do it all type. Coaches have always been enamored with that.

Most(though not quite all) the people picked by the coaches were just more well rounded players. Can’t expect a gathering of nba coaches not to lean towards D and all around basketball more than fans do.

Those coaches were wrong though. The likes of Derek McKey and Mookie Blaylock were not nearly as good as Reggie.

Reggie Miller was an unbelievable scorer. Low key one of the best scorers ever disguised in plain sight. Monster combo of volume and efficiency.

[FultzNationRISE]

The claim Reggie upped his playoff scoring significantly seems like a disingenuous argument to me when virtually all of these instances occurred in first round losses. If you want to argue the semantics that he still technically upped his scoring average, ok, but I don't read too much into 3-4 game sample sizes.

In playoff runs past the first round he averaged 23, 25.5, 20, 20 & 24, you average that out, it comes to 22.5 ppg. During his prime, let's say 1990-2000 to cover all his all-star seasons, he averaged 21 ppg. So as you can see, it's a very moderate increase at best. Even if you want to include all those first round L's, the sample size is so small that over that timeframe it only bumps the average up to 23 ppg.

This is fair altho it’s also worth noting that competition is harder on average in the playoffs, so maintaining your exact stats does mathematically require at least a modest INCREASE of performance. Im not saying its significant but it’s something. And so to raise it by a couple in the playoffs could be akin to raising it by 3 or 4 in the regular season. I have no idea what the exact adjustment works out to but in theory there should be one.