NBA ALL-STAR

WEEKEND

A HISTORY OF THE

THE BEST OF THE BEST

Boston, MA

Phoenix, AZ

St. Louis, MO

Atlanta, GA

Denver, CO

Houston, TX

Los Angeles, CA

Orlando, FL

Seattle, WA

Dallas, TX

Charlotte, NC

Cincinnati, OH

Jersey City, NJ

Fort Wayne, IN

Chicago, IL

Indianapolis, IN

Las Vegas, NV

Miami, FL

Milwaukee, WI

Minneapolis, MN

New Orleans, LA

Richfield, OH

Detroit, MICleveland, OH

Salt Lake City, UT

San Antonio, TX

San Diego, CA

San Francisco, CAOakland, CA

Syracuse, NY

Rochester, NY

Washington, DCLandover, MDBaltimore, MD

Times hosted

1 2 3 54

HOSTING CITIES

Philadelphia, PA

New York, NY

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has been holding annual basketball exhibi-tion games since 1951. Each year, the best players from each of the leagues within the competition, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, are matched in the NBA All-Star Game.

This competition has grown over the years to include supporting events, showcasing skills and young talent. These supporting events include the iconic Slam Dunk Contest, the Three-Point Shootout, the Skills Challenge and the Rising Stars (or Rookie) Challenge. These games and the All-Star Game makes up the NBA All-Star Weekend.

Since 1975, the first five starting players rep-resenting their league are chosen by public vote numbers. Therefore, the best and most popular players of the NBA play in the All-Star Game. The remaining five substitute players of each team are chosen by the respective head coaches; which are positions filled by the head coaches of the teams with the best record of their league.

The NBA All-Star Weekend is an exhibition of skill and talent; and brings together the best basketball players in the NBA competition. It is a showcase of flair and athleticism, and has become one of the most watched and most popular annual sporting events in the World.

SLAM DUNK CONTEST

Nate Robinson (‘06, ‘09, ‘10)

WINNERS

CLEARED FOR TAKEOFFThe free-throw line dunk is considered the most iconic slam dunk in the history of the contest, and it all started in the beginning. The first slam dunk contest was held during half-time of the 1976 American Basketball Association (ABA) All-Star Game. This contest was won by Julius Erving, who performed a slam dunk consisting of a long run-up and then jumping from near the free-throw line; a horizontal distance of up to 15 feet.

Since the 1976 contest, this athletic slam dunk has been replicated in many Slam Dunk Contests and in some instances gained as much fame as the original.

Dunks from the free-throw line

Brent BarryVince CarterDwight HowardSerge IbakaMichael JordanScottie PippenJosh SmithRalph Sampson

Jason Richardson (‘02, ‘03)

Harold Miner (‘93, ‘95)

Dominique Wilkins (‘85, ‘90)

Michael Jordan (‘87, ‘88)

Jeremy Evans (‘12)

Blake Griffin (‘11)

Dwight Howard (‘08)

Gerald Green (‘07)

Josh Smith (‘05)

Fred Jones (‘04)

Desmond Mason (‘01)

Vince Carter (‘00)

Kobe Bryant (‘97)

Brent Barry (‘96)

Isaiah Rider (‘94)

Cedric Ceballos (‘92)

Dee Brown (‘91)

Kenny Walker (‘89)

Spud Webb (‘86)

Larry Nance (‘84)

Julius Erving (‘76)

3-POINT SHOOTOUT

WINNERS

MONEY BALLPlayers competing the Three-Point Contest attempt to score three-point field goals from five different positions behind the three- point arc. Each position has five basketballs: four standard orange game balls worth one point if scored, and one ABA-styled game ball (with red, white and blue panels) worth two points if scored. This ball is referred to as the money ball due to the extra point awarded and is the last ball at each position.

Regular NBA game ball ABA-inspired money ball

Craig Hodges (‘90, ‘91, ‘92)

Larry Bird (‘86, ‘87, ‘88)

Jason Kapono (‘07, ‘08)

Peja Stojakovic (‘02, ‘03)

Jeff Hornacek (‘98, ‘00)

Mark Price (‘93, ‘94)

Kevin Love (‘12)

James Jones (‘11)

Paul Pierce (‘10)

Daequan Cook (‘09)

Dirk Nowitzki (‘06)

Quentin Richardson (‘05)

Voshon Lenard (‘04)

Ray Allen (‘01)

Steve Kerr (‘97)

Tim Legler (‘96)

Glen Rice (‘95)

Dale Ellis (‘89)

SKILLS CHALLENGE

WINNERS

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2

3

45

6

7

8

1Lay-up or jump shot

Dribble

Chest pass

Bounce pass

Jump shot

Chest pass

Dribble

Lay-up or jump shot

15’

10’

Steve Nash (‘05, ‘10)

Dwyane Wade (‘06, ‘07)

Tony Parker (‘12)

Stephen Curry (‘11)

Derrick Rose (‘09)

Deron Williams (‘08)

Baron Davis (‘04)

Jason Kidd (‘03)

21

Number of Skills Challenge wins

SLICK AND QUICKThe Skills Challenge competitors progress through a series of skill and agility stations, with the fastest declared the winner.

RISING STARS

YOUNG BLOODThe Rising Stars Challenge is a game played by outstanding first and second year NBA played and is simlar to the All-Star Game. It was originally played by first-year, or rookie, players from the Eastern and Western Con-ferences; eventually it changed to a game between rookies and second-year players, known as sophomores.

Since 2012, the Rising Stars Challenge teams consist of both rookies and sophomores, with the team chosen by team managers. The two teams are coached by NBA assistant coaches.

ROOKIE v SOPHOMOREGames of Rookie players versus Sophomore players were played between 2000 and 2011 (pre-2000, teams consisted of all rookies; post-2011, teams consisted of both rookies and sophomores).

Wins by team

Rookies4/12 wins

Sophomores8/12 wins

Game results

2012 TEAM SHAQ (146)

TEAM CHUCK (133)

2011 ROOKIES (148)

SOPHOMORES (140)

2010 ROOKIES (140)

SOPHOMORES (128)

2009 ROOKIES (116)

SOPHOMORES (122)

2008 ROOKIES (109)

SOPHOMORES (136)

2007 ROOKIES (114)

SOPHOMORES (155)

2006 ROOKIES (96)

SOPHOMORES (106)

2005 ROOKIES (106)

SOPHOMORES (133)

2004 ROOKIES (118)

SOPHOMORES (142)

2003 ROOKIES (112)

SOPHOMORES (132)

2002 ROOKIES (103)

SOPHOMORES (97)

2001 ROOKIES (113)

SOPHOMORES (121)

2000 ROOKIES (92)

SOPHOMORES (83)

1998 EAST (85)

WEST (80)

1997 EAST (96)

WEST (91)

1996 EAST (94)

WEST (92)

1995 WHITE (83)

GREEN (79)

1994 PHENOMS (74)

SENSATIONS (68)

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 1600

MVPThe title of Most Valuable Player is awarded to the best-performing player in the Rising Stars Challenge. A correlation exists between winning the MVP title and the priority of where the player was drafted. This demon-strates that most of the Rising Stars MVPs are amongst the top ten players recently drafted.

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Draft pick number

Kyrie Irving

John Wall

Tyreke Evans

Kevin Durant

Daniel Gibson (pick 42)

David Lee (pick 30)

Andre Iguodala

Amare Stoudemire

Carmelo Anthony

Gilbert Arenas (pick 30)

Wally Szczerbiak

Jason Richardson

Elton Brand

Zydrunas Ilgauskas (pick 20)

Allen Iverson

Damon Stoudamire

Eddie Jones

Anfernee Hardaway

2 31

Number of Slam Dunk Contest wins

2 31

Number of Three-Point Shootout wins

Points scored

SELECTIONS RECORDKareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for the most NBA All-Star selections with 19, and has played in 18 of those games. Kobe Bryant shares the record, with Kevin Garnett, for the most All-Star selections out of the players currently active in 2012. They are tied at 14 selections, and have played in 13 games.

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

ALL-STAR GAME

MAIN EVENTThe NBA All-Star Game is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. The best players in the NBA are given an opportunity to play with players that they usually play against, as teams are made up of the entire conference that their regular club team is a part of. These teams are the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.

PLAYERS AND VOTESThe first five starting players representing their Conference are chosen by public vote numbers. Therefore, the best and most popu-lar players of the NBA play in the All-Star Game. In recent years, voting has been sub-mitted online. Since 2013, the public vote for three forecourt players (positions played by forwards and centers) and two guards.

Ballot leading player from each year

1

2

3

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

Num

ber o

f vot

es (i

n m

illio

ns)

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Dwight Howard

Michael JordanYao Ming

LeBron James

Kevin GarnettKobe Bryant

Vince Carter

Michael Jordan (10,369,391 votes)

Vince Carter (7,227,019 votes)

LeBron James (5,065,742 votes)

Yao Ming (4,901,316 votes)

Dwight Howard (4,750,571 votes)

Kobe Bryant (3,854,402 votes)

Grant Hill (2,647,589 votes)

Kevin Garnett (2,399,148 votes)

Magic Johnson (2,018,339 votes)

Julius Erving (1,840,345 votes)

Moses Malone (927,779 votes)

Charles Barkley (794,936 votes)

George Gervin (714,003 votes)

David Thompson (319,047 votes)

Rick Berry (135,471 votes)

Bob McAdoo (98,325 votes)

Cumulative points of ballot leaders

40

Number of votes (in millions)

2 6 8 10 12

Dwight Howard received 3,150,181 votes for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, given him the record for the highest voted ballot leader. Michael Jordan was the ballot leader nine times (1987–1993, 1997–1998) in the history of All-Star voting. Although only being a ballot leader twice, Kobe Bryant has received the highest amount of life-time All-Star votes with 24,636,602 votes over 14 years.

GAME TIMESince its beginning in 1951, the NBA All-Star Game has been a highlight in the NBA calen-dar. The game has been an annual event; except in 1999 when a labor dispute lockout occurred, postponing the start of the regular season and cancelling the All-Star Game.

By 2012, 61 All-Star Games have been played at venues all around the United States, with Los Angeles having hosted the Weekend the most times at five. The Eastern Conference has won more of the games with 36, whilst the Western Conference has won 25 games.

East36/61 wins

59%

West25/61 wins41%

40

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120

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1950 1960 1970 1980 1980 2000 2010

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KareemAbdul-Jabbar

KobeBryant

Share of total wins by Conference

Points scored by Conference in each game

As demonstrated in the line graph above, the points scored by teams in an All-Star Game is relatively high, with an average of 124 points being scored per team per game. This may be a result of the nature of the All-Star Game being an exhibition game, a game with no ramafications to the regular NBA season and a demonstration of skill and flair.

The close proximity of the graph lines indi-cate that it usually results in close games. The score margin each year is small, with an aver-age winning margin of 11 points. The largest winning margin occurred in 1966, when the Eastern All-Stars defeated the Western All- Stars by 43 points (137-94).

IN RECENT TIMESThe past ten years from 2012 has seen signif-icant growth in the NBA All-Star Game, with diverse and high-scoring games. This annual event has been hosted in nine different cities and featured seven different MVP winners.

Game results

2012 149

152

2011 143

148

2010 141

139

2009 119

146

2008 134

128

2007 132

153

2006 122

120

2005 125

115

2004 132

136

2003 145

155

20 40 60 80 100 120 1400

Points scored

160

Game MVP and statistics

The best and fairest player for the All-Star Game is awarded Most Valuable Player. The following Nightingale graphs display notable statistics of each MVP, as a percentage of the team’s total statistics.

40%

20%

Points

Goal attempts

ReboundsAssists

Turnovers

Fouls

2012Kevin Durant

2011Kobe Bryant

2010Dwyane Wade

2009Kobe Bryant

2009Shaquille O’Neal

2008LeBron James

2007Kobe Bryant

2006LeBron James

2005Allen Iverson

2004Shaquille O’Neal

2003Kevin Garnett

1. Barry, C. et al., 2005, NBA All-Star Saturday, Denver, Turner Network Television, 19 February 2005. Accessed online: YouTube, 12 December 2012. http://bit.ly/Zc2hKQ2. Creamer, C., 2012, National Basketball Association Logos, Men’s Basketball, NBA, Chris Creamer Properties, Inc. Accessed online: 14 December 2012. http://bit.ly/12uRidw3. Ribas, J., 2012, All-Time NBA All Star Vote-Getters, NBA All Star, Voting, All-Time Ranking. Accessed online: 14 December 2012. http://bit.ly/V2uq2C4. Sports Reference LLC, 2012, NBA & ABA All-Star Game Stats and History, Basketball Reference, BBR, All-Star Games. Accessed online: 10 December 2012. http://bit.ly/T3h6uo5. Unknown, 2010, Basketball, The Noun Project, United States. Image acquired under Creative Commons. Accessed online: 10 December 2012. http://bit.ly/UBAPyt6. Wikipedia contributors, 2012, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wikipedia, edited 14 December 2012. Accessed online: 14 December 2012. http://bit.ly/VKTvvQ7. Wikipedia contributors, 2012, Kobe Bryant, Wikipedia, edited 14 December 2012. Accessed online: 14 December 2012. http://bit.ly/Wi82B78. Wikipedia contributors, 2012, Rising Stars Challenge, Wikipedia, edited 27 November 2012. Accessed online: 12 December 2012. http://bit.ly/T3h9Gn9. Wikipedia contributors, 2012, Three-Point Shootout, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,edited 24 October 2012. Accessed online: 12 December 2012. http://bit.ly/Tq0UC3

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