Rising Stars Challenge: How many stars from each season?
1994: Chris Webber, Toni Kukoc, Sam Cassell, Anfernee Hardaway
Cassell might be a stretch here but gets the nod because of multiple titles, same with Kukoc. Lindsey Hunter of the Detroit Pistons had a strong game in this one.
1995: Jason Kidd, Glenn Robinson, Juwon Howard
Possibly the worst year.
1996: Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett
Only three guys and two of them are future Detroit Pistons.
1997: Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Stephon Marbury, Antoine Walker
A pretty strong year for guards.
1998: Chauncey Billups, Tracy McGrady
Another contender for weakest rosters.
1999: No game
2000: Steve Francis, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce
Two Hall-of-Famers and Francis, who was really fun to watch for a while.
2001: Elton Brand, Baron Davis, Rip Hamilton, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, Steve Francis
This is like the “good/not great” All-Stars right here. All were very good role players and Richard Hamilton got a ring for the Detroit Pistons.
2002: Pau Gasol, Tony Parker
Year of the foreigner
2003: Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Amar’e Stoudemire
Remember Gilbert? Agent Zero was fun until he brought a gun to work like a complete dingus.
2004: Manu Ginobili, Yao Ming, Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade
Candidate for the strongest year of all time. Also a list of guys the Pistons passed on to take Darko.
2005: Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Andre Iguodala
People forget how good Iggy was for Philly.
2006: Andre Iguodala, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Deron Williams
Remember when DWill vs. CP3 was a legitimate debate?
2007: Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Brandon Roy
Putting Roy on here because he was amazing before he got hurt