The NBA is dead but that doesn’t mean we can’t still reminisce so why not do the All NBA Texas team and see who exactly the Lone Star State has put out into the league.
How does one qualify you ask? It’s very simple, you must have played a majority of your career after the 1979-1980 season (sorry K.C. Jones and Zelmo Beaty) and you must have been born in Texas. That’s it, that’s all the rules, if you don’t like them make your own list. For the sake of fairness I’ve structured it that 2 guards, 2 forwards and 1 center make it, if I hadn’t this list would be almost entirely made up of forwards.
At the first guard spot we have Mookie Blaylock. Not so fast though my friend. Before I tell you about how good Mookie was as a player it is important to note that Mookie Blaylock isn’t a very good guy. In October of 2014 Mookie Blaylock entered a guilty plea for a vehicular manslaughter charge, he would serve 3 years for the crime. Additionally Mookie also had several DUI charges prior to that. Now that we all know he’s not a good guy we can talk about who he was as a player. For 13 season Mookie Blaylock was one of if not the best guard defender in the NBA. Drafted 12th overall by the then New Jersey Nets in the 1989 NBA draft. Blaylock would play 3 seasons with the Nets before being traded to Atlanta where he’d spend the majority of his career and where he would ear his lone all star appearance, all 6 of his All-Defensive team honors, and both of his steals titles. Over a 13 year career Blaylock played a total of 889 games and averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.7 assist per a game. Mookie also holds the record for most prison time served by any member of the Atlanta Hawks.*
*not fact checked
At the second guard position we have a newcomer in Trae Young. I’m not going to get into his numbers since he’s played less than 2 full seasons of NBA basketball but in those 2 years Trae Young has proven he’s more than capable of being a number 1 offensive option on one of the worst teams in the NBA something not many other guards named Trae Young can say. Has his team been good when he’s been on it? No. Is the one of if not the worst defenders in the league? Yes is he by far the best guard to ever be born in Texas? Undoubtedly and that is why he’s the other guard.
For the first forward spot I went with Grant Hill. If you think it should’ve been Jimmy Butler then in the words of his former teammate Derrick Rose,“kill yo self”. Hill won Rookie of the year for the 1994-1995 season and would go on to make 5 All NBA Teams as well as 7 All-Star Teams. Many people would say Hill was on his way to being one of the biggest stars in the NBA before injuries robbed him of some of his prime seasons. Luckily enough I don’t care about that at all and he’s clearly one of the two best forwards to ever come from the great state of Texas
For the last forward spot, the cliche and obvious choice would be LaMarcus Aldridge which is exactly why I picked him. At his best LA was one of the best Forwards in the NBA and even with his regression has come and evolution of his play style changing from a down low banging forward to a forward who’d rather miss mid range jump shots. Nevertheless his 5 All-NBA selection and 7 All-Star Selections show he’s up there with some of the greats to come from Texas.
Finally rounding it out at the center position we have Texas A&M’s own DeAndre Jordan. Now a part of the KD and Kyrie show in Brooklyn, Jordan saw his peak sometime ago as part of the Lob City Clippers teams but man when that guy was cooking offensively it was hard to slow him down. He doesn’t have many accolades and to be very honest I don’t think he should have his all defensive team honors but, I don’t get a vote and so he does have them. Jordan’s made 3 All-NBA Teams, 2 All Defensive teams, and 1 All star game, he’s lead the league in rebounding in 2 different seasons. Not a bad career for a 2nd round pick.
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