Basketball
Of the four Halls of Fame comprising the “Big Four” of the North American sports, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is the one that is the hardest for many casual fans to figure out.Established in 1959, though there was no physical building for a decade, the Basketball Hall of Fame would take root in Springfield, Massachusetts. While the popularity of Basketball has skyrocketed over the past 20 years, the Hall of Fame has not grown nearly at the same pace.
Why is that?
It is because the very thing that was designed to make it special is what makes it convoluted.
The Baseball Hall of Fame, with the primary exception of the Negro Leagues, focuses only on those who participated in Major League Baseball.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame only looks at the National Football League.
The Hockey Hall of Fame does look at International contributions but with the exception of two players who played their career in the Soviet Red Army, all players had at one time plied their trade in the National Hockey League.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame looks at everything. This includes College, International, Women and in some cases High School.
Every year, there are finalists where even the most devote basketball fans are trying to figure out who those people are, and when that happens, the cache value of the Hall naturally shrinks.
For our purposes, we will only look at those who were in the National Basketball Association as let’s face it…that is what most of us care about the most!
Until then, go for the three!
Sincerely,
The Notinhalloffame.com Committee
Rolando Blackman is one of the great outside shooters in the history of the league. A great career at Kansas State led to him being taken 9th overall by the Mavericks in 1981 and his 17,000 career points and an 18 point per game average showed that same ability in the pro ranks. What is lost is how much of a great team player Rolando was. He teamed with Mark Aguirre and Derek Harper to…
Glen Rice just maybe the most effective outside shooter of the 90's. Reggie Miller got all the hype but Rice was actually a better scorer and was a 6 foot 7 shooting guard who was almost impossible to defend. He was the star and leading reason the Michigan Wolverines that won the 1989 title and he set a record for scoring of 184 points in the tournament that still stands today. Drafted number 4 overall…
Paul Silas is one of the most respected players of his generation. Never a star, Silas was a workmanlike power forward that was at his best coming off the bench and bringing the muscle to the court. A great rebounder and defender, Silas was an integral part of three championship teams, two in Boston and one in Seattle. A long career highlighted by being on winners and collecting over 12,000 rebounds (currently 20th on the…
Alvin Robertson may be the best perimeter defender to ever play the game of basketball. Michael Jordan certainly thought so. Robertson still leads the league in most steals per game, and is one of a handful of backcourt players to win Defensive Player of the Year. A four time All-Star, Robertson wasn’t only about defense as almost 11,000 points can attest. He was a complete player who averaged 14 points and both 5 assists and…
Michael Cooper is one of the most popular players in Laker history. Why? He wasn’t that great of a scorer though he did develop a very solid three point shot as his career progressed and he could always finish a break. His popularity was stemmed from doing whatever the team needed him to do to win. This mainly meant playing shutdown defense on perimeter players. Cooper may be the best defender ever to wear a…
Johnny “Red” Kerr was the original big red head will always have a place in basketball history. Kerr had a very solid career as a player, a coach and finally as a legendary announcer kept him in the NBA spotlight for over 55 years. However, it is his playing career that will determine if he belongs in the Hall of Fame or not. Kerr was a vital part of the Syracuse Nationals which became the…
While Rasheed Wallace was known mostly for getting technical fouls, he was so much more than just that. Rasheed cut his teeth with the North Carolina Tar Heels and the former first rounder would make waves with the Portland Trail Blazers, emerging as the team’s leader and whether you liked him or hated him, his passion for the sport of basketball was undeniable. The four time All Star may not have been considered the best…
Rudy Larusso came from Dartmouth and would become a standout in the NBA averaging seventeen points and ten rebounds a game in ten stellar seasons. A five time All-Star, Larusso was one of the best defensive power forwards of his generation. Like many on this list, he is another forgotten great of the 1960’s.
Larry Kenon is one of the least appreciated players ever. A great big man who led Memphis to the title game in his only year there, Kenon won an ABA title with Dr. J and the Nets in his first year in the ABA. He was a three time All-Star in the ABA but his legacy is as one of the greatest players who made the transition to the NBA. Kenon continued his solid play…
The winner of the NBA Three Point Shootout, a three time European Player of the Year and a three time All Star, Peja Stojakovic was part of a talented Sacramento Kings roster that was a badly officiated game from the NBA Finals. The Serbian star was an amazing shooter and was deadly from behind the arc or at the charity stripe. He was also a major force in International play and anchored the Yugoslavs to…
Here is another player more known for his college accomplishments than his pro years. Larry Johnson was the leader of the Runnin Rebels that dominated the first few years of the 90’s. An NCAA title in 1990 was followed by an undefeated year that was trumped by a huge upset by Duke in the Final Four. Johnson was arguably the greatest junior college player ever and when Jerry Tarkanian recruited him to UNLV he became the…
Larry Nance was a very solid forward in the NBA who is most known for winning the first All-Star game slam dunk competition in a huge upset. At 6 foot 11, Nance was a player that could flat get up in the air, but he was much more than just a dunker.
Willie Naulls had decent career numbers finishing a very respectable fifteen point and nine rebound average. He was a four time All-Star and three time NBA champion and he was one of the best ever to come from college basketball giant UCLA. Amazingly his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame are practically zero as he is basically a forgotten player on those dynasties. That won’t change anytime soon.
Sam Cassell may never have been the best player on any team he was on, but didn’t it always seem that as soon as he got to a team, they got better? Cassell was a great locker room guy, a good leader, an efficient passer and a feisty defender. He is the only player in NBA history to play over ten years and win a championship in his first and last campaign. Yet, when you…
Horace Grant was not a stat accumulator; he was a winner. After a stellar career at Clemson University where he was named ACC MVP, Grant was selected as the tenth pick of the 1987 draft. Grant was a key member of the first three title runs the Bulls had in the early 90's. He was the 3rd option on offense but was really their main low post defender. A very athletic power forward that could bang…
A popular player and a stealing machine, Eddie Jones was a very good Shooting Guard who strung together solid seasons in the late 90’s for the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets. Jones was just adept at steals, but was also a dangerous threat from behind the arc. He would three times be named to the Second Team Defensive squad along with three All Star Games. We are sure many who were fans of Eddie…
Joakim Noah, the son of International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, Yannick Noah, was a two-time NCAA Champion with the Florida Gators and a Final Four MVP. Naturally, this is a pedigree of a Lottery Pick, which he would be in 2007, when the Chicago Bulls drafted him Ninth Overall. The 6’ 11” Center would not become a potent scorer, only having five years in the NBA where he had at least 10 Points per Game,…
There is a lot to dissect when you are speaking about the career of Stephon Marbury, who as a player put up some impressive numbers. The Point Guard had seven seasons with a PER over 20, would have the most Assists in the 2003/04 Season and averaged 19.3 Points per Game. “Starbury” would go to two All-Star Games and was twice a Third Team All-NBA selection. That is the positive part but, in the NBA,…
The Cal Ripken of basketball with 1192 consecutive games played, A.C. Green’s hopes of enshrinement rely on amazing consistency and ability to do whatever it takes for the good of the team. A star out of college winning PAC-10 player of the year at Oregon State, Green came to the Lakers and immediately developed a role as the power forward who would bang down low, grab boards, and show up for work every day. 12,000…
We honestly think that Tyson Chandler is among one of the most underrated players in the history of basketball, and is that not a strange thing to say out a former second overall pick who played twenty years. So why would we say that? Chandler began his pro career with the Bulls, and the hype around him and Eddy Curry was bloated. They could not bring Chicago back to the promised land, and the five years he…