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
“Stormin” Norman was one of the most popular Bulls players ever. Van Lier teamed with Jerry Sloan to form one of the most ferocious backcourts in league history. The two super tough and defensive mined players were perfect compliments of each other. He was a great assist man and tenacious defender who probably does not have the career statistics to get in but is a legend in Chicago.
The grunge movement would not have been the same if Pearl Jam would have been able to call themselves what they wanted to; it would have been better. Mookie Blaylock has such a nice ring to it for a Rock band don’t you think? In regards to the man, Blaylock was quite the player. One of the great shooting point guards ever, Mookie is top 50 in several NBA all time statistics. He never really…
Mr. Phoenix Sun. The team leader in several categories Alvan Adams came from Oklahoma as fourth overall pick in 1975 and made an instant impact. He led the Suns to the NBA Finals in his rookie year and they almost pulled off an improbable upset of the Celtics.
Derek Harper was the partner in crime and backcourt mate of Rolando Blackman for almost a decade in Dallas. Ironically the closest they ever came to a title is when they were both traded to the Knicks and they came within one game of winning the championship in 1994. Harper was one of the best all around point guards of his era as he was a great defender who had size and quickness and could…
Playing all but one season with the Milwaukee Bucks, Michael Redd came out of Ohio State with a sweet shot and huge potential. Despite being a late pick in the NBA Draft, Redd would be a prolific scorer for Milwaukee until a severe ACL injury rendered him into a shell of his former self. Redd retired with a Points per Game Average of 19.0 with a PER of 19.7 which while decent, may not be…
Jeff Malone was just another pedestrian shooting guard who will never get in though he scored over 17,000 points at a 19 point per game average. If you look at the previous entry, the Hall of Fame just does not like shooters.
Like Laettner, Danny Manning is one of the great college players ever, almost singlehandedly carrying Kansas to a national title in 1988. His pro career was marked with frequent injuries and playing on some bad teams. He was a two time All-Star and if anyone could get in for one remarkable month of basketball it would be Manning. Manning was also elected to the college hall in 2008 thus greatly reducing his chances of getting…
With his year of eligibility pushed back from his attempts to get back in the big time through the D-League, Antoine Walker is sadly best known for his financial woes more than anything he did on the court. In his playing career, his best seasons were with Boston, where along with Paul Pierce his three pointers excited crowds (though he probably took too many) and he was a member of three All Star squads. In…
A great shooter throughout his long career, Johnson scored more points (over 19,000) of any player never to make an All-Star game. Please do not confuse him with Fast Eddie Johnson, the point guard and a criminal who is incarcerated for life in Florida for many crimes. This Eddie is the real deal and a great player who was clutch throughout his career and had the smoothest jump shot this side of Silk Wilkes.
The first player from Turkey to make the NBA, Hedo Turkoglu was not just a footnote but was a bona fide player in the league. Turkoglu would emerge as a solid player during his tenure with the Orlando Magic and was able to spread the game internationally.
One of the great power forwards of the 70’s and 80’s. Dan Roundfield could rebound and score but is most famous for his ability to defend. One of the best shot blockers at his position, Roundfield earned first team All NBA honors in 1980 and made three All-Star teams as well as being a perennial member of the All Defensive team. Underrated and playing in the obscurity of Atlanta, only his peers really knew how…
Len “Truck” Robinson fit his nickname and could very well be the very definition of a power forward. He was a “truck” underneath, using his incredible strength to dominate. A great rebounder Truck also had the ability to score and developed a great mid range game. Injuries limited his career totals and this will hurt his chances, however fans of the NBA before the Bird-Magic liftoff remember how dominant he could be.
So where do we start? Is it at Ron Artest or at World Metta Peace?
The X-Man was the first player in NCAA history to lead the country in both scoring and rebounding; McDaniel was a stud at Wichita State. His pro career was solid as a forward who used his emotions to his advantage and was as tough as he looked. A legend in Seattle especially after his wonderful cameo in the Grunge movie Singles where during a fantasy sequence, one of the male leads (played by Campbell Scott)…
The image most of us have of Big Bill is getting an entry pass from the wing and throwing his turnaround jumper over some defender and watching it bounce around four or five times and go in; or of course elbowing someone in the face (inadvertently of course) while going for the rebound. Bill Cartwright was the very definition of old school 70’s and 80’s basketball which carried over to the next decade. It was…
If you can forget how he flamed out in the NBA and his disastrous marriage to Khloe Kardashian, Lamar Odom had some very good years, specifically with the Los Angeles Lakers whom he helped to win two NBA Championships. Odom put up some solid defensive rebound stats and owns a respectable 13.3 Points per Game Average and a career PER of 16.5. Odom also won the prestigious NBA 6th Man of the Year Award in…
Andre Miller is one of the best professional basketball players who was never was chosen for the All Star Game. Miller was a former WAC Player of the Year (1999) and as an NBA player the former 8th overall Draft Pick of 1999 would later win the NBA Assists title in the 2001-02 season and was in the top ten in that stat seven other times. The Guard would have four NBA seasons where he…
A two-time NBA All Star, Caron Butler garnered significant attention when in 2002 he led UConn to an Elite 8 appearance and was named the co-Big East Player of the Year. He would be selected by the Miami Heat as a lottery pick but it was when he moved to the Washington Wizards where he would have his greatest individual success. The Small Forward would have a pair of 20 Points per Game seasons (2006-07…
Drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 2005 off of a solid collegiate run with both Bradley and New Mexico, Danny Granger would have three seasons in the National Basketball Association where he exceeded 20 Points per Game, and two of them had a PPG over 24. The Small Forward holds the distinction of being the only player in NBA history to grow his PPG by 5 or more annually three years in a row. He…
A two-time All-Star with the Chicago Bulls, Luol Deng was born in Sudan, moved to England as a child, and immigrated to the United States as a teen. It was the latter move that allowed him to hone in skills in the game of basketball, and become the best player to come out of what is now South Sudan.