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
One of the best shooters ever, Otis Birdsong could flat out score. A great scorer at the University of Houston, Birdsong became one of the great shooting guards in the NBA in the early 1980’s with both the Kings and the Nets averaging 18 points a game for his career. Being a four-time All-Star helps his case but low career totals (just over 12,000 points) hurts.
Bridges was an undersized power forward who had a long lasting career in the NBA due to his abilities to play defense and especially to rebound. Currently in the top 30 in all time rebounds in league history, Bridges made 3 all-star teams and averaged 11.9 points and rebounds throughout a very consistent career. He won his only title in 1975 with the Warriors and then did something that not many have had a chance…
Jeff Hornacek was a late second round pick out of Iowa State where he had played point guard. His ability to pass was often overlooked later in his career as he is currently in the top fifty in career assists. One of the great shooters in the history of the league, Hornacek was a great third scoring option on two different title contenders. Best known for his play with the Jazz when they challenged the…
“Downtown” Fred Brown really was the epitome of instant offense off the bench. A true legend in Seattle, Brown played his entire career scoring almost 15,000 points mostly with long range bombs hence the aforementioned nickname. Captain of the '79 team that won the title, Brown led the league in three point shooting percentage in 1980, the first year of the new rule. Unfortunately, this rule was way into his career because Freddy used to…
A member of Duke’s 2001 NCAA Championship team, Carlos Boozer was a late draft pick in 2002 (35th overall) and played for the Cleveland Cavaliers for two years before a free agent controversy saw him bolt for the Utah Jazz (allegedly the Cavs released him making him a conditional free agent so that they could sign him back to a larger deal, which allowed him to sign with Utah for more money; Boozer said he…
Vin Baker was a three-time First Team All-MEAC and 1993 MEAC Player of the Year at Hartford and was the eighth Overall Pick in 1993 with Milwaukee as his landing place. Baker saw a lot of minutes early as a rookie (31.2), and he broke out in his second campaign where he went to his first All-Star Game, averaged a double-double (17.7 Points and 10.3 Rebounds) and led the NBA in Minutes per Game (41.0). …
Terry Porter is one of the best NBA players ever to come from a Division II school. He was so highly regarded form tiny Wisconsin-Stevens Point that he was invited to the 1984 Olympic trials where he almost made the team; but was in the final cut with Charles Barkley and John Stockton. A solid career followed for Porter in the NBA primarily with the Portland Trail Blazers where he teamed with Clyde Drexler to…
Regarded mostly as a Defensive specialist in his career, Marcus Camby won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 and was chosen for four NBA All Defensive Teams (two First Team and two Second Team) and would also lead the NBA in Blocks per Game four times. Camby would average 9.8 Rebounds per Game and still show some offensive acumen with a respectable 9.5 Points per Game. Considering that Camby has never been…
Terry Dischinger was one of the most successful players in Purdue history. He set multiple Boilermaker records and averaged 28.3 Points and 14.3 Rebounds per Game in his three years in the NCAA. His amateur career also saw Dischinger win Olympic Gold for the United States in 1960, and his professional career was also exceptional. Drafted by the Chicago Zephyrs in the Second Round in 1962, Dischinger brought his cerebral nature to the NBA. His…
Dale Ellis was a great shooter, although we don’t think the Basketball Hall of Fame likes shooters. His 19,000 career points and sixth position all time in three pointers easily gets him on this list. Quite simply, he was a great shooter at Tennessee, he was a great shooter in Milwaukee and he was a great shooter in Seattle. Oh and did we mention that he played forever?
Glenn Robinson is a player whose college career seemingly eclipsed his professional career; but if it did, it isn’t by much. Robinson was the Player of the Year for Purdue in 1994 after leading the Big Ten in scoring and rebounding and taking the Boilermakers to an Elite 8. Professionally, Robinson had to go to San Antonio late in his career to get that coveted championship as a role player, but lest we forget Robinson…
A seventh round draft choice out of Division II Buffalo, Smith was an iron man playing for the small market Buffalo Braves and then the Clippers when the team moved west. Smith set the league consecutive game mark of 906 (since broken by A.C. Green). As Bob McAdoo's sidekick in crime, Randy Smith and the Braves were actually contenders in the mid 70's and he showed he belonged with the big boys especially in the…
A very solid player throughout his career, Michael Finley was capable of brilliant flashes of offense in the open court, and a stronger commitment to defense in his later campaigns. In his prime, Finley was a two-time All-Star and an electric player to watch. He was a workhorse on good Dallas Maverick teams (three times he led the NBA in minutes played) and was part of the ‘Run and Gun’ that they executed so well.…
Simply put how in the heck did Rod Strickland never make an All-Star Game? He is easily one of the best ten point guards in league history. Strickland is in the top ten for all time assists and 54th all time in games played. 14,000 points and almost 8,000 assists are pretty good career numbers. Sure he bounced around a lot playing with a total of ten teams in his career but that just shows…
Danny Ainge is one of those guys who depending on whom you talk to is either one of the most overrated players of all time or one of the least appreciated. He definitely was not the most popular, but boy could he play. He became a household name when he led BYU to an upset of Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament on a memorable full court drive in 1981; the same year he won…
The fourth overall draft pick from the 1998 Draft, Antawn Jamison would have a great career as a scorer in the National Basketball Association after having a huge run as a North Carolina Tar Heel where he was the Naismith College Player of the Year.
Sidney Wicks was the UCLA big man who led the Bruins to numerous NCAA titles and was selected College Player of the Year. He would be drafted by the Blazers and would become the centerpiece of the franchise. Later went to Boston where he was a solid contributor. No it’s not Bill Walton; it’s the forgotten star of the UCLA dynasty, Sidney Wicks. Wicks is one of those great 70s players that time has seemingly…
Jeff Mullins was a legend at Duke and was so highly respected that the two-time All-ACC player was named the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1964. The St. Louis Hawks used their 6th Overall Pick to take the Shooting Guard, but they barely used him and it looked like he was a bust. His career was resurrected when he was taken by Chicago in the Expansion Draft and was traded to the San Francisco,…
John Drew had 20.7 points and almost 7 boards per game making him one of great small forwards of his generation. Of course, a Hall of Fame induction would mean little to Jazz fans as they saw him in the tail end of his career where they shipped Dominique Wilkins to the Hawks. Career wise, Drew has solid statistics with 15,000 points and 5,000 rebounds. However, he is likely best known not for his solid…
One of the great shooters of all time, Austin Carr’s college run overshadows a very good pro career that was lost in the obscurity of playing in Cleveland. However, shouldn’t the all time NCAA tournament scoring average leader be considered? He scored sixty-one once in an NCAA tourney game, showcasing his legendary shooting. Considering all the nonsense the Cavs have had to deal with recently, Carr, who is Mr. Cavalier, would give the city a…