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Thirteen people will be registered in the Basketball Hall of Fame Friday, increasing the number of members of what is already one of the most inclusive salons of professional sports. However, even with annual additions of more and more players, coaches, executives and contributors, some quality candidates are waiting for their orange blazers and their time in the spotlight in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Our writers tried to correct some of these wrongs by choosing people from all walks of basketball to which they adhered alongside Ray Allen, Grant Hill, Jason Kidd, and Steve Nash, who had the power to do so.
Danny Ainge
Ainge was not a Hall of Fame player, although he won the John R. Wooden Award for National University Player of the Year at Brigham Young and played a key role in two Celtics title teams. Ainge was not a Hall of Fame coach, although a .602 payout percentage in three seasons in Phoenix was nothing to sneeze.
It could very well be a Hall of Fame setting, especially if the current core of Boston adds to Larry O 'Brien's trophy collection of the team in the years to come. But even if that is not the case, there must be a place for Ainge for his cumulative achievements in all the roles he has filled in the game. Moreover, he never enters. in Cooperstown with this .220 career batting average.
– Chris Forsberg
Nathaniel S. Butler
Capturing a sport like basketball – the one whose best moments come most often from a fury of aerial maneuvers – on a camera comes down to sinking into a raging river and firing a handful of water. NBA Entertainment photographer Nathaniel S. Butler has been doing this for more than three decades. He entered the league in 1984 with the likes of Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. While MJ and Chuck have long since landed, you will still see Butler in an NBA arena in 2018 climb a ladder a few hours before launching remote cameras on the panel, preparing his equipment to add images. iconic to his prestigious portfolio.
With Butler's colleague, Andrew D. Bernstein, coming to Springfield in September, it is normal for Nat to join him next year. From the Dream Team in Barcelona to the Jordan series in Utah, to the LeBron James Finals series, Butler has been there to give everything by giving fans photos that they will never forget. It's time for the Hall of Fame to make sure he honors Butler's career forever.
– Dave McMenamin
Chuck Cooper
The Jackie Robinsons of the NBA arrived during the 1950-51 season, when Boston Cooper Celtics striker, Washington Capitol center Earl Lloyd and New York Knicks striker Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton have become the top three African American players in the league. Lloyd was the first to play on October 31, 1950, because of a quirk. But Cooper was the first of the trio to be written. The owner of the Celtics, Walter Brown, made fun of whether the former star of Duquesne was "polka dot" when he chose Cooper with the 14th choice.
The 6-foot-5, 209-pounder averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds in 409 games with Boston in four seasons, before playing two more years with the Milwaukee Hawks and Fort Wayne Pistons. Given its place in history with two members of the Naismith Hall of Fame at Lloyd and Clifton, it makes no sense that the third pioneer is not a member. Lloyd, Clifton and Cooper endured racism and developed a plan that facilitated the adaptation of African American compatriots such as Bill Russell, Al Attles, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain to the NBA on court and off the court. Cooper, Lloyd and Clifton arrived together in the NBA, and these last three pioneers should also be in the Hall of Fame.
– Marc Spears
Bill Fitch
There are 1,106 reasons why Bill Fitch has not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame despite strong support from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. That's the number of games lost by Fitch as the NBA's head coach, the second highest level in league history, finishing his career with a winning percentage of .460.
Now, let's put these numbers in the right context. It's a necessity to evaluate the candidacy of a man who has won an NBA title, which has brought another team to the finals and who has twice won the coach's honors. of the year. including Phil Jackson, Rudy Tomjanovich and Rick Carlisle.
Fitch, who ranks 10th in NBA history with 944 wins, has taken charge of massive rebuilding projects in the NBA's five stops. He was in charge of the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers in his first NBA job and inherited teams that had a combined winning percentage of .293 in the seasons immediately before his arrival with the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Fitch took all five teams to the playoffs, where he was 55-54, winning the 1981 title with the Celtics and carrying the Rockets in the final five years later. Of course, Fitch has benefited from the presence of Larry Bird and Hakeem Olajuwon as the fundamentals of these reconstruction projects, but there is a reason why Bird has repeatedly called Fitch a better coach than he ever has. play.
– Tim MacMahon
Stephon Marbury
He says something that Spike Lee models Jesus after your life.
Lee used Marbury, a phenomenon from Coney Island High School, as his muse for the 1998 film "He Got Game", which featured a high school basketball star who was seduced by every school in the country. Indeed, Marbury's star was so brilliant at Lincoln High School that the 18-year-old rewrote the recruiting book. He spent a year at Georgia Tech in a launching pad for an NBA career that was highlighted by two selections of stars, an Olympic medal and playoffs with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns.
A good career, but it may be on the sidelines of the Hall of Fame. Enter China.
Marbury's career after the NBA has confirmed his position for the Hall of Fame as a contributor. Marbury has won three titles from the Chinese Basketball Association for Beijing Ducks and has established himself as a true legend in the nation's capital. True, other Americans played in China before him, but most were on tired legs with decreasing skills. Marbury went to China still at its peak. His success demonstrated the kind of lucrative career that had not yet been considered by NBA players. With the impact of Yao Ming, contributor to the Hall of Fame, the world's most populous country has become the NBA's top priority and Marbury has played a major role in this development. His vulnerable superstar personality has established a lasting relationship with the Chinese public. In this sense, Marbury's contributions to basketball have had a global impact.
– Michael Huang
Jack Sikma
However, the candidacy of Sikma remains weak. he has been nominated in recent years but has not yet been selected as a finalist. As a long-time member of the Seattle SuperSonics, now in Oklahoma City, he helped the Sonics win their only championship in 1979, spending their first nine seasons in Seattle before being traded to Milwaukee Bucks, with whom he finished his career. Sikma does not have an NBA organization to lead the charge of its selection. Nevertheless, his CV deserves a second review by the Hall of Fame Committee.
– Kevin Pelton
Rudy Tomjanovich
The combination of victories and Tomjanovich's winning percentage as a coach would place him at the bottom of the Hall of Famers rankings in this category. Ditto for his 13,000 points and five appearances as an NBA player. (These figures would certainly be higher without an infamous punch, although Tomjanovich made an All-Star appearance after Kermit Washington almost killed him during a fight in 1977). have become part of the fabric of the game over the decades.
Each coach who has won multiple NBA titles is either in or still coaching, although two – K.C. Jones and Bill Russell – only intervened as players. Tomjanovich led the Rockets in two consecutive titles during the Jordanian interregnum, after a 3-point lead ahead of his time, and remains one of the greatest players in the history of the University of Michigan. Little players are at stake. It's time to put Rudy T in Springfield.
– Zach Lowe
Sonny Vaccaro
The contributor wing of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has increasingly become a place of rewards for the batters for life. Fewer people had an impact on the dramatic changes in the game, and almost none shaped the future of basketball in the same way as John Paul Vincent (Sonny) Vaccaro.
Basketball was marketed and popularized through sneakers, and Vaccaro performed the most important and bold idea: signing Michael Jordan to Nike, launching the Air Jordan campaign and the beginning of the season. an empire of shoes. He had the idea of recruiting university basketball coaches to enter into promotion agreements, and he founded the Dapper Dan Classic and ABCD Camp, discovering and transforming high school players into national phenomena. He was a prospector, still operating the land for gold and oil.
Vaccaro has changed the modern basketball market, enriched NBA stars and college structure, but has always advocated – long before it is politically popular – that NCAA players share the enormous revenues generated by the TV advertising.
Vaccaro has never been one of the blue bloods that the establishment wants to recognize, not to mention the honor. He was a provocateur, a maverick and a hustler. Vaccaro changed basketball. Most coaches and modern stars of the Hall of Fame can thank him for the billions of dollars he's imagined for them. He should be rewarded with a commitment as a contributor to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.
– Adrian Wojnarowski
Chris Webber
Webber is one of the most versatile and talented strikers the game has ever known, with a peak at the turn of the century that, along with Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki, began to redefine the entire skill set of the position altogether.
A five-time member of the star team and five-time NBA member, the former No. 1 seed is tied with Tim Hardaway, who is facing his own delicate dynamic with the stars. voters, as the only players with a handful of signs. everyone not to be in the Hall of Fame. Webber is arguably the best player yet to be inducted. The former 6-foot-10 Kings star finished in the top 10 for the MVP vote in each of those All-NBA seasons, finishing fourth in 2001.
However, Webber's accomplishments in two seasons in Michigan – leading the "Fab Five" to 56 combined wins and two consecutive finals – have been clouded since their official vacancy by the NCAA more than 15 years ago. Webber would have received nearly $ 280,000 in cash and gifts from 1988 to 1993, all through high school and college. The scandal is perhaps the biggest obstacle to its rooting, despite its undeniable play in the 1990s and early 2000s.
– Nick DePaula
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