Hall of Fame nominees

[jericho]

Following are this year's finalists...

Players
Hakeem Olajuwon
Patrick Ewing
Chris Mullin
Adrian Dantley
Dennis Johnson
Richie Guerin
Johnny "Red" Kerr

Coaches

Pat Riley
Don Nelson
Cathy Rush (former Immaculata women's coach)
Victor Bubas (former Duke coach)

Announcers

Dick Vitale

International

Togo Soares (Brazil)
Ubiratan Pereira (Brazil)

Owners

Bill Davidson (Pistons)


Who deserves the honor this year?

[BadBaronRudigor]

For me, the bar is Artis Gilmore who, once again, got passed over. Until he is in, a player must be at least on his level for my vote.

Hakeem was clearly superior to Gilmore, more dominant, more titles, a better player.

Ewing is the next best candidate but although his NBA career might be judged superior to Gilmore's (Gilmore was the higher percentage scorer and better post defender; Ewing the more versatile player on both ends; Gilmore the better passer, neither won championships but Ewings teams were superior overall) . . . but when Gilmore's ABA dominance and championships are considered, AS THEY SHOULD BE, Artis was the more dominant player in his period and should be in the Hall first.

Nonetheless, Ewing was a great player and is probably a lock.

Dennis Johnson was also a lesser star than Gilmore, never considered close to the best player in the league. A very fine player with championship pedigree, he is comparable to James Worthy who is in (but who also was never on a par with Gilmore).

Dantley was one of the greatest scorers in history. That's it. Not an all around player, didn't lead his teams anywhere. Even considering only Gilmore's NBA career, Gilmore was clearly superior.

Chris Mullin was a fun and very good player. Not a Hall of Famer and doesn't belong in this discussion.

For the rest, neither of the ancient veterans are close to the level of the more recent candidates . . . there is already an overrepresentation of players from that era. I don't pretend to be able to judge Euros or Women's coaches, nor do I know much about Davidson. Pat Riley and Don Nelson are locks too though.

[R-Star]

Hope Reggie can make it as an announcer if he doesnt make it as a player.............

[Najee]

Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing are locks to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Artis Gilmore and Adrian Dantley should be in the hall of fame and should have been inducted years ago. It's illogical why both players still are waiting on the outside looking in, particularly in Dantley's case.

It's hard for a sensible person to make an argument why Joe Dumars is inducted but not Dennis Johnson, despite having carbon-copy careers. I don't feel either Dumars or DJ were hall-of-fame-caliber players, but the fact that Dumars is in but yet DJ is not is the major problem I have with the process (namely, no set criteria, a byzantine group of confusing subcommittees and the selection is totally subjective).

Don't get me started on international players and coaches and college coaches (unless you're one of the very best ever).

Pat Riley should be a first-ballot lock. I can see Don Nelson getting inducted on the second time around.

[Najee]

Originally Posted by BadBaronRudigor;5294289
[B

Dantley[/B] was one of the greatest scorers in history. That's it. Not an all around player, didn't lead his teams anywhere. Even considering only Gilmore's NBA career, Gilmore was clearly superior.
[B]

Why don't you just admit you're an Adrian Dantley hater and get it over with? Every post I've ever seen you make on AD goes on about your dislike of AD, even to the point you tried to make some ridiculous rationalization why Alex English -- one of AD's peers who was less accomplished individually and for team success -- deserved to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and yet not AD.

The guy is one of the greatest collegiate and NBA players and also helped lead the 1976 Olympic team to a gold medal. Of course, I would not call Detroit making it to Game 7 of the 1987 East finals and the 1987 NBA Finals "not leading a team anywhere" -- just I guess you need your hater vision to ignore that AD was the No. 2 man on those early "Bad Boys" teams (and where did those Nuggets teams in the '80s go beside being knocked out of the first or second round repeatedly?).

[TiMVP2]

As a Gilmore fan i think dantley is better

[TiMVP2]

As a Gilmore fan i think dantley is better

[BadBaronRudigor]

Dang, normally I get referred to as an Iverson hater and a Dantley synchophant. Heck, I'm getting ripped in an active thread now for saying a Dantley led team would beat the Isiah led team with more (but less efficient) great scorers. I always liked Dantley being a Washingtonian and following DeMatha basketball; I admire his scoring, efficiency, and heart.

That said, he deserves to be in the HOF more than Dominique Wilkens, Mark Aquirre, or Bernard King, less than Alex English or Larry Bird among his peers. He does not deserve to be in ahead of Artis Gilmore who was a much superior player; Artis deserves to be in the HOF ahead of Patrick Ewing for that matter. I have to assume Artis is being blackballed for some issure relating to the ABA since he is nowhere close to a marginal HOF candidate.

[Najee]

Originally Posted by BadBaronRudigor

That said, he deserves to be in the HOF more than Dominique Wilkens, Mark Aquirre, or Bernard King, less than Alex English or Larry Bird among his peers. He does not deserve to be in ahead of Artis Gilmore who was a much superior player; Artis deserves to be in the HOF ahead of Patrick Ewing for that matter. I have to assume Artis is being blackballed for some issure relating to the ABA since he is nowhere close to a marginal HOF candidate.

You cannot come up with one valid reason why Alex English deserves to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame more than Adrian Dantley. AD was at least the same caliber of NBA player and AD's collegiate and international career (Olympics) far oustrips what English did in college. The one thing English is known for (scoring) is something AD was more proficient in, to the point where AD had one of the 15 highest scoring averages in NBA history and English isn't in the top 30.

You're simply using personal bias, not fact, for your reasoning -- of course, Larry Bird (arguably the greatest forward in NBA history and one of the best forwards ever to play) is ranked ahead of AD, but the English one is hilarious. I'm not going to mention Dominique Wilkins, who was a better NBA player than English and (IMO) Dantley.

As for Artis Gilmore being a superior player to Dantley, that's debatable. If you factor in Gilmore's ABA stats but as an NBA player The A-Train was slightly better than Robert Parish. Maybe if Gilmore seemed more passionate about playing in the NBA (in that regard, he was the predecessor to Greg Oden) this may be a different conversation but I feel his approach to the game -- particularly in his Chicago days -- is what has caused people to forget him.

[jericho]

Congrats to the inductees:

Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Adrian Dantley, Pat Riley, Cathy Rush, Dick Vitale and Bill Davidson.

Hakeem and Patrick were never in question. Probably same with Riley and Vitale. I can take or leave Rush and even Davidson, not knowing much about them.

Nice to see Dantley finally get the nod. One of the best scorers ever to pick up a basketball. If he'd had a more well-rounded game he would have made it in sooner, but the timing is just about right for him.

[kflo]

i can't see an argument that gilmore is more deserving of the hof than ewing. ewing made 7 all-nba teams (6 2nds, 1 1st), and 6 top 5 mvp finishes. gilmore 0 and 0, although his prime, not-coincidentally, came in the aba. his prime statistical years in the nba were mostly on mediocre to bad teams. he just wasn't as good a player. not that ewing is on hakeem's level, but he's above artis.

[xray]

Being an Aguirre fan, I always saw him equal to Dantley in scoring ability and more of an entertainer.

[Najee]

Originally Posted by xray

Being an Aguirre fan, I always saw him equal to Dantley in scoring ability and more of an entertainer.

You forgot to mention the fact that Adrian Dantley's effective NBA was arguably twice as long as Mark Aguirre's -- which is why AD is hall of fame-caliber and Aguirre is not.