Basketball Hall of Fame Finalists for 2013

Agreed. That is the Hall of Very Good.

 

We all know Stern with his frozen envelope had it rigged so Ewing was going to New York....

 

I think he was saying that if King doesn't get hurt, the Knicks make the playoffs...

 

*Lightbulb*

 

Guy Lewis? Really?

 

Really. Lewis led the University of Houston Cougars division I basketball program to 27 straight winning seasons and 14 seasons with 20 or more wins, including 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament. His Houston teams advanced to the Final Four on five occasions (1967, 1968, 1982–84) and twice advanced to the NCAA Championship Game (1983, 1984). Among the outstanding players who Lewis coached are Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Otis Birdsong, Dwight Jones, Don Chaney and "Sweet" Lou Dunbar. Lewis's UH teams twice played a role in events that helped to popularize college basketball as a spectator sport. In 1968, his underdog, Elvin Hayes-led Cougars upset the undefeated and top-ranked UCLA Bruins in front of more than 50,000 fans at Houston’s Astrodome. This was the first nationally televised college basketball game, and subsequently became known as the “Game of the Century”. It marked a watershed in the emerging popularity of college basketball. In the early 1980s, Lewis's Phi Slama Jama teams at UH gained notoriety for their fast-breaking, "above the rim" style of play as well as their overall success. At the height of Phi Slama Jama's notoriety, they suffered a dramatic, last-second loss in the 1983 NCAA Final that became an iconic moment in the history of the sport. Lewis's insistence that his teams play an acrobatic, up-tempo brand of basketball that emphasized dunking brought this style of play to the fore and helped popularize it amongst younger players.
The Cougars also lost in the 1984 NCAA Final, to the Georgetown Hoyas led by Patrick Ewing. Lewis retired from coaching in 1986 at number 20 in all-time NCAA Division I victories, his 592-279 record giving him a .680 career winning percentage.

 

Thanks, Dripipedia

 

I think it's dumb that basketball HOF feels a need to induct some folks multiple times. Heinsohn already is in the HOF. Uh, yeah, as a player. So they need to put him in again as a coach? A few years after this, they can have him go in as a broadcaster. And keep taking up spots in balloting/on finalists list that might go to someone else.

 

Lynne Hoppes just found his next column.

 

Lewis was a great, great coach back in his day. Of all the names on the list, I would vote for him first.

 

I think Hollinger and Simmons have both argued that the NBA should just make its own Hall of Fame, since right now, the one in Springfield is heavy on coaches and international players, but not NBA players. Heck, Artis Gilmore wasn't enshrined until 2011.

Of the NBA players on the list, Payton is the only no-brainer to me. I think the somewhat poor finish to his career makes people forget that he was a nine-time all-star, defensive player of the year once, All-NBA first team twice and All-NBA team nine times overall. His comparisons on Basketball Reference are mostly Hall of Fame players or probable Hall of Fame players - Clyde Drexler, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Kobe, George Gervin, Jerry West, Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson, and borderline HoF guys like Billups and Miller.

Hardaway and Richmond had vastly different games, but strike me as similar players from a career value perspective. Both were limited by injuries from what probably could have been Hall of Fame careers. Hardaway had just five All-Star seasons, his last full season was at 31 except for one more 77-game effort in 2000-01, and even at his peak, he made just one All-NBA first team. Richmond had six All-Star appearances, but only one first team All-NBA. While NBA careers are usually shorter than MLB, I don't think either guy was good enough long enough to be enshrined. (If you are going to make the Hall with this kind of resume, I think you need to be like Reggie Miller, who was only an All-Star five times but an above average to All-Star level talent for almost 15 years.)

 

For me, the basketball hall is just a mess of names. I know they want to encompass all the sport offers, which is a lot to deal with, but when you have such large classes, it's a little watered down to me.

32 inductees the last three years?

The Hall lost me in 2004. I know it's probably callous because of the story beyond his playing career, but to induct Maurice Stokes makes no sense. Including him in an exhibit along with Jack Tywman is fine.

And as I posted above, I HATE that active coaches can be inducted. Why did Geno Auriemma have to be inducted seven years ago? Or Jim Boeheim eight? Why is Pitino up for induction this year?