Basketball Hall of Fame Finalists for 2013

I have been a Cavaliers fan since 1975, remember the Miracle at Richfield team and a whole lot of awful basketball. I can tell you one thing about World B. Free, when he was "on" he was one of the most dominant players I have ever seen. He won a playoff game against the Celtics, the Larry Bird Celtics in their prime, all by himself. That year, the team was 2-19 and ended up making the playoffs, was one I will never forget. They broke a losing streak at Philadelphia that was something like 20 games. World actually won Eastern Conference Player of the Week once, something that NEVER happened in Cleveland.

They played the Celtics in the first round and lost 3-1, but they played the Celtics tough in every game (in fact, both teams scored the same exact number of points in the series if I remember correctly). The Cavs won Game Three (Bird was a scratch, so some of the luster if off that win).

World was a gunner and jacked up a ton of shots, but he hit a ton of them and is the only reason the NBA remains in Cleveland. Ron Brewer for World B. Free...who would have thought that trade would save the franchise?

Even though I grew to eventually despise the average NBA player (covering the sport you grew up loving makes you realize what a sap you were when you were spending money to support these egomaniacs), I will always have a soft spot for World, Lonnie Shelton, Phil Hubbard and the rest of the 1964-85 Cavs. Even George Karl, who went on to much bigger and better things, who was only in his second year as a head coach.

World might not be Hall of Fame-worthy, but if you grew up an NBA fan in Cleveland in the 1980's, you know how important he was to the franchise. That the Cavs have not retired his number is a travesty.

 

I agree.

 

I saw World B. Free play several times when I was really young and he was with the Warriors. I still have a program with his autograph with Bernard King, Joe Barry Carroll and Purvis Short.

I can't sit here and say I think he's HOF worthy based on something I saw when I was 6 or 7, but I remember him being the best player on those teams.

I went to a game a few years later when he was with the Cavs and he got a huge ovation. Definitely a fan favorite...

 

World B. Free was as good as or better than Mitch Richmond but played about 8,000 fewer minutes. That's significant.

 

If you look at Free's stats, it a little easier to understand why he's not in the HOF. He did very little as a rookie, had two seasons where he was pretty good, had eight great seasons and then had two pretty crappy seasons at the end of his career.

I would argue that the NBA all-star game is probably the most significant compared to the NFL and MLB. In the NFL, usually a pretty significant number of players skip the game and in baseball, they have to take a player from every team, so every year there are a few people who don't deserve to be there...

Free was an all-star once. Richmond made it six times. I don't even really think six is that great.

 

Joe Barry Carroll...the greatest nickname. Called Joe Barely Cares because of his lackadaisical play

If anyone hasn't read any of Terry Pluto's NBA or ABA books, you must. The book 48 minutes about a regular season Cavs-Celtics game is amazing, and Loose Balls is the Bible of ABA books. I love that era of basketball.

 

Free also put up those numbers in the pre-expansion NBA and missed those All-Star teams in an era when the best teams would dominate the roster more than they do now. His first three seasons, with the 76ers, overlapped with the primes of George McGinnis, Julius Erving and Doug Collins. He averaged 16.3 points a game on the 1976-77 Sixers from The Breaks of the Game.

I am not saying Free deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Richmond has a marginally better case because he embodied his nickname as a much more consistent player. But if you're going to say Richmond is definitely in, then Free probably should be on your radar, too.

Richmond and Free have one thing in common: They were traded for Hall of Fame power forwards. Free was dealt by the 76ers for the draft pick that became Charles Barkley.

 

http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/kings-case-for-hall-of-fame-still-a-good-one/

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kingbe01.html

 

It is funny... Richmond averaged over 21 points a game for about eight or nine seasons in Sacramento, but the best thing he did for them was get them Chris Webber.

 

World B. Free was a great 6th man for those Philly teams. He didn't harness his talents well enough to be a starter then and definitely wasn't an all-star. His game matured and as a result, he became a star.

 

Enjoyed both those books immensely, particularly 48 Minutes, co-authored by Bob Ryan. Still have it. I'm fairly sure Joe Tait dished out praise for World in it.

Joe Barely Cares is very good. I also like how Never Nervous Pervis Ellison went to Out of Service Pervis in the pros. I believe Danny Ainge is credited with the second one.

Joe Barely Cares

 

Dinner Bell Mel Turpin
Hot Plate John Williams