New HOF debate: Boston Celtics' Big 3

I'm going to leave Rondo out of this for now, because he has a lot more years left. Anyway:

Kevin Garnett has an MVP award, Paul Pierce has a Finals MVP, and Ray Allen has the 3-point record. All, obviously, have won a championship.

I say all three get in, with Pierce being the least likely even though his stats are the most impressive.

 

Basketball HOF is weird -- seems like everyone close gets in eventually, and it's all one big hodge-podge with the Eastern European coaches and the women's stars of the early 1970s and what have you. So I imagine all three go in.

Under the baseball HOF standards and for debate purposes, though, I'd go yes, no, yes. Pierce never seemed to reach that elite level. You could argue that Allen didn't either, but the three-pointer record would be recognized.

 

yes
yes
yes

 

All in.

I still love the trade the Bucks made to get an over-the-hill Gary Payton for Ray Allen.



That might very well be the moment where I totally gave up on that franchise.

 

They'll all stroll in easily, and rightly so. Not even an issue worth debating, really. The Basketball Hall uses its own standards, not baseball's, but any basketball writer who wouldn't vote for Pierce has spent too much time on Twitter during games he/she should've been watching.

 

I don't know which one was worse, that trade or Dirk Nowitski and Pat Garrity getting traded for Robert Traylor.

 

At least back then, you didn't know what Nowitzki would eventually do.

When they traded Allen, they knew exactly what they had.

 

This is easy. Yes. Yes. Yes. Next question.

 

Not much to debate. All three are locks.

 

You are flat out insane if you think there's even a question about whether Ray Allen was ever considered one of the League's Top 5 shooting guards. Please review his numbers from around 00 until 07 and tell me you stand by that opinion. Or, for that matter, show me five better small forwards than Pierce during those same years.

What is it about HOF threads that brings the lunacy out of this place?

 

Garnett, slam dunk; the other two, not quite automatic but pretty easy choices.

 

A Pierce basket is worth .8 Kobe baskets