Hall of Famers?

[benhillboy]

Interesting discussion on ESPN about 5 candidates, Vince, Grant, Sheed, TMac, and A.I. I go yes, yes, no, no, and no, respectively. Thoughts?

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Vince Carter - yes because he was Toronto's first superstar. Was the best dunker of his day and was clutch.

Grant Hill (assuming that is who you meant) - no because he was injured for most of his career.

Rasheed Wallace - yes because he was one of the most polarizing athletes of his day. Mr. Tech guaran'sheed everything. Won a championship with the Pistons. Invented the stretch 4 with Garnett.

Tracy Mcgrady - no because he was the scoring champ of the league. Started his career much like Durant, but could never win a playoff series. Was also injured most of his career and never played a full 82 game season.

Allen Iverson - yes because he was one of the first to bring street ball like play to the NBA. One of the first scoring PG. Challenged the Lakers for a title. Too bad the guy was a headcase.

[macdaddy]

Is that Grant Hill or Horace Grant? I wouldn't vote for either. I'd go Vince, Sheed and AI but honestly i have no idea what it takes to get in the bball hof. I could make the case No for all these guys easily. Sheed was a great player though. An unconventional 4 for sure but at Portland and Detroit he was fantastic despite all the meltdowns.

[HawkItus]

^{Vince, Grant, Sheed, TMac, and A.I.}

^{No, Yes, Yes, No, Yes}

^{I think the hall of fame is about your overall impact on the Game of Basketball. The two No's only affected it on the NBA level and not historically.}

[benhillboy]

Grant Hill, fellas. I had typed a long explanation, but it was erased while switching between pages, so ill make it short. I remember him clearly being the second best player in the league for a nice stretch behind Mike Jeffrey, and is the only person not named Wilt to lead his team in assist, points, and rebounds thrice. 2 National Championships, 2 Gold Medals, the standard of professionalism and nice-guyness, and there you go. His first 6 years, he was LeBron before LeBron, minus 40 pounds. I do not hold his poor team's playoff futility or his awful injury history against him. He was a historic talent in the strictest sense, and has had an admirable second act as a great defensive role player.Vince is another guy who I can easily and quickly say yes to, even before looking at the numbers, discussed briefly in the telecast last night by Hubie and I think it was Mike Breen. They said Vince deserves strong consideration, and with a 15 year average of .44 shooting, .37 from three, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, and 21 points a game, I totally agree. I would be surprised if there's a past player with a similar résumé not in the Hall. Two Final Four appearances and the second-best dunker of All-Time (Nique) cements it for me.

Edited December 13, 2012 by benhillboy