2011 Hall of Fame Inductees

[dell71]

Have you guys seen who's in the basketball HOF? I'll just say that it certainly doesn't have the same prestige as the Pro Football or MLB HOFs. Which raises another issue which is the NBA should have its own HOF. Basketball just lumps everyone who's ever been affiliated with basketball across the globe together...its a joke.

In regards to Mullin he certainly put up numbers in his prime and played on some decent teams.....and because of that coupled with the low standards of the HOF I can easily see him being a HOFer.

NBA definitely needs its own HOF, but I fear that ship has sailed.

Rodman was one of my favorite players growing up but I have a hard time believing he should be in the HOF.

Mullin as well. And why the fuck did Reggie get snubbed?

I'd put Reggie in before Mullin. To me, Rodman is a no-brainer (see below).

Mullin could kill Teresa Edwards in a game of 1-on-1.

Mullin is a HOF no-brainer. He could have done jack in the NBA and still been in the HOF. He was one of the best college players in history. 3-time all american. 3-time Big East player of the year. 1985 Wooden Award winner (top player).

Pretty awesome that Artis Gilmore made it. He led Jacksonville University to the Final Four. He is one of only 5 players in NCAA history to average 20 points and 20 rebounds per game for a career.

Lmao on Mullin v Edwards.

If Mullin could've gotten in without doing jack in the NBA, why isn't Ralph Sampson in?

Ben Wallace is interesting. Wasn't much of acollege player(Rodman was) and Wallace's run as en elite defender/rebounder was pretty short compared to Rodman's. Hell even in his Lakers days Rodman was pulling down 14rpg. Wallace left Detroit and pretty much fell off the face of the earth. I think in retrospect we can all see Wallace's DPOY were overrated for certain reasons whereas Rodman was an elite defender pretty much his entire career...same with rebounding.

When did I say Wallace SHOULD get in? I never said that.

I said does it open the door for discussion of guys like Wallace who really have no business getting in, but can start receiving some discussion as a result of someone like Rodman getting in. Not saying Rodman and Wallace are on the same level, but Wallace has many of the same skill sets Rodman had just not on as grand of a scale.

Obviously Rodman was better, I'm not arguing that at all, shit I just wore a Rodman jersey to a Bulls game 4 nights ago. The fact though is he's 22nd all time in rebounds, the guys before him and the few after him also contributed offensively:

Wilt, Russell, Moses, Kareem, Gilmore, Hayes, Malone, Parish, THurmond, Bellamy, Unseld, Hakeem, Shaq, Williams (not in HOF), Lucas, Pettit, Garnett, Barkley, Mutombo (very similar though not in HOF), Silas (not in HOF), Oakley (also similar not in HOF), Duncan, Willis (not in HOF), Ewing, Elgin Baylor

There's precedent for great rebounding but mediocre offensive guys not getting into the hall like Paul Silas and Buck Williams. Like Kuzzy mentioned Rodman was an exceptional defender and won more championships and again its the friggin basketball hall of fame so who cares, but Rodman is not a sure fire one to me.

Saying he's 22nd all time in rebounds hardly does him justice, though.

His 13.1 rpg is the highest career average of any player who started their career after the NBA/ABA merger. When most of the people ahead of him played, league-wide FG% was less than 40% so there were a lot more rebounds to go around.

Among the top 40 rebounders of all time, he and David Robinson are the only two to have started after the merger and played in less than 1000 games. Robinson's 987 games is 76 more than Rodman, but Rodman has close to 1500 more boards. Think about that this way: a season less worth of games, 2 seasons more worth of rebounds.

It's well documented that he won 7 rebound titles (in a row btw), but take it a step further. During not one of those seasons did anyone come within a full rpg of his average. Jayson Williams in '97-98 came closest at 1.4 rpg back. In several of those seasons he averaged better than 4 rpg more than the person who finished 2nd. By comparison, Michael Jordan only finished 4 ppg better than the #2 guy twice. Magic, Stockton, Kidd nor Nash ever led the league in assists by more than 4 apg.

Let's not forget he was a slim 6'8" forward playing during an era when there were a number of HOF centers and taller, bulkier players at his own position.

Senser already addressed him leading the league in offensive rebounds 6 times. Ask any coach if that counts as contributing on the offensive end.

Back to defense - 2 DPoY awards, 7 times All-Defense 1st team.

Call him one dimensional if you must, but he was unbelievably good at what he did.

[Senser81]

If Mullin could've gotten in without doing jack in the NBA, why isn't Ralph Sampson in?

Because everyone hated Sampson?

[ryne candy]

Rodman was one of my favorite players growing up but I have a hard time believing he should be in the HOF.

Mullin as well. And why the fuck did Reggie get snubbed?

He was not a good rebounder for his time...he was a great rounder ever. Led in rebounds 7 years in a row (a record), 5 championships in which he was an important part of the team, Def. Player of the Year 2x, All Def 1st Team 7x. He forced himself to grab rebounds. Being undersized didn't help him in that category. I'm not surprised he's a HOF...actually surprised they let him in.

edit: read your other post.

Teams didn't need him to score, they had Isiah, Dumars, Jordan, Pippen, Robinson, etc. Many of his rebounds led to fast breaks where they would score. I guess to me, if you are elite in even one category of basketball: scoring, rebounding, steals, etc for a long period of time (not just a season or 2)...you deserve to be in. He changed the game to me.

[FedEx227]

This was definitely a good basketball conversation I wish we could get this more in the NBA section.

[Warner2BruceTD]

To continue harping on Rodman's lack of scoring and then comparing it to completely different players like Ben Wallace and Kevin Willis is like saying Ozzie Smith was a mediocre hitter, so his induction opens the floodgates to equally weak-hitting players like Dane Iorg and Steve Jeltz.

Tremendous obscure baseball references. Thanks.

STEVE JELTZ

[Guest]

seeing sabonis on the list was a surprise. he was a good player, but i never thought that he was hof worthy

[Kuzzy Powers]

seeing sabonis on the list was a surprise. he was a good player, but i never thought that he was hof worthy

Sabonis was unbelievably good over-seas.