With the retirement approaching of so many great players, how do we identify and judge who is worthy of admittance into the NBA Hall of Fame. Is there a criteria by which we judge players?

Let’s go over the process of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The following is the criteria to be recognized as a nominee for the hall of fame as a player:

Player: A player must be fully retired for five years before being eligible for Enshrinement. He/she may then be considered for Enshrinement in the sixth year of retirement. Should a player come out of retirement for a short period of time, as defined by the BHOF, his/her case and eligibility for Enshrinement shall be reviewed on an individual basis.

There are several more guidelines to the process. The players name is thrown around throughout several committees and…. well… just read it for yourself:

SCREENING COMMITTEES
There are four Screening Committees: 1. North American; 2. Women; 3. Veterans (an individual whose career ended 35 years before his/her current consideration); and 4. International. These Committees will review and recommend individuals to be reviewed for Enshrinement by the Honors Committee. The North American Committee consists of nine members. The Women’s, International, and Veteran’s Screening Committees are each composed of seven members. To advance to the Honors Committee, an individual requires a minimum number of affirmative votes from the applicable Screening Committee (North American: at least 7 of 9; all others at least 5 of 7). If an individual does not receive a single affirmative vote for three consecutive years (0-27 or 0-21) that person’s candidacy is suspended for five years after which time he/she may again start the process of being reviewed by a Screening Committee. There is no limitation on the number of years a person can be considered for Enshrinement by a Screening Committee unless that person does not receive a single vote for three consecutive years. Screening Committees may put forth a maximum number of finalists to the Honors Committee as follows: North American 10; all others 2.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
After the vote of the Screening Committees, those candidates who are recommended to be put forth to the Honors Committee will first be reviewed by the BHOF Board of Trustees. At this time, should it be determined by the Board of Trustees that an individual has damaged the integrity of the game of basketball, he or she shall be deemed not worthy of Enshrinement and removed from consideration.

HONORS COMMITTEE
The purpose of the Honors Committee is to review carefully a candidate’s basketball record before casting a vote in favor of Enshrining the person into the BHOF. There are 24 people on each of the four Honors Committees. They include Hall of Famers, basketball executives, media members and other contributors to the game. A core group of 12 people sit on all four committees. Twelve specialists are then added to the International Committee while 12 others are added to the Women’s Committee. Twelve other specialists review both the Veterans Committee and the North American Committee. These specialists have an intimate understanding of the specific category of play considered by their committee. A person needs a minimum of 18 votes from an Honors Committee to be Enshrined into the BHOF.

If the Honors Committee has not elected a candidate for five consecutive years, the person’s candidacy will be suspended for five years and will not be considered during this time. Following this five-year period, the candidate will be eligible to be reconsidered by the appropriate Screening Committee.

Now That you understand the process by which this is all done, it is obvious that there is no actual criteria set in stone. No one knows what is worthy of the HOF and what is not. Each person’s destiny sits squarely on the shoulder of committee members.

I’ve seen a few names being thrown around and one name that I’d like to point out is Robert Horry. Is a player judged for the HOF by the amount of rings he has won, the amount of points he is averaged, how important he was to each team he ever played on.

Robert Horry is the most winningest player of any in the last generation of retired players. Horry has won an astonishing 7 championships and has a ring to evidence each one. He has been a pivotal role player for each team he has played on and is now as “Big Shot Bob” for his clutch shooting. He has made so many game winning 3 point shots that there is no way to keep track. To me, he is the most clutch shooter in the last ten years. After all, if not for some brilliant shots from Rob, the Lakers probably wouldn’t have been able to achieve their 3-peat.

I would like to know how everyone else feels about this topic. Please chime in.

Afterward, take a look at this Boston Celtics blog and you be the judge of whether Paul Pierce deserves to be in the HOF.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 6:58 pm and is filed under NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.