Why, you might ask? Because the Naismith Hall of Fame, apparently, doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing. At the time of writing this, the Hall just announced their finalists for the 2021 Hall of Fame. Do I have a problem with any of the candidates? Absolutely not. I think that they are very deserving of their selection, and I couldn’t be any more proud of them. From guys like Paul Pierce, to Chris Bosh, to Jay Wright and Bill Russell getting in for a second time, this time as a coach. Not to mention players like Lauren Jackson, and Yolanda Griffith who carried the WNBA flag for so long. Every single person who’s been named a finalist has the resume to earn a Hall of Fame spot. The problem that I have with it, is that they are skipping over so many, so many, worthy coaches and players, that it is starting to bother me. The person they skipped over today? Bob Huggins.
I’ve gone on and on before about how I think that Bob Huggins deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and you can read more about that here if you’d like, but what I want to focus on today is how many times he’s been passed over. I don’t have the stats in front of me, so you’ll have to forgive me, but this is the fourth time at least that he’s been eligible to make the Hall, and has fallen short. I don’t know what else he has to do, seriously. Right this second, he’s four wins away from passing the great Bobby Knight in all-time wins. With 899 wins total, he’s ahead of at least 15 Hall of Fame coaches. Most of which I, as the biggest basketball fan you’ll ever meet, didn’t know.
It really is starting to bother me. So much so that I’d like to start my own Hall of Fame… with you. The reader. I’d like to call it The People’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Starting on April 1st, and every first day of the month for a year, I’m going to post an article about the newest inductees to the Hall. For the very first one, I already have a base set of players and coaches I want to honor, but after that is where I’ll need your help. Every month, for twelve months (unless no one cares about this at all,) I’m going to announce seven (7) players, and three (3) coaches that will get inducted into The People’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The players will be from everywhere: NBA, WNBA, Euroleague, college, you name it. The coaches will be from the same pool. Basketball is a global game, so we shouldn’t exclude people based off of where they coached.
For far too long now, the Naismith Hall of Fame has been ridiculed for being too easy to get into. I don’t want to let anyone and everyone into our Hall of Fame, but I want the people who deserve it to get in. I do need your help though. Whether you enjoy this idea or not, I need you to let me know in the comments below. If you don’t like the idea, I won’t bore you with it. If you do, then let’s run it up.


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