While most basketball fans are excited about the Final Four, this is secondary to us to the announcement of the annual Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class. 

This year’s announcement was altered when the Hall announced three months ago that they reduces the waiting period from three years to two, which allowed Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Sue Bird to be eligible this year.  As expected, all three of them were elected.

Here is the complete list of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

2008 United States Olympic Team (TEA).  Coached by Mike Krzyzewski (with Jim Boeheim, Nate McMillan, and Mike D’Antoni), the “Redeem Team” beat Spain in the finals.  The roster included Carlos Boozer, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, and Carmelo Anthony.   They overall had a perfect 8-0 record and had an average victory margin of 27.8 Points.

Danny Crawford (REF).  Crawford was an NBA Referee from 1984 to 2017 and worked 23 straight NBA Finals, and over 2,000 Regular Season Games.  He also officiated multiple NBA All-Star Games.

Sue Bird (PLA).  Bird is one of the best women’s players of all time, boasting the best resume among all candidates regardless of category.  A former Naismith College Player of the Year at UConn and two-time NCAA Champion, Bird played her entire WNBA career with Seattle where she won four WNBA Titles, was a 13-time All-Star, five-time All-WNBA First Team selection, and for the United States won five Gold Medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 & 2020) and four World Championships (2002, 2010, 2014 & 2018).

Maya Moore (PLA).  After a solid career at UConn, Moore had an incredible pro career with the Minnesota Lynx, where she won four WNBA Titles, was the 2014 WNBA MVP, and was a six-time WNBA All-Star.  As a one-time WNBA Scoring and Steals Champion, Moore also won two Olympic Gold medals and two World Championship Gold Medals.

Billy Donovan (COA).  Currently the Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls, Donovan’s Hall of Fame path lies in the University of Florida, where he took the Gators to four SEC Tournament Championships, four Final Fours, and two NCAA Championships (2006 & 2007).  The three-time SEC Coach of the Year also had stints as the Marshall Head Coach and Oklahoma City Thunder HC.

Dwight Howard (PLA).  Howard was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, an eight-time All-Star, and a five-time First Team All-Star, most of which were accolades from his early years in Orlando.   He played for the Lakers thrice, winning his only title there in 2020.  Howard also played for Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, and Philadelphia, boasting five Rebounds Titles, two Blocks Titles, and an Olympic Gold Medal in 2008.

Micky Arison:  Arison bought the Miami Heat in 1995, and under his ownership, the Heat won three NBA Championships (2006, 2012 & 2013).

Sylvia Fowles (PLA).  One of the finest defensive players in WNBA history, Fowles split her professional North American career with the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx, the latter of which she won two WNBA Championships and Finals MVPs (2015 & 2017).  A WNBA MVP in 2017, Fowles won four Defensive Player of the Year Awards, an eight-time All-Star, and a three-time First Team All-WNBA Selection.  Internationally, she won four Gold Medals (2008, 2012, 2016 & 2020) and a World Championship (2010).

Carmelo Anthony (PLA).  A member of the NBA 75^th Anniversary Team, Anthony led Syracuse to a National Championship in 2003 and would become a ten-time All-Star and a six-time All-NBA player (two Second Team and three Third Team).  Melo is also a former NBA scoring champion who compiled 28,289 career Points and internationally is a three-time Olympic Gold Medal winner (2008, 2012 & 2016).  He played for Denver, New York, Oklahoma City, Houston, Portland, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Hall also previously announced that Adrian Wojnarowski won the 2025 Curt Gowdy Insight Award, George Blaha and Clark Kellogg won the 2025 Curt Gowdy Electronic Award, Michelle Smith won the 2025 Curt Gowdy Print Media Award and Jeff Twiss won the 2025 John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.

We here at notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our congratulations to newest members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The case for Dwight Howard is a complicated one, but can easily be defined in two halves.

The first half, began in Orlando, where he was drafted by the Magic first overall in 2004 after forgoing college.  It was not a gamble for Orlando, who could not pass on a 6’ 10” Center with exceptional athleticism.  Howard averaged a double-double as a rookie (a trend he continued until the 2017-18 season) and in 2006-07, he broke out as expected with an All-Star appearance, a Third Team All-Star, and more importantly his first trip to the playoffs.  That was good, but now “Superman” was ready to dominate. 

Howard’s game continued to improve and was named a starter in the 2008 All-Star Game, where he also won the Slam Dunk contest while wearing a Superman cape.  A First Team All-NBA player for the first time, Howard lifted the Magic to the second round, and he was fifth in MVP voting.  Over the next three seasons, Howard was without question the top defensive player in basketball, winning three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year Awards (2009-11), capturing five Rebounding Titles and two Blocking Titles over his career.  He was a one-man army, lifting Orlando to the 2009 NBA Finals, and in Orlando he became a five-time First Team All-NBA Selection.  He was a star, he was popular, but he was not a champion, and to do that, Howard felt he needed to leave the Magic.

Howard sought a trade to Brooklyn, but he was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers instead, which was arguably a better opportunity, as it paired him with Kobe Bryant.  This should have been the start of something greater, but instead it ushered a second half filled with controversy and bouncing between teams. 

The Howard/Bryant pairing did not generate a title and Kobe was allegedly upset at Howard’s lack of conditioning and team play.  Conversely, Howard struggled to be the number two option, and the two superstars did not gel.  Howard signed with the Houston Rockets to join James Harden in 2013, but there too, Howard was frustrated with the lack of the ball, though he did have his last All-NBA Selection and All-Star Game in the Lone Star State.

Howard then embarked in a nomadic run bouncing from team to team, where bridges would be burned, rumors abounded and the league was moving to more of a perimeter game, making Howard more of a dinosaur.  He still had good numbers, and in a return to the Lakers finally won a ring, but his reputation was diminished to the point where he was egregiously snubbed from the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Dwight Howard’s legacy might be complex, but his overall body of work is Springfield worthy.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. Once that is done, we will examine how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. As such, it is important to us that the on March 24, Dwight Howard will be inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame.

Howard, who was recently named a Finalist for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last month, will become the 13th member of the Magic Hall of Fame.

Drafted first overall in 2004, Howard played his first eight seasons in the NBA in Orlando, where the Center was an All-Star in his last six years with the Magic.  Howard won three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year Awards, was a five-time First Team All-NBA Selection, and carried Orlando to the 2009 NBA Finals.  He also finished in the top five in MVP voting four times with the Magic, including a second-place finish in 2010-11

Statistically, Howard averaged 18.4 Points, 13.0 Rebounds and 2.2 Blocks per Game and captured four Rebounding Titles and two Blocks Titles.  Currently, Howard is the All-time franchise leader in Points (11,435), Rebounds (8,072), Blocks (1,344), Free Throws (3,366) and Minutes Played (22,471).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Dwight Howard for his impending honor.

Hall of Fame season continues as on the eve of NBA All-Star Weekend, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has announced the Finalists for the 2025 Class.

The Hall made waves when they recently altered (again) the requirements, moving the eligibility limits to two years from three years.

This altered the landscape, as their were no surefire entrant for this year’s class.

The Finalists are:

2008 United States Olympic Team (TEA).  Coached by Mike Krzyzewski (with Jim Boeheim, Nate McMillan, and Mike D’Antoni), the United States beat Spain in the finals.  The roster included Carlos Boozer, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, and Carmelo Anthony.

Dusan Ivkovic (PLA).  A FIBA Hall of Fame inductee, Ivkovic played ten seasons for Radnicki Belgrade in the Yugoslavian League.  Although the Point Guard had a nice career and was nominated as a player, he had far more success as a coach at the club level and for Yugoslavia and Serbia, winning three EuroBasket Gold Medals and a FIBA World Gold Medal in 1990.  Why wasn’t he nominated as a Coach?

Danny Crawford (REF).  Crawford was an NBA Referee from 1984 to 2017 and worked 23 straight NBA Finals.

Marques Johnson (PLA).  Johnson helped UCLA win the National Championship in 1975 and two years later, he was the National College Player of the Year.  He was a six-time All-Star (five with Milwaukee and one with the Los Angeles Clippers) with three All-NBAs (one First Team and two Second Teams) and had nearly 14,000 career Points.  Johnson is enshrined in the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Molly Bolin (PLA).  Bolin was one of the biggest stars of the Women’s Professional Basketball League in the late 70s, the first pro basketball league for women.  She was a three-time league All-Star and was the Co-MVP in 1980.

Buck Williams (PLA).  Williams won the 1982 Rookie of the Year Award and was a three-time All-Star in his time with the New Jersey Nets.  He also player for Portland and New York and was a four-time All-Defensive Selection (two First Team and two Second Team) and had 16,784 career Points and 13,017 Rebounds.

Jennifer Azzi (PLA).  Azzi was the Naismith Basketball Player of the Year in 1990, leading Stanford to a National Championship.  She was also on the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympic Women’s Team and won two more gold medals at the FIBA World Championship (1990 & 1998).  She was also inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and was a Naismith Basketball Finalist in 2023.

Mark Few (COA).  Few are arguably the most important men in Gonzaga's history; as of this writing, he is still their head coach.  He took the Bulldogs to two Final Fours (2017 & 2021) and won 19 WCC Tournaments.  He is also a two-time Naismith Coach of the Year and 12-time WCC Coach of the Year.

Sue Bird (PLA).  Bird is one of the best women’s players of all time, boasting the best resume among all candidates regardless of category.  A former Naismith College Player of the Year at UConn and two-time NCAA Champion, Bird played her entire WNBA career with Seattle where she won four WNBA Titles, was a 13-time All-Star, five-time All-WNBA First Team selection, and for the United States won five Gold Medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 & 2020) and four World Championships (2002, 2010, 2014 & 2018).

Maya Moore (PLA).  After a solid career at UConn, Moore had an incredible pro career with the Minnesota Lynx, where she won four WNBA Titles, was the 2014 WNBA MVP, and was a six-time WNBA All-Star.  As a one-time WNBA Scoring and Steals Champion, Moore also won two Olympic Gold medals and two World Championship Gold Medals.

Tal Brody.  Brody played collegiately at Illinois, but after he competed at Maccabiah Games in Israel, he was asked to stay, which led to a successful career where he put Maccabi Tel Aviv and Israeli basketball on the map, which was the tagline he is known for.

Jerry Welsh (COA).  Welsh was the Head Coach at SUNY Potsdam, where he had a record of 494-141 from 1968 to 1991 and won two National Championships in 1981 and 1986.

Billy Donovan (COA).  Currently the Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls, Donovan’s Hall of Fame path lies in the University of Florida, where he took the Gators to four SEC Tournament Championships, four Final Fours, and two NCAA Championships (2006 & 2007).  The three-time SEC Coach of the Year also had stints as the Marshall Head Coach and Oklahoma City Thunder HC.

Dwight Howard (PLA).  Howard was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, an eight-time All-Star, and a five-time First Team All-Star, most of which were accolades from his early years in Orlando.   He played for the Lakers thrice, winning his only title there in 2020.  Howard also played for Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, and Philadelphia, boasting five Rebounds Titles, two Blocks Titles, and an Olympic Gold Medal in 2008.

Micky Arison:  Arison bought the Miami Heat in 1995, and under his ownership, the Heat won three NBA Championships (2006, 2012 & 2013).

Sylvia Fowles (PLA).  One of the finest defensive players in WNBA history, Fowles split her professional North American career with the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx, the latter of which she won two WNBA Championships and Finals MVPs (2015 & 2017).  A WNBA MVP in 2017, Fowles won four Defensive Player of the Year Awards, an eight-time All-Star, and a three-time First Team All-WNBA Selection.  Internationally, she won four Gold Medals (2008, 2012, 2016 & 2020) and a World Championship (2010).

Carmelo Anthony (PLA).  A member of the NBA 75^th Anniversary Team, Anthony led Syracuse to a National Championship in 2003 and would become a ten-time All-Star and a six-time All-NBA player (two Second Team and three Third Team).  Melo is also a former NBA scoring champion who compiled 28,289 career Points and internationally is a three-time Olympic Gold Medal winner (2008, 2012 & 2016).  He played for Denver, New York, Oklahoma City, Houston, Portland, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Hall also announced that Adrian Wojnarowski won the 2025 Curt Gowdy Insight Award, George Blaha and Clark Kellogg won the 2025 Curt Gowdy Electronic Award, Michelle Smith won the 2025 Curt Gowdy Print Media Award and Jeff Twiss won the 2o25 John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com are always looking to add new sections to our website.  Last month, we uploaded our top 100 active NFL players and how their Hall of Fame resumes stack up.  

We are doing the exact same thing with the NBA.

As opposed to 100 like we did in Football, we are going with only 50 in Basketball.  

We liked the idea that we used in Football with a modern “Modern Positional Average”, so we are doing something similar here.  With advanced analytics, we decided that we don’t have to isolate based on position so they are all on one list.

Inspired by Jay Jaffe’s JAWS statistic that looks at the best seven-year stretch of a baseball player according to bWAR, we are doing the same with current basketball players.  Specifically, we compiled the average PER, Win Shares and VORP for each of the past Hall of Famers based on their best seven-year period.  The additional thinking behind this is that in Basketball, there is an additional focus on periods of greatness as opposed to sports like Baseball, where compiling statistics is more glorified.

To keep everything modern, the average we used is the last 14 inductees, but only the ones who were Modern Era Inductees.  This excludes Direct-Elect Candidates (contributors, Early African-American Pioneers, International and Veterans).  The only exception is Vlade Divac, who was chosen via the International Committee, but has a healthy NBA career to draw upon.

As of this writing, the 14 players from the last four induction classes who we are using for the composite averages are:

Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, Vlade Divac, Bobby Jones, Grant Hill, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Sidney Moncrief, Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal, Jack Sikma and Paul Westphal. 

While we are not looking at traditional statistics, we are averaging out All-Star Games and All-NBA Selections.  With the latter, we are looking at this in weighted fashion.  In terms of Third Team All-NBA Selections, one point will be assigned, Second Team All-NBA Selections will have two points will be granted, and First Team All-NBA Selections will have three points.  

Here are the averages:

Based on their elite seven-year stretch the average PER of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 21.5.

Based on their elite seven-year stretch, the average Win Shares of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 65.1.

Based on their elite seven-year stretch, the average VORP of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 27.8.

With All-Star and All-NBA Selections, we look at the entire career of the player.  

The average All-Star Selections of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 7.4.

The average All-Pro Selections (based on the pointed average of one for a Third Team, two for a Second Team and three for a First Team Selection) is 9.8.

We are also adding NBA Championships. Often,  players in this team sport more than any other (except for NFL Quarterbacks) are judged by the number of rings they have.  Perhaps, that shouldn't be as regarded as it is, considering the average amount of titles of our last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is less than 1.  Specifically, it is 0.79.

Wrapping this up in a bow, the six variables we are looking at Elite Period PER, Elite Period Win Shares, Elite Period VORP, All-Star Games, Weighted All-Pro Selections, NBA Championships.

This will be a regular feature on Notinhalloffame.com, and we will be updating this at the end of the season.

You can find our new section HERE.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank all of you for your support!

Dwight Howard’s career has not been stellar the last few years and as of this writing he is out with an injury after playing only nine games this year.  The big man’s career is clearly on the downswing so talk about whether he is a Hall of Famer or not are not premature.  One person who definitely thinks that Howard should be chosen is his former coach in Orlando, Stan Van Gundy.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, SVG had this to say:

“Absolutely!  It’s not even close.  It would be a travesty and absolutely ridiculous if he didn’t get in.  He was a First Team All-NBA for five years and Defensive Player three years in a row.  Then compare him to guys like Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.  Come on, Dwight had a lot better career than a lot of centers who are in the Hall of Fame.

Dwight has had injury problems since 2012 when he hurt his back here in Orlando, and everybody is looking at him since then but are forgetting what he was up until them, which is the most dominant big men in the NBA for quite some time.  How many guys do you know who made the All-Star team for eight straight years and are not in the Hall of Fame?  We forget who this guy was.”

The comparison to Mourning and Mutombo are valid and both of them were Hall of Fame locks. Howard is also a five time rebounding champion an eight time All Star and his career is not over.  While he has suffered damage to his on court reputation after clashes with Kobe Bryant and James Harden and an inability to help Atlanta and Charlotte, Van Gundy’s claim that Howard was at one time the best Center in the National Basketball Association for an extended period of time is accurate.   

The story of Dwight Howard isn’t over yet, but it is a Hall of Fame one already.

While it is taking is quite some time for us to generate our top 50 players for each major franchise (MLB, NBA, NFL & NHL), we also endeavor to update all of our existing lists when we can.

As such we have done so with a revision of the Charlotte Hornets.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1. 1. Advanced Statistics, such as PER, Win Shares, and VORP.

2. 2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NBA.

3. 3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. 4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

Also remember that in the case of the Charlotte Hornets, the history of the original incarnation of the Hornets is part of this, as they own the rights to that legacy. This also includes the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, who would reclaim the name of the Hornets.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2017-18 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article. They are:

1. 1. Kemba Walker: Over the last two seasons, Walker moved from #6 to #1 and is the definite face of the franchise, though this has been a team that has not advanced to the Quarter-Finals.

2. 2. Gerald Wallace: Due to a slight adjustment in the way we do our rankings, Wallace moved ahead of Larry Johnson and held his #2 spot.

3. 3. Larry Johnson: Johnson slides one spot due to the changes we made on our algorithms but remains as one of the greatest Charlotte Hornets of all-time.

4. 4. Muggsy Bogues: Bogues may be small in stature but he is still a top five player in terms of all-time Charlotte Hornet history.

5. 5. Dell Curry: In terms of who Dell Curry is, many figure him is as the father of Steph but for this purpose he is ranked #5 on our all-time lust for the Charlotte Hornets.

There are other significant changes worth mentioning as there are four significant jumps and three new debuts on this list:

Marvin Williams moves from #25 to #14.

Cody Zeller moves from #27 to #17.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist moves from #38 to #22.

Nicolas Batum moves form #47 to #23.

The new entries are:

Jeremy Lamb at #31.

Dwight Howard at #35.

Frank Kaminsky at #45.

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.

As always we thank you for your support.

Ok…let us begin with the obvious.

Dwight Howard will be a first ballot Hall of Famer and he should be.