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.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023 revision of our top 50 Brooklyn Nets.

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

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

Last year, Brooklyn, which is now entirely devoid of its big three, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden (which led to zero titles), is back to rebuilding. The Nets failed to make the playoffs, and there were no new entries, though two elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes:

1. Jason Kidd
2. Julius Erving
3. Buck Williams
4. Brook Lopez
5. Vince Carter

You can find the entire list here.

Nic Claxton moved to #24 from #40. 

Spencer Dinwiddie, who was traded to the Lakers late in the year, still rose significantly from #35 to 28.

The jumps of Claxton and Dinwiddie reflect the few stars the Nets have had and the relative brevity of players' time there.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

The problem with running a Hall of Fame-related website is that many of the big ones we cover all have announcements within months of each other.  The backbone of what we do is list-related, so this results in a long push to revise what we already have; specifically, now with our Football and Basketball Lists.

At present, we have a minor update as we have completed the first ten of the 2024 Basketball List, which you can comment on and vote on:

The new 1 to 10:

1. Larry Foust
2. Shawn Kemp
3. Max Zaslofsky
4. Buck Williams
5. Gus Williams
6. Kevin Johnson
7. Marques Johnson
8. Mark Price
9. Bill Laimbeer
10. Mark Aguirre

Rankings are impacted annually based on your comments and votes.

Thank you all for your patience. We will soon unveil more changes to the football and basketball lists.

Hall of Fame season continues with the announcement from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame of their nominees,

The Finalists will be announced at All-Star Weekend on February 16 and the Class will be unveiled on April 6 during the Final Four.

Here are the nominees from the varying categories:  *Indicates first time nominee.

North America Nominees:

2008 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team

Rick Barnes (Coach)

John Beilein (Coach)

Chauncey Billups (Player) (Ranked #4 on Notinhalloffame.com)

*Vince Carter (Player) (Ranked #1 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Tom Chambers (Player) (Ranked #19 on Notinhalloffame.com)

John Clougherty (Referee)

Michael Cooper (Player) (Ranked #25 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Joey Crawford (Referee)

Terry Cummings (Player) (Ranked #20 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jack Curran (Coach)

*Bobby Dibler (Referee)

Don Donoher (Coach)

*Robert Foley (Coach)

*Mike Gminski (Player)

Lou Henson (Coach)

*Marques Houtman (Player)

Marques Johnson (Player) (Ranked #10 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Marv Kessler (Coach)

*Bill Laimbeer (Player) (Ranked #12 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jim Larranaga (Coach)

*Mike Leonardo (Coach)

Maurice Lucas (Player) (Ranked #15 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Shawn Marion (Player) (Ranked #16 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Rollie Massimino (Coach)

*Bill Morse (Coach)

Dick Motta (Coach)

*Jack Nagle (Coach)

Jim Phelan (Coach)

Bo Ryan (Coach)

*Charles Smith (Coach)

Stan Spirou (Coach)

Reggie Theus (Player) (Ranked #77 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jerry Welsh (Player)

Buck Williams (Player) (Ranked #6 on Notinhalloffame.com)

John Williamson (Player)

Women’s Nominees:

Leta Andrews (Coach)

*Simone Augustus (Player)

Jennifer Azzi (Player)

*Doug Buono (Coach)

*Cheryl Ford (Player)

Becky Martin (Coach)

Debbie Miller-Palmore (Player)

Marian Washington (Coach)

Dean Weese (Coach)

*Chris Weller (Coach)

*Andrew Yasinoff (Coach)

Contributor Nominees: 

Pete Babcock

Dick Baumgartner

Henry Bibby

Marty Blacke

Vic Bubas

Doug Collins

Wayne Duke

Bill Foster

*Mike Fratello

Bob Gibbons

Simon Gourdine

Tim Grgurich

Justin Kellogg

Johnny “Red” Kerr

Tom Konchalski

Bobby Lewis

Fred McCall

Jack McColoskey

Jon McGlocklin

Speedy Morris

Dennis Murphy

Curly Neal

Jack Powers

Will Robinson

Gene Shue

*Herb Simon

*Scott Tarter

Donnie Walsh

*Jerry West

*World Wheelers

International Nominees

*David Blatt (Coach, Israel)

Tal Brody (Contributor, Israel)

Jean-Kacques Concelcan (Player, Angola/Portugal)

Mirza Delibasic (Player, Yugoslavia/Bosnia)

*Jorge Garbajosa (Player, Spain)

*Andrew Gaze (Player, Australia)

*Panaglotis Gianniks (Player, Greece)

Guiseppe Giergia (Player, Yugoslavia/Bosnia)

Dusan Ivkovic (Player, Yugoslavia/Serbia)

*Andrei Kirilenko (Player, Russia) (Ranked #50 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Vladimir Kondrashin (Coach, The Soviet Union/Russia)

Marcus Leite (Player, Brazil)

*Ettore Messina (Coach, Italy)

*Juan Carlos Navarro (Player, Spain)

*Andres Nocioni (Player, Argentina)

*Fabricio Oberto (Player, Argentina)

*Jose Ortiz (Player, Puerto Rico)

Amaury Pasos (Player, Brazil)

*Modestas Palauskas (Player, Soviet Union/Russia)

Togo Soares (Coach, Brazil)

*Penny Taylor (Player, Australia)

*Michele Timms (Player, Australia)

*Amaya Valdemoro (Player, Spain)

Ranko Zeravica (Coach, Serbia)

Women’s Veteran Nominees:

1982 Cheyney State NCAA Final Four Team (Team)

Alline Banks Sprousse (Player)

Edmonton Commercial Grads (Team)

John Head (Coach)

Yolanda Laney (Player)

Nashville Business College (Team)

Lorneta Odom (Player)

Harley Redin (Player)

Valerie Walker (Player)

Dean Weese (Coach)

Veteran Nominees::

1936 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team

1972 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team

Dick Barnett (Player) (Ranked #58 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Tom Blackburn (Coach)

*Charles Brown (Player)

Freddie Brown (Player) (Ranked #60 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jack Coleman (Player)

Leroy Edwards (Player)

Leo Ferris (Contributor)

Travis Grant (Player)

Jack Hartman (Coach)

Cam Henderson (Coach)

Robert Hopkins (Player)

Charles Kelnath (Player)

Greg Kelser (Player)

Kentucky Wesleyan (1966, 1967 & 1969) (Team)

Loyala of Chicago (Team)

*Dan Lynch (Coach)

Billy Markward (Contributor)

Jack McKinney (Contributor)

Bill Melchionni (Player)

Francis Meehan (Player)

Lucias Mitchell (Coach)

Joe Mullaney (Coach)

Willie Naulls (Player) (Ranked #33 on Notinhalloffame.com)

*Ben Newman (Contributor)

*Don Otten (Player)

*Louis Plert (Contributor)

Kevin Porter (Player)

Glenn Roberts (Player)

Lonnie Rosenbluth (Player)

Kenny Sailors (Player)

Fres Schaus (Contributor)

Sam Schulman (Contributor)

Paul Silas (Player) (Ranked #23 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Dick Van Arsdale (Player)

Tom Van Arsdale (Player)

*Cleo Vaughn (Player)

Lambert Will (Contributor)

Max Zaslofsky (Player) (Ranked #2 on Notinhalloffame.com)

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate all of those who made it to this stage.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Brooklyn Nets.

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

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

Last year, Brooklyn made it to the playoffs, but they lost both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving who wanted out, this ending what should have been an NBA contender.  There is one new entrant and four elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. Jason Kidd

2. Julius Erving

3. Buck Williams

4. Brook Lopez

5. Vince Carter

You can find the entire list here.

Kevin Durant, who finished the year in Phoenix, went to #13 from #26, and the other of the departed, Kyrie Irving, rose to #17 from #25, which, yes, shocked us too.  Remember, this plays more into the team in question and that with so few players who can make an impact, elevating is easy for stars…even disgruntled ones.

Shooting Guard, Joe Harris, who is now with Detroit, went up one spot to #33.

The returning Spencer Dinwiddie, who came back to the Nets in the Kyrie trade, went up two spots to #35.

The lone new entrant is Nic Claxton, who debuts at #40.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Days after we completed our amendments of those to consider for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we finished those our revisions on the Notinhalloffame.com Basketball List.

The first thing that we obviously do with the Basketball List is remove those who were inducted. This took out:

Dirk Nowitzki

Dwyane Wade

Pau Gasol

Tony Parker

We then added those who are worthy who are now eligible for the first time in 2024.

Nowitzki, Wade, Gasol and Parker were ranked 1,2,3 and 5 respectively, which means that we will be seeing a significant change in our top ten.

With those remaining, we factored votes and comments that came from all of you, to alter ranks.

The entire list (115 in total) can be found here, but we always present our top ten!

As is often the case, the #1 spot belongs to a first-year eligible player, and it is no exception now, as Vince Carter is on our mountaintop. While there are obvious flaws in his candidacy, namely his leadership in the first half of his career, this is a man who cemented basketball in Canada, made the Raptors, and was an eight-time All-Star. The man synonymous with spectacular dunks, also is an Olympic Gold Medalist with Team U.S.A.. Carter might not be the best #1 we have ever had, but he is by far and away the best new entrant.

A former #1, and member of the 25^th Anniversary Team, Max Zaslofsky, moves up two spots to #2. Zaslofsky was one of the best players in the late 1940s.

At #3, is Larry Foust, who like Zaslofsky would need to enter via a Direct-Elect Veterans Committee. Rising from #8, Foust has his highest ranking yet, and he brings to the table eight All-Star selections from the 1950s.

Chauncey Billups returns to the top five, climbing two to #4. The former NBA Champion (and Finals MVP) with the Detroit Pistons went to five All-Stars and won World Championship Gold with the United States.

At #5 is Shawn Kemp, who has encountered some legal issues lately, moved up from #7. Kemp was a six-time All-Star, five of which were with the Seattle SuperSonics, and he was also a three-time Second Team All-NBA player. Like Billups, he won World Championship Gold while representing the U.S..

Three-time All-Star and four-time All-Defensive player, Buck Williams, moves from #9 to #6.

Previous Finalist, Kevin Johnson, shot up from #11 to #7. Johnson was a four-time Second Team All-NBA Selection.

Gus Williams had a nice gain from #13 to #8. Williams won an NBA Title with Seattle and was twice an All-Star.

Former Point Guard, Mark Price, enters the top ten at #9, three spots form his previous rank at #12. He was a four-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA Selection.

Rounding up the top ten is Marques Johnson, who also rose on the list, with his jump coming from #14. Johnson was a five-time All-Star, and a College Player of the Year at UCLA, where he won a National Championship.

Aside from Carter, there are only two new entrants on the list, which are:

Joakim Noah, a former Defensive Player of the Year and NCAA Champion with Florida, who debuts at #37.

The underrated and long-serving Tyson Chandler, makes his first appearance at #40.

You know what we want you to do!

Cast your votes, offer your opinions, and as always, we thank you for your support!

In terms of duration, Buck Williams is the top of the Nets food chain as he is the franchise leader in Games Played, Minutes Played and is also the leader in Rebounds and is second all-time in Points.  This isn’t a bad way to start discussing Buck Williams and his time with the New Jersey Nets.

Buck Williams is considered one of the best power forwards of all time. He was a hardworking player who excelled in rebounding and defense, and was also a solid low post scorer. Although he was not as flashy as some of his contemporaries, Williams had a long and successful career, playing in the tenth most games of all time and being one of only seven players to have scored over 16,000 points and grabbed over 13,000 rebounds. Despite never playing on a championship team, Williams was a vital part of some very successful teams and always played the game with the right attitude. 

Williams has yet to be inducted, but he feels due.