Oh here we go! We might have a seriously stacked 2016 Hall Of Fame Class. I mean one of the best classes in sports history, I’m not kidding.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame have always had a 5 year removal from basketball rule which means that you have to be retired for at least five years for you to be eligible for Hall Of Fame voting. But now. That limit, according to NBA.com, might be cut down to four.
An official announcement is expected this week. But people with knowledge of the plans said the Hall has finalized the adjustment to shorten the wait time from five seasons in retirement to four before a player can be nominated, wanting to avoid what becomes a sixth year by the time voting is complete near the end of the NBA regular season. Under the new plan, voting and potential enshrinement would come after five calendar years, rather than five NBA seasons.
The big picture is that many candidates with a strong case for first-ballot election — Iverson, O’Neal, Yao, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash — could be enshrined a year earlier. The immediate impact is that O’Neal and Yao, among others, are eligible to be nominated for the Class of 2016 and join Iverson on the previous timeline. Yao and Shaq, plus Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Jason Williams (among others), could not have gone on the ballot for another year under previous Hall rules.
Iverson, O’Neal, Yao, Kidd and Nash. Oh my days I can just see the mega mix that could be made just showing those players highlights. I suddenly feel feint.
This will be so interesting to see who will not just get in, but who will get left out. Tim Hardaway and Chris Webber might be left out simply because of how stacked the 2016 list can now be. I mean that’ll only mean they’ll have to wait another year, but it’s still something.
The official list of the 2016 Hall of Fame nominees has been released.
Following from Scott Howard Cooper of NBA.com.
It will especially help Yao this election when Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson are on the ballot for the first time as expected, with O’Neal an automatic for the Class of 2016 and Iverson a strong contender. That is in addition to Tim Hardaway, Kevin Johnson and Chris Webber as carryover candidates from previous years, plus Michigan State coach Tom Izzo a virtual lock in his initial try.
The North American committee ordinarily contains 40 to 50 nominees before the list is narrowed with a first cut announced at All-Star weekend and then a second vote to determine the enshrinees revealed the day of the NCAA title game. By comparison, the International category has 15 to 20 and one round of scrutiny. Vlade Divac, Nick Galis, Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja are among the contenders with Yao, the only person on the ballot for the first time in International.
The newcomers with NBA ties in the North American field are former players Junior Bridgeman, Iverson, Bobby Jones and O’Neal, plus former referees Hugh Evans and Darell Garretson months after another official, Dick Bavetta, was inducted. Several prominent current and former college coaches are also on the list, including Lefty Driesell, Izzo, Gene Keady, Rollie Massimino, Bo Ryan and Eddie Sutton, with an asterisk for Mark Price, on the ballot for his playing career but now the coach at North Carolina Charlotte.
Pearl Moore, Sheryl Swoopes and a team entry from Wayland Baptist are the first-time nominees from the Women’s committee, which has been expanded.
