By Greg Fuchs
It was a big weekend for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. On Saturday they inducted the 2020 class, which was postponed for a year due to Covid. The class of Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett ranks as one of the all-time best. The Hall of Fame voters were spot on when they voted in those 3 all-time NBA greats.
But did they get the 2021 class right? On Sunday the 2021 HOF class was announced and it included Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber and Ben Wallace.
My usual thought process for the Hall of Fame, regardless of the sport, is do you immediately think “Hall of Fame” when you hear their name. If you have to pause to think about it or need to check their career stats, then 90% of the time I think that means they weren’t a Hall of Famer.
When I heard Pierce and Bosh had been selected, I immediately thought they were no brainer Hall of Famers. As for Webber and Wallace, my initial reaction was “Ehh, I don’t think so”. And upon reviewing their career stats I am convinced my initial reaction was correct.
Let’s look at Webber first. His career per game stats of 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists are certainly Hall of Fame worthy, but when you delve deeper into his career you get a different perspective. One of my favorite sports phrases is “The best ability is availability.” And Webber just wasn’t available often enough.
In his 17 seasons he never once played in all 82 games. In fact he only played 70 or more games in 6 seasons. In his other 11 seasons he averaged 36 games per season. 36! Webber was certainly a Hall of Fame talent, but in my opinion he didn’t have a Hall of Fame career because he just missed way too many games.
Wallace is a different story because he made it into the Hall of Fame primarily because of his defense and it’s tough to put your finger on defensive prowess when trying to determine if a player is worthy of election to the Hall of Fame. There is no doubting he was a great defensive player as he was voted the Defensive Player of the Year 4 times in his 17-year career. He also averaged a solid 9.6 rebounds per game in his career.
Based on his defense and rebounding, Wallace merits Hall of Fame consideration, but there is more to the game than just defense and rebounding. There is a little thing called scoring plus my aforementioned fondness for availability.
As to his scoring ability, not once in his 17 seasons did Wallace average 10 points a game. Not once! His career scoring average was a paltry 5.7 points per game. In my book, there is no way someone gets into the HOF scoring less than 6 points per game regardless of how effective he was in the other phases of the game.
And then there is the availability aspect. In 9 of his seasons, he averaged less than 30 minutes a game. If he was so great how come his coaches didn’t play him more?
When thinking of defensive oriented players that are in the Hall of Fame, Celtics’ great Bill Russell comes to mind. But he was on another planet compared to Wallace. Not only is he perhaps the greatest defensive player in NBA history, but he averaged a respectable 15.1 points per game along with a mind boggling 22.5 rebounds per game. Yes, 22.5 rebounds per game over a 13-year career! He also played 74 games or more 10 times in his career, so he was available.
The Hall of Fame isn’t for the very good or for players who played a long time. It is for the very best of the best, the elite of the elite. While Webber and Wallace both had NBA careers to be proud of, they weren’t Hall of Famers in my opinion. Yet they are, and they will be inducted later this year, so congratulations to them both.
