Every year, in a special ceremony, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (HOF) is replenished with names who have made enormous contributions to the development and popularization of the sport we all love. The cohort of greats includes not only famous basketball players of the past and present, but also journalists and fans who madly love the orange ball game. The 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony has taken place. Let’s recap it.
Vince Carter
Vince Carter at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Photo: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
The legendary guard had a distinguished career in the National Basketball Association. His 22 seasons in the league are the most played ever in the NBA. Over the course of his multi-decade career, Carter scored 25,728 points, which ranks 24th in North American league history. For many, Vince is the epitome of a great dunker. It’s hard to disagree with this, since the basketball player literally destroyed the hoops and any opponent who tried to resist him. Carter spent his best years with the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets. Still, the eight-time NBA All-Star has managed to reshape his game to benefit his teams in every way possible.
Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Billups at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Photo: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
If Vince Carter has already moved away from the NBA a little, then Billups is still working in the league: he is the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Although the Pioneers might be struggling at the bottom of the Western Conference, that doesn’t change the fact that Chauncey was a great player. And it is unlikely that anyone will dare to argue with this. The point guard spent the beginning of his career roaming around various clubs (Boston, Toronto, Denver and Minnesota), but his stay in Detroit brought the Pistons their last championship to date, in 2004. His play on both ends of the court, passion, leadership, five selections to the All-Star Game, Finals MVP and his coveted trophy will be forever remembered by basketball fans.
Michael Cooper
Pat Riley, Lisa Leslie and Magic Johnson at Michael Cooper’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Photo: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
While Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame at ages 47 and 48, respectively, Michael Cooper was inducted at age 68. Throughout his NBA career, the basketball player played for the Los Angeles Lakers. 12 top-notch seasons, five championships alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and inclusion on eight all-defensive teams (five first teams) are already worth a lot. Additionally, Cooper became the best defensive player in the NBA in 1987. Sure, the Lakers of those years had Magic, Kareem and James Worthy, but it is unlikely that without Cooper’s outstanding defensive qualities and his ability to do the needed at the right time, the Lakers would have had so many trophies in the 1980s.
jerry west
NBA Legends and Jonny West at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Photo: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
On June 12, 2024, one of those who embodied basketball died. Jerry West is not only an icon as a player, but also a brilliant general manager, advisor and simply a person who could steer the club’s history in the right direction with just his word. And this is not an exaggeration: his advice to include this or that player in the draft gave teams a lot of rings. It is West who appears in the NBA logo and is the personification of the Los Angeles Lakers. He spent his entire career at the Club as a player and later was an integral part of it as general manager.
In general, you can talk about West for hours, because it’s basketball. For example, he is the only player in NBA history to become the Final Series MVP while playing for the losing team (1969). And you can collect more than a dozen unique stories. Jerry was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame twice during his lifetime. The first during his career with the Lakers, the second as a member of the 1960 United States team that won gold at the Rome Olympics. West now has the honor of becoming the first three-time Hall of Famer in history. This time his merits as general director were highlighted. The Lakers won eight championships during Jerry’s tenure.
Jerry West’s speech at the ceremony was given by his son Johnny, and around him gathered a host of Lakers legends from the past: Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, Vlade Divac, Bob McAdoo and Jamal Wilkes. Cooper said during his speech: “The logo is an icon of our game. He was a friend and mentor. And I owe him more than I could ever imagine.”
Doug Collins at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Photo: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
Additionally, Walter Davis, Doug Collins, Herbert Simon, Simon Augustus, Dick Barnett, Bo Ryan, Charles Smith, Marian Washington and Harley Redin were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The final list of all HOF candidates was known in February. The preliminary list of candidates included Andrei Kirilenko, Vladimir Kondrashin, David Blatt and Ettore Messina, but none of them have made the Hall of Fame yet.
Does Kirilenko even deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame? It is more likely that no than yes. Nobody underestimates the merits of the brilliant Russian basketball player. He was an important figure with the Utah Jazz for 10 years. His defensive game was literally amazing: it was not for nothing that Kobe Bryant called Andrey an exceptional player from a defensive point of view. The forward could face almost any opponent in the NBA, and everyone on the team would be sure that Kirilenko would make life difficult for his counterpart.
During the lockout of the 2011/2012 season, Andrei played for his native CSKA, with which he was proclaimed champion of the VTB United League, as well as the best player of this tournament. In the Euroleague, the club magically lost to the Greek Olympiacos, losing a 19-point lead, but Kirilenko was also not left without a reward: he became the best player of the regular season. We must not forget the gold at the 2007 European Championship with the Russian team, where the AK-47 played a fundamental role. The bronze at the London Olympics was no less legendary.
Andrey Kirilenko as part of the Russian team at the 2012 Olympic Games
Photo: Ronald Martínez/Getty Images
In Utah, basketball fans still treat Kirilenko with warmth and awe. He was one of the leaders of the team that reached the Western Conference finals. If you look at Andrei’s statistics in those years, you would think that he was an average player. In fact, this is far from true, because the numbers do not reflect everything the forward did on the pitch. He could do absolutely everything on the court and performed with incredible dedication.
Personally, I and everyone in Russia will probably be happy with Kirilenko’s appearance in the Hall of Fame, but, for example, the prestigious sports portal Basketball-Reference estimates the probability of this event at a meager 0.4%. In any case, for us Russians, AK-47 will always be remembered as the one who, at the age of 20, moved to the United States and there earned enormous respect from colleagues and fans not only from Utah. , but of the entire NBA. .
