Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard headline the Basketball Hall of Fame finalists… who gets in? Carmelo, Dwight, both, or neither?
Saw this scroll across NBATV last night at dinner and got to thinking about who was more deserving. Would love to hear the sub’s opinion on who deserves the nod. Before I give my reasoning, a few qualifiers.
Basketball Hall of Fame is a blind spot for me. I’m more familiar with baseball, where it is notoriously difficult to get in. Don’t know what level of player is the cutoff for modern elections.
Since it is for all basketball and not just NBA, international play counts. Gives Carmelo 3 Olympic gold medals to Dwight’s one.
These are the two biggest NBA names. I believe the true lock is Sue Bird, but this is NBA’s sub, not basketball.
Ok, here’s what I have
If you look at them as a comparison, they are extremely similar. Contributors to their teams right out of the gate, start their prime at end of rookie deals, leave in free agency for bigger markets, and production stays consistent for 3-4 years after. I give Carmelo the edge in being the top option on his team for more years in a row. I give Dwight the edge for being able to drag his team to the finals and being the best at his position at the end of his Magic tenure. Melo can’t help that due to, you know, LeBron, but it’s worth something. Both flamed out around the same time, and their end of careers leave a lot to be desired. With all that said, I give the overall edge to Dwight, but could see Melo getting in as well.
What do you think?
Edit- let me clarify. I believe both players are extremely talented and deserve to be Hall of Famers. I made the distinction that I didn’t know voting habits of Basketball Hall of Fame voters, and now that I know that they are the opposite of baseball, then yes, they both get in easily. I guess a secondary question would be if you had to pick only one, who gets in?