A Case For The Naismith HOF: Rasheed Wallace?
With North Carolina legend Charlie Scott’s recent ascent into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, we thought it would be fun to evaluate the candidacy of some other former Tar Heels not yet enshrined.
We selected seven players and will run this series in seven segments. Understand that the Naismith Hall of Fame isn’t an NBA hall, it’s for all of basketball. Dean Smith and Roy Williams, as examples, are in.
So are players such as Bill Walton and Bill Bradley. Walton was one of the greatest college players ever, but aside from a couple of very good NBA seasons, his pro numbers may not measure up to most players inducted. His career was massively affected by injuries, but they are part of the game, and he was a bit overrated after returning from missing a lot of time.
That he won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 1986 averaging 7.6 points and 6.8 rebounds is an example. The media liked him and propped him up, this building up his aura.
Bradley was an outstanding college player and a good NBA player. But his numbers weren’t that great, yet he played for the New York Knicks and the media loved him, too. And one has to wonder if there was some element of bias in his induction, give his post-basketball career in politics.
So, with all of that in mind, let’s look at eight former Tar Heels and their candidacies for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. We will explore one player a day for the next eight days:
So far we’ve done:
(Note: We want your thoughts on each player, as well)
Rasheed Wallace
A consensus All-America in 1995, Wallace was also first-team All-ACC and helped lead UNC to the Final Four hat season. He was the USA Today High School National Player of the Year in 1993.
Wallace was a 4-time NBA All-Star, won a world championship in 2004, scored 16,006 points (14.4 average), grabbed 7,404 rebounds 6.7), handed out 1,994 assists, blocked 1,460 shots and had 1,090 steals in his career.
He was a force in big games, always giving his team energy and serving in a role that took on contempt from opposing teams freeing up the stars to do their thing. But his NBA record 317 technical fouls hurt his candidacy to some and enhance it to others, because of the edge it helped give his teams.
In the end, if Wallace ever gets in, it will take a while. He had a very good 17-year NBA career, but it may not have been good enough.