Classless Chicago Fans Tarnish Bulls' Inaugural Ring of Honor Ceremony by Booing Jerry Krause
On Friday night, the Chicago Bulls held their inaugural Ring of Honor ceremony, inducting Artis Gilmore, Johnny "Red" Kerr, Dick Klein (the team's first owner and general manager), Bob "Butterbean" Love, Jerry Sloan, Chet "The Jet" Walker, Jerry Krause, Tex Winter, Phil Jackson, Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, and Michael Jordan. What should have been an event brimming with joyful nostalgia was tarnished when Chicago fans booed lustily after Krause's name was announced. Krause's widow Thelma, in attendance to accept the honor, cried at the disrespect, and was immediately comforted by other honorees and retired Bulls players.
There is a proper time and place to express displeasure regarding Krause's role in ending the Bulls' dynasty, but a ceremony honoring him for his significant contributions to building the Bulls' dynasty is not that time or place, particularly considering that Krause died several years ago and thus his widow felt the brunt of the fans' senseless hatred. I don't want to hear excuses about fans being too young to remember Krause, or fans booing without knowing why just because other fans booed. If other people jumped off of a cliff would you follow them, or would you assess the situation and draw conclusions? Of course, that question presumes that the people who booed have functioning brains, which is far from certain.
When your team honors the people who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to make your team great, you cheer. This is not complicated.
I have written about Krause many times. I am not his biggest fan, but I respect what he accomplished--and anyone who has any knowledge of basketball history respects what he accomplished. An objective, detached take on Krause's legacy is that he deserves a lot of credit for building the Bulls' dynasty, and a lot of blame for breaking up the Bulls' dynasty, as I explained in my obituary for Krause:
In 1998, I was furious at Krause for destroying something so beautifully artistic and so competitively fierce.
Nearly 20 years later, I am still puzzled and saddened by what Krause
did but I also appreciate what he accomplished--not just with the Bulls
but over the span of his life. Those who knew him well say that he was a
loyal friend with a good heart. Ultimately, that is how he should be
remembered--and, despite his gruff demeanor at times and despite his
mistake in breaking up the Bulls, there is no doubt that Krause belongs
in the Basketball Hall of Fame. It is a shame that if he ever is
inducted he will not be around to enjoy that most deserved honor.
After Krause was inducted posthumously in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, I assessed his legacy:
I was as baffled and upset as anyone by Krause's haste and glee to
break up the Bulls so that he could try to build another championship
team from scratch but Krause deserves a lot of credit for hiring Phil
Jackson as coach and for acquiring key players Scottie Pippen, Horace
Grant, B.J. Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper and
Dennis Rodman. An NBA executive's job is to win games and championships;
by that standard, Krause is one of the most accomplished executives in
pro basketball history.
"The Last Dance" told the story of the Chicago Bulls' dynasty from Michael Jordan's perspective, and to a large extent made Krause a villain for a generation of fans too young to remember the 1990s. Krause resigned from the Bulls in 2003 after his post-dynasty plan failed woefully, but it should never be diminished or forgotten that Krause's Chicago teams won six NBA titles (1991-93, 1996-98). Jordan did not win a playoff series as a player before Krause arrived in Chicago, and Jordan did not win a playoff series in his two years playing for the Washington Wizards; in 18 years as an owner/executive, Jordan's teams only made the playoffs three times, and did not win a single series. Jordan's 2011-12 Hornets went 7-59, setting the NBA record for worst single season winning percentage. Obviously, being a successful NBA executive is not quite as easy as Jordan thought when he mocked Krause during the Bulls' glory years. Krause's critics say that anyone could have built a championship team around Jordan, but Jordan himself proved for nearly two decades that he was neither capable of finding a great player nor capable of even putting together a team that consistently qualified for the playoffs.
The Bulls' classless fans should be ashamed of booing Krause and tarnishing what should have been a great moment.
Labels: Artis Gilmore, Bob Love, Chet Walker, Chicago Bulls, Dennis Rodman, Dick Klein, Jerry Krause, Jerry Sloan, Johnny "Red" Kerr, Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Tex Winter, Toni Kukoc
posted by David Friedman @ 11:17 PM
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Welcomes 15 New Members and Honors Bill Russell a Second Time
The 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class includes 16 inductees: NBA players Chris Bosh, Bob Dandridge, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber; international player (and NBA player) Toni Kukoc; NBA coaches Rick Adelman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and Bill Russell (who was inducted as a player in 1975); NCAA coach Jay Wright; WNBA players Lauren Jackson and Yolanda Griffith; Clarence Jenkins (Early African-American pioneer); former WNBA Commissioner Val Ackerman; Howard Garfinkel (founder of the legendary Five-Star basketball camp); Pearl Moore (selected by the Women's Veterans Committee).
Most of the speeches were informative and/or inspirational, but I will limit my focus to just a few of the inductees.
Webber led off the festivities, speaking with great passion and eloquence about his journey, about the people who helped him along the way--including his parents and Isiah Thomas--and about how his faith buoyed him during challenging times. Webber mentioned that one of his teachers was related to Turkey Stearnes, the great Negro League baseball player from the 1920s and 1930s, and that this teacher inspired Webber by seeing potential in him that he did not yet see.
Webber is a gifted orator, but it is unfortunate that when he speaks it is advisable to have a fact checker handy. Webber stated that he never received "handouts," which may have seemed like a throwaway line to those who do not know his story, but in fact this is a bold-faced lie. If he had not told that lie during his speech then I would not discuss this right after Webber received the sport's highest honor, but Webber received more than $200,000 in cash and gifts from disgraced "booster" Ed Martin and then Webber pleaded guilty in federal district court to one count of criminal contempt after he lied about receiving that money. Lying in federal district court about receiving large sums of money illegally is not a small matter, which is why Webber's individual NCAA honors and awards were vacated, as were the University of Michigan's Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993. The NCAA also forbade the
University of Michigan from having any official association with Webber
for 10 years (that ban expired in 2013). Webber recently made a public claim that the current University of Michigan athletic director apologized to Webber about the school's handling of these matters, but the athletic director publicly denied apologizing to Webber.
Webber spoke about the importance of studying history and learning lessons from history, but he appears to need a refresher course on his own history. He would have been much better served not talking about "handouts" at all instead of rewriting well-documented facts. I did not intend to bring up this subject in my Hall of Fame article, but after Webber lied any ethical and informed writer is obligated to set the record straight.
I thought that Bob Dandridge gave the best speech. Dandridge scored more points than any other player in the NBA Finals in the 1970s while being a vital performer for two championship teams (1971 Bucks, 1978 Bullets). He shared his grandmother's motto, which became a mantra for him: "Be thy labor great or small, do it well or not at all." He also said that his parents Dorothy and Robert provided to him and his siblings the "tools to flourish not for a short time but for a lifetime." Dandridge called his seventh grade/eighth grade coach Russell Williams the best coach that he ever had even though Dandridge received little playing time during those years. Dandridge declared that the basketball fundamentals that Williams taught to him enabled him to enjoy a long and successful NBA career. Can you imagine a modern player having such a mature and patient perspective?
Dandridge is justifiably proud of the education that he received--in life, not just basketball--at Norfolk State University during a time when HBCUs provided opportunities that black athletes could not obtain at larger, better known institutions.
Dandridge noted that some people said that he played as if he had a chip on his shoulder, but he explained that during his era he faced the likes of Connie Hawkins, Elgin Baylor, and other Hall of Famers almost every game, and there was no "time management" (he clearly meant to say "load management") during his career. Battling against Hall of Famers on a regular basis required focus and a serious disposition.
Dandridge acknowledged that it took decades for him to finally be inducted, but he made it clear that he feels no bitterness: "You
all know I've had to wait a little while, but there's been so much
growth inside of me that I am real grateful for the wait. I've had a
chance to be a better father, I've had a chance to be a better person." Dandridge concluded, "Things happen in God's time."
Dandridge mentioned that he and fellow Hall of Famer Alex English helped develop the NBA's rookie orientation program that has been in place since 1994. I hope that all young NBA players take seriously the messages and wisdom provided by Dandridge and English.
I am always impressed when a player who is not from the United States and did not grow up speaking English as his primary language is able to give a Hall of Fame induction speech in English. Croatian Toni Kukoc--a European basketball legend who also played a key role for three of Chicago's NBA championship teams--spoke flawless English as he described his basketball journey. Kukoc was presented by Michael Jordan and Jerry Reinsdorf. Scottie Pippen was not at the ceremony, but in prerecorded remarks Pippen said that the Bulls would not have won the 1996-98 titles without Kukoc. Kukoc praised both Jordan and Pippen for first kicking his butt in the 1992 Olympics--inspiring Kukoc to work on his game even more--and then welcoming him to the Bulls just a few years later.
Ben Wallace's speech was shorter and less well-structured than most of the other speeches, but that takes nothing away from his accomplishments. Like Dandridge, he is an HBCU product (Virginia Union), but he is the only undrafted player to be inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Four-time Defensive Player of the Year Wallace was the heart and soul of Detroit's 2004 championship team.
Paul Pierce seemed to enjoy the moment as much as any inductee ever, taking selfies on stage during Friday night's ceremonies and reveling in the opportunity on Saturday to both thank his supporters and tweak his doubters--most notably each of the nine teams that did not draft him, and Pierce made a point of mentioning them all by name, bringing to mind Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech and the meme about various things that Jordan "took personally."
During an NBA TV interview prior to the induction ceremony, Pierce mentioned Steve Smith, Jimmy Jackson, and Grant Hill as role models after whom he modeled his game. I am not sure that I see the Hill comparison--Hill was a lanky, explosive athlete, while Pierce was bulkier and more ground-bound--but I definitely can see how Pierce borrowed elements of his game from Smith and Jackson, two players who scored based more on craftiness and fundamentals than athleticism.
Chris Bosh gave the evening's final speech, but it was well worth the wait to hear his intelligent and heartfelt perspective. He has long struck me as an athlete who is too smart and thoughtful to be well understood by most media members and fans, and this disconnect has sadly resulted in making Bosh the target of unfounded criticism. Bosh alluded to this when he talked about the memes about him crying after his Miami Heat lost the 2011 NBA Finals. Bosh admitted that he cried after many painful defeats, dating back to when he played youth basketball. Bosh cried not because he is soft or weak--it is ridiculous to consider crying to be a sign of weakness--but because he loves the game so much and cares so much about performing at a high level. Bosh described the tears he has shed during his life as the water that fed his growth as a player and as a person.
Bosh began his speech with a story about Pat Riley, who joined Ray Allen as Bosh's presenters. Bosh recalled that when he met with Riley during the 2010 free agency period Riley took all of his championship rings out of a velvet bag, placed them on a table, and told Bosh to take one to keep until they won a ring together. Bosh considered that to be quite a bold offer, since Bosh had not yet even agreed to sign with Riley's Heat. Bosh took the ring, and he admitted that he was waiting for the perfect time to give it back. Bosh turned to Riley on the Hall of Fame stage, and handed the ring back to him.
Bosh spoke about how great it was to be in a room filled with his heroes, but added that he also thought a lot about the people who were not there--most notably, Kobe Bryant. Bosh said that as one of the younger players on the 2008 Team USA squad he sought to make a big impression by getting up earlier than anyone else. Bosh set his alarm for 6 a.m., went to the team breakfast--and saw that Bryant was already there, icing his knees after working out. Bosh noted that this was just days after Bryant's Lakers had lost in the NBA Finals, and Bosh admitted that he was still exhausted even though his season had ended weeks earlier. He found Bryant's dedication and energy to be remarkable, and Bosh said that from this he learned that legends are defined not by success but by how they bounce back from failure. This is yet another great example of how a Pantheon-level player like Bryant is better appreciated by his peers than by media members, "stat gurus," and fans who lack the knowledge and life experience to understand what it takes to reach an elite level.
Bosh concluded by talking about how a potentially life-threatening medical condition ended his playing career when he was just 31, and he said that his career and life demonstrate how a person can "turn setbacks into strengths."
Bill Russell joins John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and Tommy
Heinsohn as the only people inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame as
players and as coaches. Russell won two NBA titles as a coach, both times as a player-coach when he was the best player on the team (1968-69 Boston Celtics). His NBA coaching record when he was not playing was 179-207 (.464). The latter mark is not impressive or Hall of Fame caliber, but it may not be fair to divide Russell's coaching career this way: other coaches have had Hall of Fame players but not won championships, and the reality is that Russell did a great job not only "coaching" himself but also coaching an aging roster to two championships in three years, capping off a playing career during which Russell led the Celtics to 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons. Perhaps it may have been more appropriate to honor Russell as a contributor than as a coach. Russell was the first African-American coach to win an NBA title and he has indisputably made many contributions to the game as a player, coach, commentator, and activist. He also had to answer perhaps the most stupid and offensive question ever uttered at an NBA press conference, as shown in the archival career montage footage: after Russell was hired as the Celtics' coach, one media member--I wish this person was identified by name--asked Russell if he could coach white players without prejudice, and after Russell immediately answered "Yes" the media member doubled down by retorting, "How?" Russell calmly explained that basketball is based on mutual respect for each player's abilities.
Russell attended the ceremony in person, but was only able to go on stage by using a cane and having the assistance of his presenters. He did not speak live, but instead provided brief, recorded remarks. Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Spencer Haywood, Alonzo Mourning, Bill Walton, and Rick Welts presented Russell. During his recorded statement, Russell lamented that David Stern and Kobe Bryant passed away and could not be his presenters as well.
Barkley presented three of the 2021 inductees (Cotton Fitzsimmons, Bill Russell, Jay Wright), but he still has a long way to go to catch up with how many times Erving has been a presenter. The official records for Hall of Fame presenters only go back to 2001 (which is an odd limitation for an organization that is supposed to be dedicated to preserving and honoring basketball history), but there is good reason to believe that no one has been a Hall of Fame presenter more often than Erving. Here is the list of each time that I can confirm that Erving has been a Hall of Fame presenter. During his 1997 Hall of Fame speech, English explained that he selected Erving to be his presenter because, "Julius Erving has always been one of my idols, and what I consider and feel that all NBA players should model themselves after. He's been a great athlete, great player, a great statesman for the game, and a great ambassador."
A person must be a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee to be a presenter. Erving was inducted in 1993.
Julius Erving as Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Presenter
1994: None
1995: Presented Cheryl Miller
1996: None
1997: Presented Alex English
1998-2000: None
2001: Presented Moses Malone
2002-2003: None
2004: Presented Clyde Drexler
2005: None
2006: Presented Dominique Wilkins
2007-2010: None
2011: Presented Artis Gilmore
2012: Presented Katrina McClain, Ralph Sampson and the All-American Red Heads
2013-2014: None
2015: Presented John Calipari
2016: Presented Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal
2017: None
2018: Presented Maurice Cheeks and Charlie Scott
2019: Presented Chuck Cooper and Bobby Jones
2020: None
2021: Bill Russell
Fitzsimmons, Jenkins, and Garfinkel are posthumous inductees. It is fair
to wonder why each of them was not inducted a long time ago.
Fitzsimmons won the NBA Coach of the Year award twice (1979, 1989), and
he ranks 16th in NBA history with 832 regular season coaching wins.
Fitzsimmons ranked seventh in regular season coaching wins when he
retired in 1997, and it is sad that he did not receive this honor until
17 years after he passed away. Jenkins was a key player on dominant
teams during the pre-NBA era. Jenkins passed away in 1968. Garfinkel's
Five-Star basketball camp was a fertile training ground for players and
coaches alike. Garfinkel passed away in 2016 at the age of 86. His
Five-Star basketball camp was active from 1966 through 2008, reportedly
producing over 600 NBA players and more than 10,000 Division I players.
Articles About Recent Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies:
Kobe Bryant Headlines the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Class of 2020)
The Basketball Hall of Fame Welcomes A Diverse Class of 12 Inductees (Class of 2019)
Thoughts and Observations About the 2018 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony (Class of 2018)
Labels: Bill Russell, Bob Dandridge, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Toni Kukoc
posted by David Friedman @ 4:31 AM
The 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Class Includes Chris Bosh, Bob Dandridge, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber
The announcement of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class traditionally takes place during Final Four weekend, but for the second year in a row that was not the case. Last year, the Hall of Fame announcement took place in a socially-distanced setting after the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the announcement took place just one day after the delayed induction ceremony for the Class of 2020.
The Class of 2021 includes five players who are being inducted primarily because of their NBA careers: Chris Bosh, Bob Dandridge, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber. Toni Kukoc--who had a very good but not great NBA career--is also being inducted, but he was selected by the international committee. Rick Adelman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and Bill Russell are being inducted because of their NBA coaching careers. Russell joins John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and Tommy Heinsohn as the only people inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame as players and as coaches. Two-time NCAA champion Jay Wright is being inducted as a college coach, while Lauren Jackson and Yolanda Griffith are being inducted as WNBA players. Clarence Jenkins is being inducted as an Early African-American pioneer, Val Ackerman is being inducted because of her service as WNBA Commissioner, and Howard Garfinkel is being inducted as the founder of the legendary Five-Star basketball camp. Pearl Moore is being inducted as the selection of the Women’s Veterans Committee.
I first wrote about Dandridge in the October 2004 issue of Basketball Digest. In my article about the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, I implored the Hall of Fame voters to do right by Dandridge: "I enjoyed watching the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony and I
learned some things about various inductees that I did not know, but I
also feel bad for players like Bob Dandridge
who have seemingly been forgotten. Dandridge was a two-way player who
performed a key role for two NBA championship teams (1971 Bucks, 1978
Bullets). Will Dandridge have to wait to be inducted posthumously like
Braun was this year and like Roger Brown was in 2013?"
During the past two decades, I have specifically mentioned several players who deserve Hall of Fame recognition--including Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Artis Gilmore, Spencer Haywood, and Bob Dandridge--and I am delighted that each of them has finally received the honor that they earned with their high-level playing careers. Sadly, Brown was inducted posthumously, but Daniels, Gilmore, Haywood, and Dandridge survived long enough to know that they had been officially tapped for basketball immortality.
Bosh's career was on a Hall of Fame trajectory even before he joined forces with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami, but playing a key role on two championship teams solidified his status. Similarly, Pierce was likely headed to the Hall of Fame prior to 2008, but winning the Finals MVP for a stacked Boston team ensured that he would be inducted. Wallace's career path is remarkable, starting with being an undrafted player from an HBCU and then culminating with being the heart and soul of Detroit's 2004 championship team. Along the way, Wallace won four Defensive Player of the Year awards, tying Dikembe Mutombo's record (the honor has been handed out annually since the 1982-83 season).
Webber is an interesting and complex case. The Basketball Hall of Fame honors accomplishments at all levels of the sport, and Webber performed at a high level in high school, college, and the NBA. However, he played on talented teams that failed to win NCAA and NBA titles in no small part due either to him failing in clutch moments and/or just being outperformed by the best player on the opposing team. That is not to suggest that winning a championship should be a prerequisite for Hall of Fame induction, but when the best player on talented teams repeatedly falls short on the biggest stage that raises eyebrows. When Webber retired from the NBA, I did not rank him as a Hall of Famer.
Further, although there is not a specific or official character requirement for Hall of Fame induction--and many current Hall of Famers might be ruled out if there were--it is worth noting that Webber pleaded guilty in federal district court to one count of criminal contempt after he lied about receiving money from disgraced "booster" Ed Martin. As a result of Martin's testimony that he provided more than $200,000 in cash and gifts to Webber prior to Webber joining the NBA, Webber's individual NCAA honors and awards were vacated, as were University of Michigan's Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993. The NCAA also forbade the University of Michigan from having any official association with Webber for 10 years (that ban expired in 2013).
Advocates for Webber's induction who claim to be baffled by why it took several years for him to be tapped are being disingenuous at best; he was never the best player at his position in the NBA, he did not win a championship in college or the NBA, and his actions brought disrepute on both his name and his school's name. Considering the backlog of clearly worthy players who were not inducted until the past few years--including several names mentioned above--it is hardly an injustice that Webber was not selected until now.
All of that being said, I understand the arguments in Webber's favor, including his multidimensional skill set, and his impressive statistics: purely from the standpoint of individual statistics, Webber had a better career than fellow 2021 inductee Dandridge, and Webber's statistics are also better than other players who have previously been inducted.
The Basketball Hall of Fame may be more subjective and secretive about its selection process than any of the other Halls of Fame for the major North American sports. It is obvious that Kukoc did not have a Hall of Fame-caliber NBA career, but he was selected based on his international career. What "decoder ring" is used to translate international statistics, awards, and team success to compare them with NBA statistics, awards, and team success? In other words--and to cite a specific example--how was it determined that Dino Radja deserved induction many years before Dandridge? I am not suggesting that Radja is not worthy--he is considered one of the greatest FIBA players of all-time--but I am just emphasizing that having one Hall of Fame tasked with recognizing the NBA, the NCAA, the women's game, the Early African-American pioneers, the international game, etc. is a situation that will inevitably lead to inequities and snubs.
The coaching selections are also difficult to understand at times. Russell won two titles as an NBA coach, but he was also the best player on those teams, and he had already won nine titles as a player before becoming a coach. The teams Russell coached for which he did not play were not particularly successful, and he last coached in the NBA more than 30 years ago, so he did not have some recent coaching accomplishment that suddenly merits recognition. This feels a bit like a lifetime achievement award. I must emphasize that I am 100% in favor of honoring Russell; he has become an underrated player in the sense that he should be mentioned in every "GOAT" conversation but he is often cast aside as pundits narrow their field of vision to just Michael Jordan and LeBron James. However, it might make more sense to honor Russell as a contributor than as a coach. On the other hand, he was the first African-American coach to win an NBA title, so maybe the reality is that as a pioneer he is receiving overdue recognition for breaking barriers.
Adelman and Fitzsimmons both rank highly on the all-time wins list, and both did not win an NBA title. Both also coached their final NBA games many years ago. Again, maybe this is just an example of overdue recognition being belatedly bestowed. There are not written (or even unwritten) rules regarding what it takes to be a Hall of Famer, so the process is by definition subjective. Adelman and Fitzsimmons are worthy candidates; I just don't understand the process in terms of who is selected, who is bypassed, who is honored while still actively coaching (such as Jay Wright), and who is not recognized until decades after retiring (or, in Fitzsimmons' case, 17 years after he passed away and over 20 years after he stopped coaching).
The Hall of Fame has inducted approximately 400 people and teams from various categories in over 60 years, so I disagree with the notion that the Hall of Fame is "watered down"; if anything, worthy pro basketball players have been left out because of the Hall of Fame's determination to honor a broad spectrum of basketball accomplishments instead of focusing on pro basketball. The creation of a separate pro basketball Hall of Fame--perhaps with automatic, retroactive induction of all pro basketball players already inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame so that efforts moving forward would be focused on players who have been ignored--would be beneficial, but as long as the NBA is partnering with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame it seems unlikely that the league would participate in creating an entity that would might appear to be competing for the attention and money of basketball fans.
Labels: Ben Wallace, Bill Russell, Bob Dandridge, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Paul Pierce, Rick Adelman, Toni Kukoc
posted by David Friedman @ 2:34 AM
