Despite Lagging HOF Inductions, NBA Not Planning Own Hall

Jackson To Be Inducted Into Basketball HOF

The NBA’s “dwindling representation in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the growing frustration in response have prompted increasing calls for the league to break away and start its own Hall of Fame,” according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com.  Questions about a selection process that has "historically favored college coaches have grown louder over the past three years.” NBA Commissioner David Stern “voiced pointed displeasure with the trend earlier this year, but prefers to work toward devising a revamped and more ‘transparent’ selection process” with the HOF, which will induct an ’07 class this weekend with no NBA players and only two with NBA ties: Lakers coach Phil Jackson and former referee Mendy Rudolph. Stern: “(It’s) obviously a troubling state of affairs. But it remains our preference to promote cooperation among all members of the basketball community.” He added, “We have always been supportive of the Hall of Fame. Among the constituent groups, we are its largest financial backer.” Stein noted the Women’s Basketball HOF and the FIBA Basketball HOF are run separately from the Naismith HOF, and when the College Basketball HOF opens in K.C. in October, the NBA will be “one of the last constituencies” that does not have its own HOF (ESPN.com, 9/6).