Four for the Hall

MY affinity as a fan for the National Basketball Association started in the 1980s cheering for Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers but it was in the 1990s that my fancy soared to a new level with more players and offerings to follow and take delight from.
Which is why when four players who started their careers in the ’90s were enshrined to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame at the weekend, I could not help but reminisce about that standout stretch in The Association and the kind of career the newly minted Hall of Famers had.
As has been the case in the last decade or so, I once again sat through the whole Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies on Saturday morning, Sept. 8, and saw NBA legends Grant Hill, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen and Steve Nash take their place in the hallowed halls of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The enshrinement all but solidified the four’s standing as some of the legends not only in the NBA, but basketball in general, and validation of the contribution they had in the sport.
Joining the four in the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2018 were NBA legends Maurice Cheeks, Dino Radja and Charles Scott, WNBA stars Katie Smith and Tina Thompson, collegiate coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell, pioneering woman athlete Ora Mae Washington and basketball contributors Rod Thorn and Rick Welts.
Hill, I was a fan of his since his playing days at Duke University.
I remember getting excited every time I read a feature on him and the incredible run he had with the Blue Devils in various sports magazines back in the day.
In the NBA he was true as advertised and took the league by storm when he was selected third in the 1994 draft by Detroit.
In his first six years, Hill was all-universe, practically doing everything for the Pistons that made him one of the league’s biggest stars.
After that, various injuries took their toll that effectively derailed his continued ascent to NBA superstardom.
But in 2005, playing for the Orlando Magic, he made his way back to All-Star level, which only added to my admiration for him for the resilience he showed in coming back.
He eventually finished his NBA career sans a title but his huge impact, notwithstanding a “what-could-have-been” run, was undeniably far-reaching.
Kidd was the ultimate team player who made everybody around him better right from his drafting in 1994.
His “Three Js” tandem with Jim Jackson and Jamaal Mashburn was a gem to watch and one big reason to my liking of the Dallas Mavericks up to this day.
He had stops with Phoenix, New Jersey and New York throughout his Hall of Fame career and in all of them he did not fail to make his mark.
Kidd with the Nets I truly liked because when he was there he was on top of his game, leading an interesting mix of players to greater heights.
He won a title in his second tour of duty with the Mavs and it was a fitting ending for the career he had.
Allen, drafted in 1996, has been dubbed as the “greatest shooter” in NBA history and it is going to be hard to argue with that.
He holds the record for the most three-pointers made in the NBA and he did so in a sweet-shooting candy way in stops in Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston and Miami.
Seattle Allen I enjoyed watching for he was truly the man there while I was impressed with how he custom-fitted his game when he arrived in star-filled Boston and Miami, where he was accordingly rewarded with NBA titles.
A batch mate of Allen in the Rookie Class of 1996, it took me a while to take notice of the greatness of Nash.
While I like his game in Dallas, playing in tandem with Dirk Nowitzki at the turn of the century, it was his return to Phoenix, which originally drafted him, that had me completely sold to him.
I must admit that I never rooted for the Nash-led, uptempo Phoenix team but it had my respect for the way it competed each time.
Nash was named a two-time league most valuable player awardee, a testament to the kind of player he was, who took pride in giving his all and never quitting despite the odds.
With four additions to the Hall from the ‘90s, there is no denying the time was great for basketball. And such standing could only be enhanced when the likes of Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Nowitzki, and Paul Pierce take their place among the legends of the sport in the near future.
Happy and proud to have seen Hill, Kidd, Allen, and Nash play, and along with it my congratulations.
 
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
msmurillo@bworldonline.com