THE glitter of this year’s list of awardees to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame cannot be denied. Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett — three of the nine honorees for enshrinement — are among the 25 best players in the history of the National Basketball Association, so the measures of their respective bodies of work alone make their trip to Springfield in August a compelling affair. That they have remained in the spotlight five years after they last laced up their sneakers for a sanctioned match serves only to add luster to the proceedings.
Duncan doesn’t exactly have an outsized personality, but the circumstances behind his rise to the all-time Top 10 underscore the truth behind the name The Big Fundamental. He was as consistent as they came, and, in letting his myriad skills do the talking for him (except when he constantly complained to the referees), he just so happened to anchor the workmanlike Spurs to five championships and sustained success. Bryant has five titles to his name, serving as a solid complement to Shaquille O’Neal during the Lakers dynasty at the turn of the millennium, and then spearheading the renaissance of the purple and gold by the end of the decade. Garnett has a single ring, but his leadership, work ethic, commitment to all-around play, and, yes, incessant trash talking (as proof that he would do anything — anything — to win) transcended his early travails.
To be sure, the rest of the Class of 2020 have likewise earned marquee billing; Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens, Eddie Sutton, and Patrick Baumann are all leading lights as well. That said, there is no shame for them to stand in the shadows of their far illustrious batchmates. That Bryant died in a shocking helicopter crash last January 26 after managing to stay with the immensely popular Lakers through his entire 20-year career makes the figure he cuts even more imposing. Ditto for Duncan, who now paces the sidelines for the Spurs, and Garnett, who remains an influential force and cross-cultural icon.
So luminous are the lights of the legends that the Hall of Fame nominating committee dispensed with the direct-elect process otherwise open to representative subcommittees. “[It’s] because of the enormity … that we think Kobe and Duncan and Garnett bring,” chairman Jerry Colangelo noted during the official announcement aired on ESPN yesterday. “We’ve never had a class that strong at the top. And, of course, with Kobe’s death, it added more focus.” Well, maybe not “never,” as the 2009 group that included best-of-the-best-in-hoops-annals Michael Jordan, fellow Dream Team members David Robinson and John Stockton, and coaching lifers Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer will attest. All the same, the point cannot be disputed: The 2020 entrants were collectively a sight to behold.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
