Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce headline 2021 Naismith Hall of Fame finalists
The Basketball Hall of Fame announced the finalists for its 2021 class, a group headlined by Chris Bosh.
Christopher Wesson Bosh (born March 24, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. A Texas Mr. Basketball in high school, Bosh played one season of college basketball for Georgia Tech before declaring for the 2003 NBA draft. He was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Raptors.
While at Toronto, Bosh became a five-time NBA All-Star, was named to the All-NBA Second Team once, played for the U.S. national team (with whom he won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics), and supplanted former fan favorite Vince Carter as the face and leader of the Raptors franchise. In the 2006–07 season, Bosh led the Raptors to their first playoff appearance in five years and their first-ever division title. He left Toronto in 2010 as the franchise’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, and minutes played.
In 2010, after seven seasons with the Raptors, Bosh entered into a sign-and-trade deal whereby he was traded to the Miami Heat. In Miami, he joined fellow stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James; the trio became known as the Big Three. Bosh spent the second half of his career with Miami, appearing in the NBA Finals each year from 2011 to 2014 and winning NBA titles in 2012 and 2013. He made the NBA All-Star team every year during his time in Miami. His career was cut short by a blood clotting condition that the NBA ruled to be a career-ending illness. Bosh played his final NBA game on February 9, 2016.[5] Notwithstanding the NBA’s ruling, Bosh fought to resume his playing career for three years before announcing in February 2019 that he intended to retire. On March 26, the Heat retired his no. 1 jersey.
Seeking to promote sports and education amongst youths in Dallas and Toronto, Bosh set up the Chris Bosh Foundation and regularly speaks to youths about the benefits of reading.
| Career information | |
|---|---|
| High school | Lincoln (Dallas, Texas) |
| College | Georgia Tech (2002–2003) |
| NBA draft | 2003 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall |
| Selected by the Toronto Raptors | |
| Playing career | 2003–2017 |
| Position | Center / Power forward |
| Number | 4, 1 |
| Career history | |
| 2003–2010 | Toronto Raptors |
| 2010–2017 | Miami Heat |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Career statistics | |
| Points | 17,189 (19.2 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 7,592 (8.5 rpg) |
| Assists | 1,795 (2.0 apg) |
Stats  |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
| Men’s basketball | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  |
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| Olympic Games | ||
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2008 Beijing | Team competition |
| FIBA World Championship | ||
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2006 Japan | Team competition |
| FIBA Americas U18 Championship | ||
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2002 Isla Margarita | Team competition |
Former Lakers star Michael Cooper among Basketball Hall of Fame finalists
“Showtime” Lakers star Michael Cooper, who won five championships with the Lakers, lead a list for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Chadwick School. Cooper’s previous coaching jobs include leading the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to two championships and the Albuquerque Thunderbirds to one NBA G League title. A former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Cooper won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era. He has also coached in the NBA, WNBA, and the NBA Development League.
| Career highlights and awards | |
|---|---|
As player:
As coach:
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Milwaukee Bucks: Marques Johnson named finalist for 2021 Hall of Fame class
Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Fox Sports Net. He played as a small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1977 to 1989, where he was a five-time All-Star. He played the majority of his career with the Bucks.
Johnson was a Los Angeles City Section player of the year in high school before attending the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and won a national championship in 1975. In his senior year, he won multiple national player of the year awards. Johnson was the third overall pick in the 1977 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He played seven seasons with Milwaukee before finishing his NBA career with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors.
| Career highlights and awards | |
|---|---|
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| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 13,892 (20.1 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 4,817 (7.0 rpg) |
| Assists | 2,502 (3.6 apg) |
| Stats |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
| College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2013 |
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Marques Johnson rose up for a one-handed “birthday dunk” on Monday morning that had greater meaning than any other dunk during his 11-year NBA career.
Starting at age 55, the five-time NBA All-Star has dunked on video on his birthday and displayed it on Twitter. But on Monday, his 65th birthday, his dunk made him reflect on his greater health and well-being.
“It’s just me using it as motivation to stay in shape and express my gratitude from where I came 20 years ago,” Johnson told The Undefeated after completing his birthday dunk on Monday wearing a mask and his old NBA All-Star jersey. “I didn’t think I’d live to see 65 based on the way I was living my life and the counterproductive things I was doing. Here I am 65, healthy as a horse and still able to get off my feet and do some things. That is kind of what it is all about for me.”
Still dunking at 65 years old 🙌🏾🎉 pic.twitter.com/6jwjTSigDV
— Elder Marques Johnson (@olskool888) February 8, 2021
A member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame, Johnson earned the USBWA College Player of the Year award in 1977 after starting at UCLA. In the NBA, he was a 1978 All-Rookie first-team selection and a three-time All-NBA selection. He averaged 20.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Johnson currently is a television color commentator for the Bucks, who have retired his No. 8 jersey.
The following is a Q&A with Johnson, who talked about his birthday dunks, his expectations for NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, and his comedic son and NBA social media influencer Josiah Johnson.
(Correction: A previous version of this story mistakenly stated Johnson had a stroke 20 years ago. He never had a stroke.)
When did you begin dunking on your birthday and filming it?
I had an assistant coach at UCLA named Larry Farmer, who played at UCLA and wore No. 54 before I got there. He was about four years older than me and he was always talking about how he was dunking at 47, 48 just to see if he could still do it. So, I started around that age just once a year. Back then I could do it pretty easily.
The idea to film it came from Josiah after Blake Griffin jumped over the Kia [in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 2011]. I kind of spoofed jumping over a little Hot Wheels car and dunking at a 24 Hour Fitness by my house at age 55. So every year we just continued it. There were some years where I told Josiah, ‘This is it. I don’t think I can do it next year.’ But once I got close to 65, retirement age, Medicare and all that stuff, I said, ‘Let me try to do it one more year.’ What it does for me is give me motivation to stay in shape. I work out six days a week.
How many dunk takes did you have to do when you filmed?
It’s funny you mention. I only do it once a year. So, I don’t even know if I can still do it when I approach it. Before Josiah got there to film, I did a couple practice dunks. I could barely get to the rim. I was a little nervous. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I could do it this year.’ But once I got warmed up, four or five attempts into it, it felt good. He said, ‘You got one more in you?’ I said, ‘Let’s do it, man.’
I did it about seven or eight times. It seemed like the more I did it, the looser I got and the easier it became and the more confident I was that I could pull it off.
What inspiration do you think you give African American men and men your age seeing you dunk on your 65th birthday?
Take care of yourself. Don’t put limitations on yourself. Challenge yourself, especially when it comes to our health. That is the important thing, especially when it comes to this era of COVID-19, and everything else that is going on, like obesity, cholesterol, high blood pressure and all that stuff. Everything fit together and became a perfect storm. I don’t know if I will be able to do it again next year. I will keep working toward it.
I know one year it ain’t going to happen. When it happens, I will accept that and just pat myself on the back for giving myself a good try and good go of it the past 10 years we have been doing it. And just be thankful to God for blessing me with the health he has.
You said that 20 years ago you were doing things that damaged your body. Can you expound on that?
I was involved in substance abuse and all that kind of stuff. Smoking cigarettes. Drinking too much. I was doing too much of everything, really. I just got tired of living that way, and I decided to do something about it. I will be 19 years sober in April. Since that point in time, life has been as good of a life as I could’ve ever asked for. That’s a big part of it, is being grateful. I got sober at 46 after smoking almost a pack of cigarettes a day and drinking a fifth of gin every other night. I decided to go ahead and change the course.
There is a saying I love that says, ‘Living two lifestyles in one lifetime.’ I’ve been plugged into this second lifestyle and it has been nothing but a blessing. The Milwaukee Bucks job sprang out of it. A lot of good stuff is happening today.
What do you hope people remember about your NBA career?
I want people to be aware that I was first-team All-NBA my second year in the league. I averaged close to 26 points a game, five to six assists per game. [Then-Bucks coach] Don Nelson asked me to rear my scoring back to 20 a game going into my third year. I feel like I could’ve been a big-time point producer. That was part of who I was and my personality as a player being efficient with the basketball. That is one thing I want people to be aware of.
What are your expectations for Giannis and the Bucks?
You see the adjustments that are being made by coach [Mike] Budenholzer in the dunking area. He is using different approaches offensively to make Giannis have to expand his game and to think the game as opposed to just using his physical attributes to try to dunk and dominate the game. Now, he has to try to dominate the game with his mind. Giannis struggled early on. He admitted that he didn’t like this approach early on because he couldn’t just go out and get to the basket anytime he wanted to. But it’s forcing him to think about the game more.
He is getting better and better at it. In the long run, come playoff time, that is going to really help him. Now he doesn’t have to dominate the usage stats. He is not No. 1 in usage like he was last year. Now, he can rely on teammates [Khris] Middleton or Jrue Holiday to help facilitate. It’s helping Giannis in his rise as a manipulator and a guy who can manage the basketball. That is what separates LeBron [James] from everybody else at his advanced age. He knows how to manage the game better than anyone in the league, and Giannis is just learning that.
What do you think about Josiah’s impact on the NBA from a social media standpoint?
Josiah is one of the most talented guys that I know. He was one of the creators of [the animated show] Chamberlain Heights, which was cutting-edge, before its time and dealt with a lot of social issues that we are dealing with right now. What he is doing now is working with Ava DuVernay on the Colin Kaepernick story for Netflix as a writer on that show.
I told Jo after his show was canceled after two seasons because of a lack of promotion, ‘You ain’t never going to run out of creativity. There is no limit on that. So, don’t think it’s going to be your last great creative idea.’ And it hasn’t been. We got a series that we are working on about the area that I grew up in in Los Angeles, the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood called ‘Golden Ghetto.’ It’s a semi-autobiographical thing that we co-wrote together and got some good feedback on. Just the fact that he is killing the game like he is makes me proud as a father in other ways outside of being a basketball player.
Tim Hardaway announced as 2021 Hall of Fame finalist
Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. (born September 1, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Hardaway played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers. He was a five-time NBA All-Star and All-NBA Team selection. Hardaway won a gold medal with the United States national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He was known for his crossover dribble which was dubbed the “UTEP two-step” by television analysts.
He is the father of current NBA player Tim Hardaway Jr.
Hardaway was born in Chicago, Illinois, and he graduated from Carver Area High School there.
College career
Hardaway played college basketball for the UTEP Miners under head coach Don Haskins, a future member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Hardaway was twice named MVP of El Paso’s Sun Bowl Invitational Tournament, in 1987 and 1988. He played on teams that went to the NCAA Tournaments in 1988 and 1989. He won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award in 1989 as the best college player in the nation six feet (1.83 m) tall or under. While playing for the Miners, Hardaway developed his crossover dribble move that was called the “UTEP two-step”.
Hardaway was selected as the 14th overall pick of the 1989 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. In his rookie season, Hardaway wore number 5 on his jersey, as Manute Bol wore Hardaway’s 10. After Bol left the Warriors, Hardaway acquired the number. Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin formed a trio known as Run TMC (the initials of the players’ first names and a play on the name of the popular rap group Run-DMC). As part of the Warriors’ attack, Hardaway was responsible for leading Run TMC’s fast break, displaying his excellent passing and one-on-one skills to complement Richmond’s slashing and Mullin’s shooting.
Golden State made the playoffs during the 1990–91 season, Hardaway’s second season and his first season in the playoffs. In the first round, the 7th seeded Warriors defeated the 2nd seeded San Antonio Spurs led by All-Star David Robinson in 4 games to advance to face the 3rd seeded Los Angeles Lakers led by NBA legend Magic Johnson. The Warriors managed to steal a game on the road in game 2, but could not defeat the more experienced Lakers, falling in five games despite Hardaway averaging 26.8 points, 12.8 assists and 3.8 steals for the series.
Hardaway averaged a career-high 23.4 points a game in the 1991–92 season, as the Warriors fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Seattle SuperSonics. The following season Hardaway averaged a career-high 10.6 assists a game to get with his scoring average of 21.5, but the Warriors did not make the playoffs and would not return to postseason action for the remainder of Hardaway’s tenure with the team.
As a Warrior, Hardaway made the NBA All-Star Game three straight years, and a knee injury kept him out of the entire 1993–94 season. He reached 5,000 points and 2,500 assists faster than any other NBA player except Oscar Robertson.
Achievements
Hardaway was the 1989 WAC Player of the Year. He recorded 5,000 points and 2,500 assists, second fastest in NBA history after Oscar Robertson. Hardaway accomplished it in 262 games; Robertson took only 247.[5] He held the record for most assists in Miami Heat franchise history with 1,947,[5] until his total was surpassed by Dwyane Wade on January 16, 2010.
Hardaway shares the record for second most steals in an NBA Playoffs game, with 8 in Game 2 of the 1991 Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers and in Game 4 of the 1992 Western Conference First Round against the Seattle SuperSonics. In 1991–92, Hardaway became the 7th player in NBA history to average 20 points (23.4 ppg) and 10 assists (10.0 apg) in a season, a feat he accomplished again in 1992–93 (21.5 ppg, 10.6 apg).[5]
Hardaway holds the NBA record for the worst single-game shooting performance in NBA history, going 0-for-17 in a 106–102 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 27, 1991.[6] Hardaway holds the Miami Heat‘s all-time record in 3-point field goals made, with 806. His number 10 was retired by the Miami Heat on October 28, 2009.
National team career
Hardaway was originally selected to play for “Dream Team II” in the 1994 FIBA World Championship but was replaced after suffering a torn knee ligament.
He was also selected (as one of the last two players selected) for the 1998 FIBA World Championship team. The team was later replaced with CBA and college players due to the NBA lockout.
In 2000, he played in the Sydney Olympics, scoring 5.5 points/Game and shooting .385 (15-39) from the field.
Hardaway was a player/head coach of the Florida Pit Bulls of the ABA in 2006.
In September 2009, he played for the NBA Generations team in the 2009 NBA Asia Challenge, a series of exhibitions against Korean Basketball League and Philippine Basketball Association players.
| Career information | |
|---|---|
| High school | Carver Military Academy (Chicago, Illinois) |
| College | UTEP (1985–1989) |
| NBA draft | 1989 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall |
| Selected by the Golden State Warriors | |
| Playing career | 1989–2003 |
| Position | Point guard |
| Number | 5, 10, 14 |
| Coaching career | 2005–2006, 2014–2018 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1989–1996 | Golden State Warriors |
| 1996–2001 | Miami Heat |
| 2001–2002 | Dallas Mavericks |
| 2002 | Denver Nuggets |
| 2003 | Indiana Pacers |
| As coach: | |
| 2005–2006 | Florida Pit Bulls |
| 2014–2018 | Detroit Pistons (assistant) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 15,373 (17.7 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 2,855 (3.3 rpg) |
| Assists | 7,095 (8.2 apg) |
| Stats |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
| Men’s basketball | ||
|---|---|---|
| Representing |
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| Olympic Games | ||
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2000 Sydney | Team competition |
