Tagged As: basketball, Sports, NBA, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, John Stockton, Hall of Fame

How would you like to have a team in the early ‘90s with Michael Jordan and John Stockton as your backcourt and David Robinson as your starting center? How would you like that team to be coached by Jerry Sloan? Well that, and famed Rutgers Women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer, is the team headed to the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 10, 2009.

The new inductees were announced before the NCAA Championship game, a game I watched and cringed every time the Michigan State guards literally threw the ball to Ty Lawson. I thought and still believe the list very impressive. Each player was in his first year of eligibility and rightfully will be immortalized at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

I, of course wondered, who did not make the cut. Who did not get the 18 of 24 votes necessary to be introduced in September? There were some organizational names I did not recognize (Al Attles?), some old players I forgot even played basketball (Richard Guerin), and some players I was sure would finally get over the 18 vote hump (the Boston Celtics Dennis Johnson and the New York Knicks Bernard King).

I also looked for some sort of unifying theme among the players inducted, and was surprised to find a very simple one, a trait that seems to have disappeared with the advent of free agency: Loyalty, loyalty between a team and the player.

John Stockton spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz, suffering under the thumb of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Chicago Bulls. His teammate, Karl Malone, left for a chance to win an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, but that was after Stockton retired from professional basketball after 19 seasons.

It simply astounds me that an organization could give nearly two decades of its history to one (or two) players. During that time the Jazz never had a losing record, never missed the playoffs, and went to the NBA Finals twice. Stockton consistently averaged double digits in points and was a threat to lead the league in assists.

John Stockton Highlights with music dubbed over some NBA TV clips

David Robinson finished his obligation with the U.S. Navy and then spent 14 seasons tormenting the low post with the San Antonio Spurs, mentoring the player who will go down as the best power forward in history. I do not remember even remember a whiff of a rumor of him being unhappy in west Texas.

Instead this 7-foot-1, 250-pound athletic machine seemed happy to pour his heart into leading this team in vain during the ‘90s as every team in the Western Conference tried to beat the Bulls during the reign of Jordan. He even stayed with the team and accepted his role as teacher, passing the torch onto Tim Duncan, who would be the NBA Finals MVP both times the Spurs won (1999, 2003), with Robinson on the roster.

David Robinson’s 71 point night in 1994 with video from the NBA

Michael Jordan did not spend his entire career with the Chicago Bulls, but I, and many others, are willing to dismiss his last two comeback seasons with the Washington Wizards as the inability of Jordan to let go of the game. The portion of his career, when he played for the Bulls from 1984 to 1998, is what every basketball fan remembers. The Bulls wanted to keep Jordan and Jordan wanted to stay with the Bulls to win a championship, something both sides succeeded at in excess.

The Bulls built around him after his years of struggling to fit his ultra-competitive drive into a team concept. Jordan is simply amazing. His long list of accolades is best summed up by the statue of him flying toward the rim in front of the United Center that stood before MJ came back and completed another three-peat. He was a living legend that perhaps transcends the sport and made this game of basketball my favorite game.

Jordan’s top ten plays according to what I am is assuming is an NBA Video from the sweet ‘90s graphics and soundtrack

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