Artis Gilmore elected to NBA Hall of Fame

April 24, 2011 7:50 AM

Update: In Sept. '09 I posted about Artis Gilmore being denied his place in the Basketball Hall Of Fame. Injustice rectified.

But really, just go back and look again at those three pictures in the previous post and smile.

posted by planetkyoto (9 comments total)

Dude, I think he should've been in for the afro and goatee alone.
posted by jonmc at 7:56 AM on April 24, 2011

Oops, I wrote "NBA Hall of Fame" instead of "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame" in the post title. No biggie. Disregard.
posted by planetkyoto at 8:22 AM on April 24, 2011

Article from the previous FPP:

“Artis is one of those guys who made the ABA what it was,” says Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown, who coached the Colonels to the 1975 ABA title.


Big time- Artis definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame. The ABA gets such short shrift, but I was lucky enough growing up to attend many, many Virginia Squires games - a lot of them against Kentucky. Artis was the real deal.

( And the Squires had, on one team: Rick Barry, Jim Eakins, Julius Erving, George Gervin, Fatty Taylor, George Irvine, Swen Nater....)
posted by Benny Andajetz at 8:35 AM on April 24, 2011

With Dantley and now Gilmore in the HOF are there any other obviously bad exclusions left?
posted by aerotive at 8:46 AM on April 24, 2011

This makes me glad, but:

Still waiting for World B. and Bernard King. Don't debate it.
posted by converge at 8:48 AM on April 24, 2011

I love basketball stats, on the list of Hall of Fame probability, Gilmore was 135 at 19%, and now the 7th lowest rated statistically qualified player in the Hall. That's mostly ABA bias mixed with only one title in the HoF formula, his raw statistical production is fantastic. Weighting ABA stats equal with NBA would've had him far higher. But the model claims 96% historical accuracy, and Gilmore just got in this year.

For an interesting modern day case, check out a guy like Vince Carter. Similarly great statistical numbers, almost a 180 in attitude, but 84% HoF probability. A guy like Carter getting in would have to raise questions about what the HoF is supposed to really represent, can you do it on stats alone? Does being a shitty teammate get you DQed? Is it fair to penalized oldtime ABA guys but reward modern day ball hogs? Lots of arguments come to mind.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:49 AM on April 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Vince Carter does make an interesting case, and I've been thinking about it recently.

Basically no one who's paid attention to the NBA for the last decade would put Vince in the hall. 20 ppg like clockwork, but basically doesn't do anything else to help the team win. And his last year in Toronto should basically disqualify him from, well, everything.

BUT. I can just imagine that in 30 years when a new breed of sports writers starts discussing the best players not in the HOF, Vince's name will start popping up a lot. They'll see the dunk contests and the highlight reels, the consistent scoring will stand out, and those last few seasons in TO will be long forgotten. Us old folks will get laughed at for saying things like "but, he wasn't a winner!", and they'll tell us "look at the stats, old man. He was great! He had a ReFBq+ of over 100!"

If anyone else wants to picket VC's hall of fame induction in 2041, hit me up via MeMail.
posted by auto-correct at 11:58 AM on April 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

My first weed pipe when I was 16 was named Artis in honor of Artis Gilmore. Coincidentally this year I elected that pipe into my Weed Pipe Hall of Fame. Congrats to Artis!
posted by vito90 at 3:19 PM on April 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

It is about time! He was such an amazing force on the court.
posted by caddis at 3:55 AM on April 25, 2011