Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Sue Bird highlight Basketball Hall of Fame class
Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Sue Bird highlight Basketball Hall of Fame class
Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard later go to the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, not only once, but twice, and LeBron James and Chris Paul are part of the group that goes into the hall before they end their career.
Anthony and Howard were announced on Saturday as members of the 2025 class, as well as the US-Basketball team of the US Olympic men from 2008, where they were called the “salvation team”, conquered the gold in the Beijing games in Beijing and an ongoing run of five successive Olympic titles in a row and for the men’s men’s program from the USA. counted.
Also selected for the Enshrinement: WNBA greats Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Chicago Bulls Coach and two-time NCAA master Billy Donovan, Miami Heat Managing General Partner Micky Arison and long-time NBA referee Danny Crawford.
“I made it to the real basketball sky,” said Howard.
Enshrinement Weekend will take place in the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and in the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
“When the call comes and saw Springfield on the phone in my case,” said Anthony in the television announcement. “You know how late it is Springfield. You know who it is. You get the call and hear: ‘You are in.’ And I think it was a load from my shoulders.
As a college trainer with Florida, Donovan won two consecutive titles. Arison has supervised Miami’s way to NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Crawford worked 32 seasons for NBA games and was selected to work the NBA final in 23 years.
“This is an individual honor for some,” said Arison. “But for me this speaks for what our entire heat family – players, coaches, employees and fans – have built up together.”
Together, the five players, who were an individual bird, Moore, Fowles, Howard and Anthony part of 11 WNBA or NBA championship teams, won 15 Olympic gold medals, 37 all-NBA or all-WNBA appearances and were described 45 times as all-stars in their career.
“Surreal,” said Bird about her selection. “I don’t think there is a way to really wrap your head around him.”
Fowles added: “I don’t think [any] One of us is thinking that we will be Hall of Famers. You just do your job … And when everything is said and done, the job is complete and we are here. “
The selection of the redemption team means that Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant – are already anchored as Hall of Famers – essentially a second time. James and Paul, who are obviously both locks to get to the hall after their retirement, also played for this Olympic team, as did Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Tayhaun Prince.
The redemption team had this nickname because it was the team that had restored the place of the USA basketball on the world stage after the 2004 Olympic team had only managed a bronze medal at the Athens Games. The redemption team went 8-0 in Beijing and won these games by an average of 27.9 points.
“USA basketball is enthusiastic that the Olympic team of the US men from 2008 will be elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame,” said Jim Tooley, CEO of USA Basketball. “The famous run in Beijing of the salvation team marks a decisive moment in the Olympic basketball history of the US men and has brought us to five gold medals in a row.
“Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, members of this team and individuals, are two of the many legends in this class who have contributed to the success of our organization in the past 20 years, including Sue Bird, Billy Donovan, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles,” added Tooley.
The women’s program from Uconn had already had coach Geno Auriemma, Swin Cash (anchored as a player) and Rebecca Lobo (anchored as an participant) in the Hall of Fame, and Bird and Moore, who go together together, are obviously added to a huge weekend in New England.
“You are Hall of Famers for me, you are Hall of Famers for your family, you are Hall of Famers for everyone – you are even Hall of Famers for Uconn haters,” said Auriemma. “This is one thing that you can all agree with.”
Reporting by the Associated Press.
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