Are Billups and Hill HOF worthy?

stuckey is eastern conference player of the week

Of the starting five players from the 2004 championship season, I’d say only Ben Wallace is the definite Hall of Famer.

Billups, Rasheed, Rip, and Tay need another championship to be considered. Ben has a ring, 4-Defensive Player of the Year Awards, and was undrafted. That has to count for something.

Chauncey should be a HOFer, but he won’t get it unless he wins another championship. Like Charles Woodson, he has quietly been one of the best players in the league for years without many people noticing.

Grant Hill will make it but shouldn’t. He’s punk and he only played well for like 6 years. Since then he’s been Ron Harper at best.

I don’t think Ben makes it actually and I’m not sure he should. He’s a great defensive player, one of the best I’ve ever seen. But he only dominated for a seven-year time frame. That’s probably not enough.

Hill: Probably not. Although his first 6 years in the league were amazing, he’s missed too much time w/ injury and has never won a ring. His college years will be included for consideration, so we’ll see how that affects things.

Billups: I say yes. 7 straight conference finals appearances, 1 NBA title, 1 Finals MVP, All-NBA teams, All-Defensive teams, 7 straight 50-win seasons. Affected 2 NBA franchises when he was traded (Detroit flopped, Denver to the WCFs). Another title would do the trick for sure, but even as of right now I say he’s in.

I agree with Fadel — I think Ben Wallace should make it more than anyone else on the 04 squad. I also thought he should have gotten the playoff MVP, but that’s another debate.

I love Grant Hill even though a lot of people don’t. I don’t think he should make it to the HoF, but it wouldn’t upset me if he did. The only player better than his first few years is LeBron. Grant Hill was an AMAZING talent.

Players with better 6-year starts to their career than Grant Hill:

Currently?
Lebron
D-Wade
Kobe
AI
KG
Timmy D
Dirk
Kidd
Etc.

In history?
A ton.

Grant Hill was great. He was so great in fact that he’s never even won a playoff series. And have you noticed that every time he’s left a team they’ve become a title contender within the next couple years? Even AI, as one-dimensional as his game was/is, has had infinitely more playoff success than Grant Hill. Every person on that list has, as a matter of fact, with equally excellent stats to go with playoff success. I’d go so far as to say he might be the most overrated player of all time— this being in reference to his Piston years.

If Hill makes it to the HoF, it makes the fact that Dominique Wilkins, Bernard King, Artis Gilmore, Mo Cheeks, Dennis Johnson, Dennis Rodman, Adrian Dantley, James Worthy, and a host of other superior and more worthy players aren’t in the HoF that much more egregious. Hill for the HoF is the same type of thinking that is going to wind up starting T-Mac and VC in the All-Star game this year.

And I think Big Ben has the best chance of any of the “current” Pistons. He’s go the Kurt Warner-ness on his side— came from nowhere, undrafted, wins a title, and has shown— especially now that he’s doing it again— that he’s one of the elite defensive talents of all time, with the 4 DPotY awards to prove it.

Aren’t Worthy and Dantley in the Hall of Fame?

My bad, they are in the Hall. But the point remains.

I don’t know about Chauncey, he was a late bloomer. Before he came to Detroit he was a journeyman, and while he was the PG of a team with lots of success, the general perception (and the reality of it)was that the Pistons success rested on the balance of the team, the hard work of 5 good players who fit perfectly together. Even more Ben Wallace proved to be the heart and the face of the team.

Re: Hill – After reading some comments I’m kind of down on him as a HOFer.

I think the thing w/ Chauncey is that if Kidd & Nash are locks for the HOF, why isn’t CB?

SK, I agree.

@Skylar

Yeah, I hear that all the time, but honestly, Billups has the ring and the Finals MVP over Kidd and way more postseason success (and way better defense) than Nash.

One thing that might hurt CB is his stats in all those slow paced Detroit teams, but it shouldn’t

It’s the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame, so Grant Hill has a lot better shot based on his Duke accomplishments. Billups had impact strictly on an NBA level. Billups is a bit like Tim Raines, great at all the things that help you win but don’t attract attention.

Ben Wallace should absolutely be in the HoF. Anyone who can be widely regarded as the best defender and rebounder of the decade (with 4 DPOY awards to prove it) should be a shoe-in.

Grant Hill: I’m with Joel, at least to an extent. Yeah, his first 6 years were amazing with respect to individual statistics. But unfortunately he got hurt and couldn’t keep that level of production up. On top of that, his teams were never that good (not his fault, but that will affect the voting). However, his college accomplishments are nothing to sneeze at.

Chauncey Billups: It’s hard to say because I’m so biased. I think he’s been a very, very good player throughout his career, but I’m not sure he’s been a career-long great player. Given his not-that-impressive career numbers, it’s going to be a hard sell unless he wins another championship (which I’m sorry to say doesn’t look that likely unless Denver can add another piece or two in the next 12 or so months).

On second thought, maybe CB should be inducted just for this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0WflOAFrt4&feature=player_embedded