Chauncey Billups and Vince Carter were among those enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass, on Sunday night.
Billups and Carter headlined a 2024 class that featured 13 inductees, seven who went into the Hall of Fame as players. Both Billups and Carter were members of that group, which also included Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Seimone Augustus, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms.
Bo Ryan, Charles Smith and Harley Redin joined the Class of 2024 as coaches, while Doug Collins, Herb Simon and Jerry West were selected as contributors.
West, who died in June at the age of 86, had already landed in the Hall of Fame as a player and an Olympian. He is the first-ever three-time inductee in Springfield.
Billups, 48, spent 17 seasons in the NBA, appearing in 1,043 games (937 starts) for the Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks.
A five-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection and the MVP of the 2004 Finals, Billups sported career averages of 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He is currently coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, a role he has held since the 2021-22 campaign.
On Sunday, Billups spent plenty of time acknowledging his time in Detroit, where he spent eight seasons.
“It was in Detroit where I became an NBA champion. And it was in Detroit where I became ‘Mr. Big Shot.’ It was in Detroit where I finally became an All-Star,” Billups said. “It was in Detroit where I became known as a winner, which is all I ever wanted.
“And it’s also -- it was in Detroit where that No. 1 jersey is hanging in the rafters.”
The 47-year-old Carter played for eight teams across his 22 NBA seasons, averaging 16.7 points, 4.3 boards and 3.1 assists in 1,541 games (982 starts). He was named Rookie of the Year at the end of the 1998-99 season while with the Raptors and went on to earn eight All-Star selections.
“Guess what y’all, from now on, they don’t just say your first and last name without saying Hall of Famer,” Carter told his fellow inductees.
Cooper, 68, was known for his defensive prowess with the “Showtime” Lakers. He spent all 12 of his NBA seasons in Los Angeles, where he was part of five championship teams. Cooper was an eight-time All-Defensive selection and was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 1986-87 campaign.
The 1978 Rookie of the Year, Davis, who was 69 when he died in November 2023, was with the Phoenix Suns for 11 of his 15 NBA seasons. He also spent time with the Nuggets and Blazers, averaging 18.9 points in 1,033 games (373 starts) in all.
Davis was a six-time All-Star.
Barnett, 88, had a 14-year career with the Knicks, Lakers and Syracuse Nationals. He was a two-time NBA champion who averaged 15.8 points per game for his career.
Augustus, 40, posted 15.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during a 15-year WNBA career with the Minnesota Lynx (2006-19) and Los Angeles Sparks (2020). After being named Rookie of the Year in 2006, she won four titles, one of which came in 2011, when she was named Finals MVP.
“Act 1 is done. And Act 2 has begun for me, and if I do that just right, I might be back here on another night,” said Augustus, who is now an assistant coach for the LSU women’s basketball team. “So, instead of saying goodbye, I will say goodnight.”
Although the 59-year-old Timms also played at a high level in the WNBA -- earning one All-Star selection during her five seasons with the Phoenix Mercury -- she made more noise on the global basketball circuit.
No Australian, male or female, had ever played professional basketball internationally before Timms, who helped her native country take home a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics and a silver at the 2000 Games.
Ryan was a college coach for 32 seasons, with stints at Wisconsin-Platteville, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The 76-year-old was named Big Ten Coach of the Year four times, and the Badgers reached the Final Four twice under his watch.
Overall, Ryan had a 747-233 record.
“I thank each and every one of you,” Ryan said, referring to the players he has coached. “It was my supreme honor to coach you. I will cherish the memories we shared for the rest of my life.”
Smith, 75, has won nine state championships as a high school coach in Louisiana. He is the state’s winningest coach at that level.
Redin spent time coaching both the men’s and women’s teams at Wayland Baptist University, earning six Amateur Athletic Union tournament titles. He went into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and died in 2020 at 100.
The 73-year-old Collins was a four-time All-Star as a player, went 442-407 as coach of the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers and Pistons and had a career in broadcasting.
Simon, 89, owns the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. He bought the Pacers with his brother in 1983.
West, a 14-time All-Star, 12-time All-NBA selection and the league scoring champion in 1970, first landed in the Hall of Fame in 1980 as a player, then got there again in 2010 as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team, which won gold at the Summer Olympics.
West was part of nine of the Lakers’ championships -- one as a player, eight as an executive.
Source: Reuters
--Agencies
