Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
On another Raptors-related note, TSN published this piece with a rather passionate and one-sided argument that now that Carter has 20,000 career points, he deserves to be in the HoF.
http://tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=350294
Thoughts?
Here's my take: Almost everyone in the HoF has a championship, and amongst those that don't have championships, almost all of them have been at least to the finals. In terms of players who have no finals appearances and are in the HoF, there are very few. Dominique Wilkins is one. He's an interesting comparison for Carter, because they were both human highlight films and slam-dunk champions, extremely popular players and multiple-time all-stars. Wilkins is probably the best comparison for those wanting to see Carter in the HoF.
However, Wilkins also has nearly 25 PPG over his career and 26,668 points, good for 11th all-time. He's one of six players to average 25ppg for 10 straight seasons. Carter may move up the scoring list into the top 20, but he's unlikely to get close to Wilkins, and he has only three seasons total where he scored 25ppg or better. He also never made Toronto (or any of his other teams) as powerful as Atlanta was during Wilkins' prime. He also never won a scoring title.
So where does that leave Carter? I think he's on the outside looking in right now. I also think that he's hurt by the fact that there's no fan-base that passionately wants to see him in the HoF, so who's going to campaign for him? |
I have to say no against Vince Carter in the HOF. My personal opinion is that he hasn't done anything HOF worthy in his career (slam dunk championship's don't count). I realize that he brought the Raptors within one shot of the finals but nothing else sticks out in mind. Getting points is only one part of being a HOF basketball player.
When I read the beginning of your post, the person who immediately came to mind was Steve Nash. No championships, No finals appearances... but in my opinion HOF worthy. 2-time MVP and consistently made his teammates better players. Nash and Carter are completely different players though. Looking at points alone for a player does not make them HOF material.