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Congrats Toni. I LOVE IT.

Toni Kukoc's resume (short version):

3x NBA Champion
NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award: 1996
3x EuroLeague Champion
3× EuroLeague Final Four MVP
FIBA EuroBasket MVP
FIBA World Championship MVP
FIBA Hall of Famer

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today that Toni Kukoč will be inducted into the Class of 2021 by the Hall of Fame's International Committee

https://www.google.de/amp/s/www.nba.com/amp/bulls/toni-kukoc-named-naismith-memorial-basketball-hall-fame

Kukoc was special, a helluva player - one of better inductees!

i was working in paris when Toni was still playing in Europe (but after the bulls had drafted him). Dear god he was a pleasure to watch. The waiter.....

About damn time. Wish we’d retire his jersey too.

Maybe the Bulls will retire his jersey now? How you gonna have a HOF player whose NBA prime was with your team, and not retire his number? Come on Bulls.

Congratulations Toni!

DuckIII wrote:Maybe the Bulls will retire his jersey now? How you gonna have a HOF player whose NBA prime was with your team, and not retire his number? Come on Bulls.

well, if MJ hadn't returned from retirement we wouldn't even be having this conversation, so...

that he was a major contributor to 3 title teams certainly makes it a consideration, though

horace grant, a significantly larger contributor to 3 other title teams, doesn't have his number retired by the bulls. THAT is an outrage given that chucker bob love's number is retired

but anyway...toni was long overdue to be in the basketball HOF. not only did he have an amazing career in europe and a good nba career, but he helped transition the nba to an international league

waffle wrote:i was working in paris when Toni was still playing in Europe (but after the bulls had drafted him). Dear god he was a pleasure to watch. The waiter.....

great nickname, elegant game

I like Toni Kukoc, but I hate players who get in because they were great due to contributions in lesser leagues. Might as well add J.J. Redick to the HOF for being a great scorer at Duke.

If a good chunk of your career is in the NBA, and you are a zero time all-star, you shouldn't be a HOFer. If you don't have a good chunk of your career in the NBA, you should have done something absolutely otherworldly in another league or contributed in some way way beyond your peers off the court.

Kukoc played his entire prime in the NBA, 12 total seasons, and was what at his best? Top 50? Maybe? Probably not even that.

Feel free to create a -1 button and kill me with it

dougthonus wrote:I like Toni Kukoc, but I hate players who get in because they were great due to contributions in lesser leagues. Might as well add J.J. Redick to the HOF for being a great scorer at Duke.

If a good chunk of your career is in the NBA, and you are a zero time all-star, you shouldn't be a HOFer. If you don't have a good chunk of your career in the NBA, you should have done something absolutely otherworldly in another league or contributed in some way way beyond your peers off the court.

Kukoc played his entire prime in the NBA, 12 total seasons, and was what at his best? Top 50? Maybe? Probably not even that.

Feel free to create a -1 button and kill me with it

i think that's a perfectly reasonable perspective. probably why it took him this long to get in. and european ball wasn't nearly as good then as it is now

dougthonus wrote:I like Toni Kukoc, but I hate players who get in because they were great due to contributions in lesser leagues. Might as well add J.J. Redick to the HOF for being a great scorer at Duke.

If a good chunk of your career is in the NBA, and you are a zero time all-star, you shouldn't be a HOFer. If you don't have a good chunk of your career in the NBA, you should have done something absolutely otherworldly in another league or contributed in some way way beyond your peers off the court.

Kukoc played his entire prime in the NBA, 12 total seasons, and was what at his best? Top 50? Maybe? Probably not even that.

Feel free to create a -1 button and kill me with it

-1

I love that the basketball hall of fame is for the sport and not just the league.

DuckIII wrote:-1

I love that the basketball hall of fame is for the sport and not just the league.

I would prefer they had just an NBA HOF to be honest, not that it really matters, but like 50% of the inductees are college coaches. I think that's sort of eye rolling.

dougthonus wrote:I like Toni Kukoc, but I hate players who get in because they were great due to contributions in lesser leagues. Might as well add J.J. Redick to the HOF for being a great scorer at Duke.

If a good chunk of your career is in the NBA, and you are a zero time all-star, you shouldn't be a HOFer. If you don't have a good chunk of your career in the NBA, you should have done something absolutely otherworldly in another league or contributed in some way way beyond your peers off the court.

Kukoc played his entire prime in the NBA, 12 total seasons, and was what at his best? Top 50? Maybe? Probably not even that.

Feel free to create a -1 button and kill me with it

Your signed Shirt will be hanging here for ever..... but man.....for this one I have to give you a huge fat:

-1

dougthonus wrote:
I would prefer they had just an NBA HOF to be honest.

Chris Webber only played in the NBA......why does he deserves to be in the HOF.....over Toni ( minus euro Basketball)?

Just curious...

About god damn time

dougthonus wrote:I like Toni Kukoc, but I hate players who get in because they were great due to contributions in lesser leagues. Might as well add J.J. Redick to the HOF for being a great scorer at Duke.

If a good chunk of your career is in the NBA, and you are a zero time all-star, you shouldn't be a HOFer. If you don't have a good chunk of your career in the NBA, you should have done something absolutely otherworldly in another league or contributed in some way way beyond your peers off the court.

Kukoc played his entire prime in the NBA, 12 total seasons, and was what at his best? Top 50? Maybe? Probably not even that.

Feel free to create a -1 button and kill me with it

-1. Nothing personal but your post is stupid and I hate it.

BeKuK wrote:

dougthonus wrote:
I would prefer they had just an NBA HOF to be honest.

Chris Webber only played in the NBA......why does he deserves to be in the HOF.....over Toni ( minus euro Basketball)?

Just curious...

Chris Webber was a dramatically better player than Kukoc. He was a five time all-star and was likely a top 10 player for a good 5-6 year chunk of his career. He received MVP votes in five separate seasons.

Again, I love Toni, he was a really good player, but he was not an all-time great player or even close by NBA standards. I guess it's fine as a trailblazer type award for early European players. Vlade Divac is in on the same general principle, but I wouldn't put him in either.

dice wrote:

DuckIII wrote:Maybe the Bulls will retire his jersey now? How you gonna have a HOF player whose NBA prime was with your team, and not retire his number? Come on Bulls.

well, if MJ hadn't returned from retirement we wouldn't even be having this conversation, so...

that he was a major contributor to 3 title teams certainly makes it a consideration, though

horace grant, a significantly larger contributor to 3 other title teams, doesn't have his number retired by the bulls. THAT is an outrage given that chucker bob love's number is retired

but anyway...toni was long overdue to be in the basketball HOF. not only did he have an amazing career in europe and a good nba career, but he helped transition the nba to an international league

Bob Love has no business having his Jersey being retired. There are probably 10 guys that contributed more to the Bulls and had better Careers. What about Artis Gilmore. He’s in the Hall of Fame and doesn’t have his Jersey Retired from any team.

If Toni Kukoc made the Hall of Fame you might as well add Lamar Odom and Robert Horry. Toni was a good player but he did not live up to the hype. He was still a younger when he joined the bulls

DuckIII wrote:Maybe the Bulls will retire his jersey now? How you gonna have a HOF player whose NBA prime was with your team, and not retire his number? Come on Bulls.

Congratulations Toni!

I don't think his jersey warrants retirement by the Bulls. And being Croatian... I should be more biased here. /shrug

dougthonus wrote:Again, I love Toni, he was a really good player, but he was not an all-time great player or even close by NBA standards. I guess it's fine as a trailblazer type award for early European players. Vlade Divac is in on the same general principle, but I wouldn't put him in either.

Now I get where you're coming from Doug, I do somewhat agree that the NBA should have a separate HOF.

However, it's more than just an early trailblazer type award nomination, his statement of work internationally is up there.
Crudely cut from Wikipedia:

Individual
1986 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: MVP
1987 FIBA Under-19 World Cup: MVP
3× Croatian Sportsman of the Year: (1989–1991)
FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team: (1990)
FIBA World Cup MVP: (1990)
5× Euroscar European Player of the Year: (1990–1991, 1994, 1996, 1998)
4× Mister Europa European Player of the Year: (1990–1992, 1996)
3× EuroLeague Final Four MVP: (1990, 1991, 1993)
EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer: (1990)
2× EuroLeague All-Final Four Team: (1991, 1993)
2× FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team: (1991, 1995)
FIBA EuroBasket MVP: (1991)
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players: (1991)
Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport: (1992)
NBA All-Rookie Second Team: (1994)
NBA Sixth Man of the Year: (1996)
50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors: (2008)
FIBA Hall of Fame: (2017)

Yugoslavia
1985 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship: Gold
1986 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: Gold
1987 FIBA Under-19 World Cup: Gold
EuroBasket 1987: Bronze
1988 Summer Olympics: Silver
EuroBasket 1989: Gold
1990 FIBA World Championship: Gold
EuroBasket 1991: Gold

Croatia
1992 Summer Olympics: Silver
1994 FIBA World Championship: Bronze
EuroBasket 1995: Bronze