Quick thoughts on other guys:
I've become a real believer in Cowens and Unseld. I'm not sure if they actually deserved their MVPs, but they warranted being in the conversation and did a TON of great things for their team. For me Class King is between these two, though I'll say, it feels right to give Unseld the nod with his recent passing. RIP.
I'm considerably more critical on Hayes on offense. I think that at the time and for a long time afterward there was a feeling that with Hayes being the scorer (rather than Unseld) you have to give him the nod. I think though that it's really clear that the Bullets shouldn't have been using Hayes as a volume scorer at all. Like - if that's all you got, don't use a volume scorer period. Unseld's approach to the game led him to concentrate all his efforts on stuff that actually helped his team, Hayes was spending a lot of his effort in the glamorous role with just bloody awful efficiency. And of course, as I say, whenever I see a volume scoring big man with poor efficiency for no obvious justifiable reason, I get skeptical.
As I say all of this, I'll be very surprised if I don't vote Hayes in. I doubt there's 10 guys here who I think actually are more worthy. Hayes was part of a Big 2 that had great success in the '70s.
I believe in Tiny Archibald. I was skeptical of him when I first saw the points & assists, but our best estimate for team ORtg says he ran the best offense that year too. Defense was terrible of course, and a guy named Tiny probably didn't help, but his offensive impact sure seems to be legit. I might vote him in if that was all there was to it, but the way he found a way to fit in with the Bird Celtics makes him a total lock.
David Thompson was legit. Longevity is an obvious issue, I expect he'll get my vote, but if he doesn't it won't because I don't think he was great.
Bob Lanier is a guy I've never really had that much of a handle on. Not the defensive anchor you might hope for, but he seems to have been fundamentally solid for a long time. The fact that after his starring days he was a part of those great - on both sides of the ball - Bucks make him seem like he'll almost certainly get my vote.
Spencer Haywood seems to have some issues like Bellamy & McGinnis where he just isn't quite up to being the Man against top competition and never quite finds his equilibrium to be a vital piece on a team that works. But he does hang around, and deep into his career he's at least a guy getting minutes on a champion (Lakers) team.
Regarding Haywood's ABA year, I'm less impressed with that then I am guys like Connie or Zelmo, but it is something that's at least in the ballpark with McGinnis' best year.
And then there's Haywood's historical place in the game with
his lawsuit against the NBA. Pushing the NBA to allow in underclassmen, and backing it up not just with the ABA season, but with the fact that NBA teams were clearly clamoring for his services once they saw what he could do against grown men.
I'm not super high on Haywood, but have him ahead of McGinnis and Bellamy.
Other guys I know I'll be thinking about more for the last few spots:
Paul Westphal
Bob Dandridge
Rudy Tomjanovich
Jo Jo White
Jamal Wilkes
I'll also be considering also rans from before. Lenny Wilkens probably being the strongest candidate, though as I've said, I think the debate between he and the Hawks' next gen guy Lou Hudson is not so clear cut.
Regarding more historical guys, I did want to say that if we were doing a more expansive Hall that included someone like Bobby McDermott, then voting for Al Cervi would be a no-brainer for me. I think you could argue that even so I should have given more consideration to Cervi earlier on, but I really don't think I'm going to be voting for super-old time guys at this point. For me guys like Fulks & Cervi are guys who get in in the first class if the group of voters really believes in their candidacy, and if they don't, they belong in some kind of "Zeroth" class aimed at identifying precursors rather than being compared with guys who played many decades later in much stronger leagues.
But yeah, did want to say: Cervii is most definitely a HOF guy if you're not worrying about things like longevity for early-days guys.
