Should the NBA hall of fame become more exclusive?

[Clyde Frazier]

I'm in the minority but I'm fine with it. The HOF is about celebrating the game so I'm for inclusion vs exclusion. The baseball HOF specifically is pathetic where you eventually lose eligibility. Plenty of legitimate candidates miss out.

[gavran]

Wait, the is an nba hall of fame? Only knew about basketball hall of fame

It's an institution with 0 members, therefore the question about it needing to be more inclusive is completely valid.

[LofJ]

Would someone like Manu Ginobili make it into a more exclusive hall of fame that was just for the NBA?

Right now he's a shoe in if only for his international accomplishments. His case isn't as strong if you're only judging his NBA accomplishments. Despite being one of the most important players on multiple championship teams he came off the bench for the majority of his career.

[rzzzzz]

Least it ain’t the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which now inducts anyone with a pulse. The NBA remains viable, with a steady flow of young talent coming in to dazzle us. The number has grown unwieldy because the game thrives. A good problem.

[Myth]

For about 20 years my friends have referred to it as The Hall of Very Good.

[Knightfall]

It’s kind of embarrassing how weak the nba hall of fame looks. Should the league kick out the scrubs and keep only the players that were actually really good?

wtf is chuck cooper? those old ass celtics have to be kicked off the greatest lists, top 50, and top 10. wtf have they done?
only one worth mentioning is bird.

Someone give me the baby powder!!!!

[Doctor MJ]

It’s kind of embarrassing how weak the nba hall of fame looks. Should the league kick out the scrubs and keep only the players that were actually really good?

So...
The purpose of a Hall of Fame is to educate the future on the story of the human endeavor the HOF is for.

Hence, when you put the 1st Black player in the NBA as your sample for guys who shouldn't be there because of his stats, you're revealing that:

1. Generally, you're not evaluating HOFs from the perspective of how they are meant to be evaluated because you don't know the history of HOFs.

2. Specifically, you don't really know basketball history and thus really need the education from the basketball HOF that it was designed to help you obtain.

I'm sorry to come across so snooty - know that tons of people are missing the same stuff you are for the same reasons. Modern internet fans no longer think about the HOF as an actual physical museum they might want to go to to learn more about the history of the game, and think about it more just as a list of "the very best of the best" which makes them particularly skeptical about the HOFers they haven't heard...when the hope was always that you'd instead ask yourself "What am I missing about basketball history that I don't understand why this player is in the Hall?".