2025 HOF Finalists Named

[Donoghus]

NAISMITH BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES 17 FINALISTS FOR CLASS OF 2025 ELECTION
 
Friday, February 14, 2025
- The 2008 US Olympic Men?s Basketball Team, Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird and

Maya Moore Among First-Time Finalists -

 

SAN FRANCISCO ? The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced today at NBA All-Star Weekend 2025 the selection of 17 Finalists from the following committees: North American, Women?s, Men?s Veterans, Women?s Veterans, International, and Contributors.

The Finalists will then be put forward to the Honors Committee to be considered for election as members of the Class of 2025. The new class will be announced in San Antonio on Saturday, April 5, at the NCAA Men?s Final Four.

North American Committee Finalists (in alphabetical order):

2008 US Olympic Men?s Basketball Team

Carmelo Anthony [Player]

Danny Crawford [Referee]

Billy Donovan [Coach]

Mark Few [Coach]

Dwight Howard [Player]

Marques Johnson [Player]

Jerry Welsh [Coach]

Buck Williams [Player]

 

Women's Committee Finalists:

Jennifer Azzi [Player]

Sue Bird [Player]

Sylvia Fowles [Player]

Maya Moore [Player]

 

Women's Veteran Committee Finalist:

Molly Bolin [Player]

 

International Committee Finalist:

Du?an Ivković [Coach]

 

Contributors Committee Finalists:

Micky Arison

Tal Brody

 

?Selection as a Finalist for the Class of 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is a remarkable achievement, signifying a career of excellence and lasting influence on the game,? said Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. ?This recognition goes beyond statistics and accolades?it honors those who have defined eras, inspired generations, and elevated basketball through their talent, leadership, and dedication. Whether as players, coaches, teams, or contributors, each Finalist has left an indelible mark on the sport, and we are proud to celebrate their extraordinary impact.?

Enshrinement Weekend will begin at the Mohegan Sun on Friday, September 5, with the Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala, followed by the Enshrinement Ceremony the next day at Springfield?s historic Symphony Hall.

VIP packages for the 2025 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend are now available. Single-event tickets will go on sale on April 5, following the 2025 Class Announcement. For more information, visithoophall.com/events/enshrinement-2025/.

 For the latest news and updates, follow @hoophall on X and Instagram.

[Who]

First reaction = Melo & Dwight sure fire choices.

Second reaction = Marques Johnson vs Carmelo would be an interesting comparison. Melo obviously had a longer career but peak vs peak / prime vs prime is very interesting.

[Who]

Second reaction = Marques Johnson vs Carmelo would be an interesting comparison. Melo obviously had a longer career but peak vs peak / prime vs prime is very interesting.

So I am going to call Marques Johnson's prime from his rookie year in 1977-78 to 1983-84 when he was traded to the LA Clippers. A 7 season prime.

Melo could go for a longer prime from 2006 to 2014. 9 seasons. I will go from 2007-08 to 2013-14 for a similar 7 year figure.

Scoring = Melo 26ppg to Marques 21ppg
Rebounding = Marques 7rpg to Melo's 7.1rpg
Assists = Marques 3.7apg to Melo's 3.1apg

Defense = Marques should have been selected on All-Defensive teams but never got the nod. A high level defensive player. Melo was an average defender at his best and often not even that.

Steals & Blocks = Slight edge in both Marques. 1.3 steals to 1.1 steals. 0.8 blocks to 0.5 blocks.

Shooting & Scoring efficiency = Marques was an efficient scorer with a 53% FG%. The three point shot was not in the league when he first started. He never took many. He was a good outside shooter from 20 feet for a forward. Melo 45.6% FG% and 37% from three on low volume. Melo was better at getting to the line with 7.2 FTA per game at 82%. Marques was at 4.9 FTA but only 73.6% FT%. Marques had a TS% of 56.6% over Melo's 55.2%.

Both players were well rounded scorers. Both could post, both could drive, both could move off screens off the ball. They both had midpost games. They both had an outside shot. They could both handle the ball. Marques was a better passer who could play initiate the offense as a PG if required.

Marques was the better rebounder and a vastly superior defender.

Melo had a more aggressive scoring mentality which made him the better overall scorer. Both were physical athletic forwards who were primarily SFs but could also play PF.

Marques Johnson made one 1st team All-NBA. Melo none.
Marques made two 2nd team All-NBAs. Melo also 2.

Those 3 All-NBA selections were from 1979-81. Marques got screwed in the 1978 selection because he was a rookie. He deserved it then as well. After that, it was hard to make it because Bird and Julius Erving dominated the SF position in the early to mid 80s.

Melo has 4 3rd team All NBA selections. This did not exist in Marques' time in the league.

Melo has the advantage in All-Star selections with 6 ASG appearances to Marques' 4 ASG selections.

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I know if I was offered either one of them for their 7 year primes, Marques is the one I would select. He was closer to Tatum in terms of having that all-round game. Being a difference maker as a defender, rebounder, passer as well as being a very good scorer. Whereas Melo was more of an out and out scorer who could rebound and did as little defensively as he could get away with.

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I thought Marques was a top 10 player in the league from the late 70s through early 80s. Melo had several top 10 player seasons as well.

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Some advanced stats

Win shares = Marques 71.1 to Melo's 55.5
WS/48 = Marques 0.187 to Melo's 0.149

BPM = Marques 4.3 to Melo's 2.8
O-BPM = Marques 4.1 to Melo's 3.8
D-BPM = Marques 0.2 to Melo's -1.0

VORP = Marques 28.9 to Melo's 21.5

[Roy H.]

Strong women's class.  Moore, Bird and Fowles were all great players.

As much as they were both clowns, D12 and Carmelo belong.  Marques Johnson, too, based upon existing standards.  Buck Williams was a very good player, but I never thought of him as a future HOFer. 

[Who]

I am going to ramble on a bit more about Melo vs Marques Johnson

Career Numbers

Games = 1260 for Melo to 691 for Marques

So a huge difference in longevity for Melo. If we go back and look at the prime numbers for both players we see that over 7 seasons Marques played 524 games to Melo's 488 games. So most of Marques time in the league was in his prime while only a portion of Melo's prime was.

So how valuable were Melo's non-prime seasons?

Melo's End of Career Years

I was a huge critic of Melo towards the end of his time in New York. I thought he was the worst defensive forward in the league out of players who were playing long minutes. I can't remember the exact season this started but it was at least his final 2 years in NY if not his 3rd season as well. Given that team was 17-65 in that 3rd year, I'd say that is a fair bet. Melo only played half a season that year but the team was still only 10 wins 30 losses in games Melo played. Over this period, Melo was the definition of an empty stats player. A stat padder who wasn't influencing winning.

This led to the trade to Oklahoma were Melo failed to work out as a 3rd option. Terrible defense & inefficient scoring at 50.3%. Which led to the trade to Houston and short spell before he was waived. A spell out of the league. He had a little comeback in Portland for 2 years and 1 year with the Lakers. Melo was a bench player these last 2 years.

I do not view these seasons as valuable towards a case for the Hall of Fame. This is not the type of performance level that advances your case for the HoF.

During this period, Melo played 470 games. He started 330 of them. He had a TS% of 53.1%. He played almost 15,000 minutes. He had a offensive BPM of 1.2 and a defensive BPM of -1.3 for an overall BPM of -0.1. He had a VORP of 7.2 across 8 seasons (7 really, he only played 10 games for Houston) [about 1 per season). And 25.5 win shares (so about 3.5 per season).

Note: Melo got 3 more All-Star selections in those empty-stat / stat padding years in New York prior to the trade. His team won 80 games and lost 166 games for a .325 winning percentage over those 3 seasons (27 win pace).

Career Numbers

Back to the career numbers. I should have started here.

It is the totals I am more interested in that the averages here but just for a quick look:

Averages

Minutes = 34.5mpg to 34.3mpg almost identical
Points = Melo 22.5ppg to Marques 20.1ppg
Rebounds = Melo 6.2rpg to Marques 7.0rpg
Assists = Melo 2.7apg to Marques 3.6apg
Steal, Block = Melo 1.0spg 0.5bpg Marques 1.3spg 0.8bpg
TS% = Melo 54.3% Marques 55.6%
Turnovers = both 2.4 turnovers per game

Totals

Games = 1260 Melo to 691 for Marques
Minutes = 43,514 for Melo to 23,694 for Marques

Massive difference in both games and minutes. Melo almost doubles up on Marques.

Points = Melo 28,289 Marques 13,892
Rebounds = Melo 7,808 Marques 4,817
Assists = Melo 3,422 Marques 2,502
Steals = Melo 1,223 Marques 888
Blocks = Melo 644 Marques 525

Huge difference in points for Melo. Large difference in rebounds as well. I am surprised the difference isn't larger in the other areas given the difference in games played / minutes played.

VORP = Melo 36.7 Marques 31.7
BPM = Melo 1.3 Marques 3.3
Win Shares = Melo 108.5 Marques 79.8

So very little difference in VORP despite Melo playing almost twice as many minutes & games. BPM favours Marques as Melo had several down-years that pushed his numbers down. Melo has a good lead in win shares. About 35-38% lead which is not bad given a bit less than 50% extra minutes but those coming in down-years.

Non Prime Melo

Anyway, back to non-prime Melo years: How valuable were they?

So if we go back to the back end of Melo's career with his final empty stat years in New York, Oklahoma, Houston and bench years in Portland and Houston. I don't think any of these seasons advance his case for the HoF given how little impact on winning he had. So how much did they impact his career totals?

Games & minutes = 470 games 14,676 minutes
Points = 8,331
Rebounds = 2,635
Assists = 999
Steals & Blocks = 255 steals 262 blocks

A different look at their career numbers

Since I don't think these years have any real influence on Melo's case for the HoF, and they clearly distort his career numbers as he was a stat padder who was not influencing winning, what would the numbers look like without them?

Games = Melo 790 games to Marques 691
Minutes = Melo 28,838 Marques 23,694

So Melo would only have played 100 more games and about 5,000 minutes. Roughly 1 and a bit extra seasons.

Points = Melo 19,985 Marques 13,892

Still a huge advantage for Melo in scoring.

Rebounds = Melo 5,173 Marques 4,817
Assists = Melo 2,423 Marques 2,502
Steals = Melo 868 Marques 888
Blocks = Melo 382 Marques 525

All the other totals are surprisingly close despite Melo having an extra 100 games and 5,000 minutes played.

Win Shares = Melo 83.1 Marques 79.8
WS/48 = Melo 0.138 Marques 0.162
BPM = Melo 2.1 Marques 3.3
Offensive BPM = Melo 3.2 Marques 3.3
Defensive BPM = Melo -1.1 Marques 0.0
VORP = Melo 29.5 Marques 31.7

Marques ahead in VORP (despite less games & minutes) and well ahead in BPM.