The latest class to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame is descending on Springfield, Mass. this weekend, and some of those being honored could be surprising.
Unlike years past that would include slam dunk candidates like Dennis Rodman or Michael Jordan, this year’s class reflects more about the impacts that certain players, coaches and executives made on the game beyond simply filling up a box score or a win column.
Many of this year’s honorees — Reggie Miller and Ralph Samson, for example — seem to be getting inducted not for what they did on the court necessarily, but more so because of what they represented to the sport of basketball at large.
NESN.com NBA writer Ben Watanabe stopped by the podcast to discuss the newest crop of inductees with NESN Nation’s Dan Duquette. The two also discussed what took so long for some of these names to get their due recognition, Phil Knight‘s controversial induction and much more.
Listen in the player below, or subscribe on iTunes to download it there.
