April 6th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
A stellar group of former NBA players and coaches were elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday; the group include 3 retired NBA players, an active NBA coach and a NCAA college coach. The announcement was made in Detroit, home of the NCAA title game this year; the induction will take place on September 10-12 in Springfield, MA. The elected group includes:
- Michael Jordan
- David Robinson
- John Stockton
- Jerry Sloan
- C. Vivian Stringer
Jordan’s election was a no-brainer. Consider that Jordan ranks third all-time in NBA scoring and his 30.12 PPG is first. He also was the NBA MVP five times and won 6 NBA championships, as well. Jordan also retired twice – he came back to the Bulls in 1994 and won 3 more championships before retiring again in 1998. Subsequently, he would play for 2 seasons with the Washington Wizards, retiring for good in 2003.
Stockton spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz and finished with 19,711 points, 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals; he also holds NBA records for the most assists in a season (1,164 in 1990-91) and highest assist average in a season (14.5 in 1989-90).
Robinson joined Jordan and Stockton as members of the NBA ‘s 50th Anniversary team; he spent a stellar 14-year career with the San Antonio Spurs that included two NBA championships, an MVP season, a Rookie of the Year award, 10 All-Star selections, a scoring title and two Olympic gold medals.
Sloan is the longest tenured coach in all of pro sports with just one franchise – all of them with the Utah Jazz; he is the only NBA coach to win m0ore than 1,000 games with one team. Stringer has led three teams to the NCAA Women’s Final Four in her 38-year career and has an 825-280 record spanning four decades, trailing only Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt. She guided Rutgers to its fifth regional semifinals trip this season.
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