Clutch sharpshooter Reggie Miller is among four first-time finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The list of 12 finalists for the 2012 Hall class was announced Friday at All-Star Weekend in Orlando, Fla. Now an analyst for TNT, Miller did not make the list of finalists a year ago, when Dennis Rodman was inducted.
Other first-timers among the 12 finalists announced Friday at All-Star Weekend in Orlando, Fla. are former NBA coach Bill Fitch, current Louisville coach Rick Pitino and former women’s star Katrina McClain.
Repeat finalists are all-time NBA coaching wins leader Don Nelson; former NBA champion coach Dick Motta; players Maurice Cheeks, Bernard King, Ralph Sampson and Jamaal Wilkes; referee Hank Nichols; and the All-American Red Heads, the first women’s pro team.
Keep in mind that the Hall of Fame factors in contributions from all of basketball, not just the NBA. You can question the NBA achievements of Pitino, Sampson and Wilkes, but all three left a serious imprint on the college game.
Finalists need 75 percent of the Honors Committee’s 24 members to vote for them in order to be elected.
The entire 2012 Class will be revealed April 2 at the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans.
Five individuals received direct-elect status from the Hall’s various committees. Among them were players Chet Walker and Mel Daniels and Nike chairman Phil Knight.
Walker played for the 1966-67 NBA champion Philadelphia 76ers and finished his career with the Chicago Bulls. The seven-time All-Star was chosen by the Veterans Committee.
Daniels led the Indiana Pacers to three ABA titles and won two ABA MVP awards. He was chosen by ABA Committee.
Knight, a co-founder of Nike, was chosen by the Contributor Direct Election Committee. College and NBA pioneer Don Barksdale was chosen by the Early African American Pioneers Committee and former Soviet Union coach Lidia Alexeeva was chosen by the International Committee.