Unusual circumstances call for an altered Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame election process.
The list of eight finalists for 2020 enshrinement is so strong — leading with Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett — that the Hall will limit the size of the class.
Here are five takeaways from Friday’s announcement at the United Center:
1. Kobe Bryant will have to be formally elected.
There were reports that the 18-time NBA All-Star — who died in a Jan. 26 helicopter crash with his daughter Gianna and seven others — would be enshrined without a vote, but Hall of Fame Chairman Jerry Colangelo said the organization will “follow the process.”
“As sad as it all is, life does go on in the world of basketball and the Hall of Fame,” Colangelo said.
The former USA Basketball and Suns executive also said of Bryant: “I’ve never seen, in my long life, an athlete having the impact that Kobe’s had on people on the street, people who didn’t know him. In my case it was personal … so much more difficult for me.”
2. The slate of finalists is smaller.
Last year 13 finalists were named. This year it’s eight.
Colangelo said shrinking the class was a thought even before Bryant’s shocking death: “We’ve never had a class this strong at the top. And then Kobe’s death added more focus. So we thought the way of dealing with it was to eliminate some direct elects for this year. We want everyone to get their due.”
The suspension will affect the Men’s and Women’s Veteran committees and the Early African-American Pioneer and Contributor committees.
3. The list of finalists is strong.
In addition to Bryant, Duncan and Garnett, the finalists are Tamika Catchings, a 10-time WNBA All-Star; Rudy Tomjanovich, who coached the Rockets to NBA titles in 1994 and 1995 and was a five-time All-Star as a Rockets player; Eddie Sutton, the first coach to lead four schools to the NCAA Tournament; Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, the first woman to win NCAA championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach; and Barbara Stevens, a five-time Division II national coach of the year.
Both Garnett and Catchings have Chicago-area ties. Garnett, a South Carolina native, played his senior season of high school at Farragut. And Catchings helped Stevenson win a state title as a sophomore in 1995 while being named Ms. Basketball of Illinois before finishing her high school career in Texas.
4. It’s heavy at the top.
Duncan is a 15-time All-Star who won five championships with the Spurs and two MVP awards. Garnett was the 2004 MVP and a 2008 champion, and he also made 15 All-Star teams.
Garnett returned to the West Side for Friday’s news conference.
Asked by NBA TV’s Matt Winer what the teenage Garnett would have thought of his becoming a Hall of Fame finalist, Garnett replied: “He’d probably think that was pretty awesome right here. The Hall of Fame is something you don’t think about or dream about; it just happens. This is one of the more overwhelming situations I’ve ever been in.”
5. Media members Michael Wilbon, Ernie Johnson, Jim Gray and Mike Breen won awards.
Winer said of Wilbon, the Chicago native and Northwestern alumnus who is appearing this week on multiple ESPN shows: “He couldn’t be here with us because he’s on TV, doing his job.”
Winer called Breen “one of the great gentlemen of the game.”
Said Breen, who calls games for ABC/ESPN: “I grew up in a house of six boys, so we had no choice whatsoever to be a sports fan.”
Winer asked Johnson, co-host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” where “knucklehead” friends Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were.
“I don’t know,” Johnson said. “I’m kind of enjoying not being interrupted.”
Winer joked that he felt he should badger Gray, who conducted a famously tough interview with Pete Rose.
“Go ahead,” Gray replied. “You can have your turn. I’ve had mine.”
