The Glove...
I don't believe he was good enough to make it. If he makes it then you can make a argument for zach randolph to make it. Which btw I'm not comparing the two players careers just throwing out someone with similar career stats and achievement
Shawn Kemp would be a no for me. He just didn't have the longevity in his career to warrant being a hall of famer. Six time all-star and three time all-NBA second team. No all-NBA first team awards and just one finals appearance isn't good enough. Throw in the fact he got fat in his later years and that should eliminate him from consideration all-together.
Well deserved recognition for Gary Payton, perhaps one of the best defensive PG's ever, also an elite scorer in his prime with 7 seasons at over 20ppg.
Another thing that jumped out at me looking at his stats was the guy's insane durability, from 1990 until 2004 he missed only 7 games and I reckon that a couple of them were when he was traded from the Sonics to the Bucks!
Even at Lakers, Boston and Heat from 2004 to 2007 he only missed 6 games and some of those could have been to keep him fresh for the Heat's title run. So you had a guy who missed less than a game per season across most of his career.
I suppose that in hindsight the perfect way to have retired would have been after the 2006 title win but he probably thought they could repeat the win. Anyway the last season of his career is an afterthought as we salute a true All Time Great entering The Hall of Fame.
Found this on NBA.Com - a nice Glove-Rainman showcase
http://watch.nba.com/nba/video/channels/hall_of_fame/2013/09/06/top10-pa...
Glad that Gary Payton is being inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. Well deserved, and one of the best point guards of all-time. He was denied a ring along with many other hall of famers because of some guy named Jordan in the 90's but eventually got his with the Heat in 2006. Payton will be best known for his constant chatter and trash talk on the court. The 1996 Sonics team with Shawn Kemp was a fun team to watch.