The NBA announced its Hall of Fame finalists and five “direct-elect” members today. Let’s start with the latter, because it involves Tommy Heinsohn going in Hall again, this time as a coach.
Heinsohn was voted in by the Veterans Committee, and he joins Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and John Wooden as the only men in the Hall of Fame as both player and coach. He took over the Celtics for the 1969-70 season, coaching the team to two championships in nine years. His overall coaching record was 427-263 in the regular season and 47-33 in the playoffs. He was also Coach of the Year in 1973.
Now… is there any way we can get him in as a broadcaster to give him that trifecta?
Here, from the NBA press release, is the list of 12 finalists for induction into the Hall of Fame:
These electees will join the eventual candidates for the Class of 2015 from the North American and Women’s committees from a pool of finalists that includes 39-year NBA referee Dick Bavetta, two-time College Coach of the Year John Calipari, two-time NBA Coach of the Year Bill Fitch, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, four-time NBA All-Star Spencer Haywood, the all-time winningest boys high school coach Robert Hughes, three-time NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson, eight-time NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutumbo, three-time Big 10 Coach of the Year Bo Ryan, seven-time NBA All-Star Jo Jo White, the all-time winningest high school coach Leta Andrews and three-time WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie.
Fitch spent four seasons with Boston, winning a title in 1981 (Larry Bird’s first, by the way), in the midst of a 17-year coaching career.
White played in Boston for nine full years before being traded. He’s a two-time champion, winning with the Celtics in ’74 and ’76 (when he was Finals MVP). He’s also a seven-time All Star who really did it all on the court.
Congrats, Tommy, and good luck to Bill Fitch and Jo Jo White.
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