Nine teams passed Paul Pierce to the 1998 NBA Draft, and if you think you don’t remember them all, you don’t know Paul Pierce.
The newly incorporated Basketball Hall of Famer called by name (in order) the teams with the top nine teams that year and thanked them for allowing him to slip into the Boston Celtics.
“Thank you. Thank you for passing me on. You added fuel to my fire,” said Pierce, who in his acceptance speech in Springfield, Massachusetts, went Saturday night in his acceptance speech in Springfield, Massachusetts. “To this day, I don’t understand how I got to No. 10. But you know, it all happened for a reason. Going to the Celtics, I’m grateful.”
Four months after the induction delayed by the 2020 class pandemic, including Kobe Bryant, the Hall community came together to consecrate 16 more new members for 2021, its largest class in history. Many of the crowd wore masks. Three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson was unable to attend her incorporation because she was in closed Australia.
Bill Russell, who joined as a player in 1975, was honored for his career as a coach, becoming the fifth person to be admitted as both a player and coach. But for former President Barack Obama, his most important role was the one he performed outside the court during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
“Bill Russell, perhaps more than anyone, knows what it takes to win and what it takes to lead,” Obama said in a video. “As tall as Bill Russell is, his example and legacy rise much, much higher.”
Others who joined the show were Villanova coach Jay Wright, Pistons defensive star Ben Wallace, two-time NBA champion Chris Bosh, former Portland and Sacramento coach Rick Adelman. Washington and Sacramento star Chris Webber and double Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith.
WNBA President Val Ackerman, longtime coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and pioneering explorer Howard Garfinkel were included as collaborators. Clarence “Fats” Jenkins was chosen by the Early African American Pioneers Committee, Croatia and Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoc was ranked by the International Committee, Bob Dandridge by the Veterans Committee and Pearl Moore of the Women’s Veterans Committee.
Russell, 87, was honored as the first black coach in NBA history. By taking over from the Red Auerbach Celtics in 1966 and staying as a player-coach for two more years, Russell guided Boston to the NBA titles in 1968 and 1969.
Russell was present and wore a Celtics mask to the ceremony, but his speech was presented as a pre-recorded video.
“Hey, Chris Webber, let’s go to the Hall of Fame with Bill Russell, brother,” Chris Bosh said. “It’s crazy.”
Bosh discussed his arrival in Miami when Heat executive Pat Riley offered one of his NBA championship rings and said he could return when they won one together; they won two, and Bosh finally returned the bastard on Saturday night.
Saturday night was attended by three other key members of these Heat teams: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen.
Legends. # 21HoopClass pic.twitter.com/ImJ5rJDaZP
– HOF Basketball (@Hoophall) September 12, 2021
Bosh also discussed his departure, at age 31, when he was forced to retire due to blood clots.
“After I finally got to the top of the mountain with so much more to do, in my mind, so much more work to do, it all stopped,” he said. “I finally realized that we all have at our disposal to make the most of every day no matter what, to turn setbacks into strengths.”
Ackerman was the inaugural president of the WNBA, the first woman president of USA Basketball and, since 2013, the curator of the Big East. With few role models in the sports business, he has found another place.
“I am inspired to this day by the example set by Billie Jean King,” Ackerman said, “and the many strong women and men who followed her in their quest to have the opportunity to play sports and do so to a great extent. stage, a reality for girls and women in our country and our world “.
Kukoc chose Michael Jordan and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf as presenters and alluded to the tension over his arrival in Chicago that was exposed in the documentary “The Last Dance.”
“I would like to thank this gentleman, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen for kicking me in the butt during the Barcelona Olympics and thus motivating me to work even harder to become in a significant part of the Chicago Bulls, ”Kukoc said.
Wallace was emotional and poetic in describing his upbringing as a large man who devoted himself to defense, winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times.
“Basketball was not my life. Basketball was just in my life. I took up basketball and created a path for those who helped me,” he said. “I took it. I received it. I came back. I left a path. I left a clue. It should be easy to find. I was stuck in it for quite some time.”
He stepped off the stage with his fist raised.
Wright’s speech touched on the history of Philadelphia basketball; Webber called Detroit.
Dandridge said NBA opponents who went to major universities looked down on him because he was going to Norfolk State, a historically black school.
“My experience in HBCU schools was not limited to basketball,” he said. “I saw what it was like to have class. I witnessed dignity and a sense of belonging.”
Most of the inmates thanked their families, teammates and coaches who helped them along the way, but Ackerman also called on James Naismith, who invented basketball.
And Moore appreciated the game itself.
“Basketball allowed me to travel home and abroad to get a college degree,” he said. “And from shooting on a makeshift hoop in South Carolina’s garden to playing in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.
“And tonight, having my name consecrated to people like those sitting in the living room is really a fairy tale come true.”