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Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups lead Hall of Fame 2024 class
On Saturday in Phoenix, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, Michael Cooper, Seimone Augustus, Jerry West, Herb Simon, Doug Collins, Bo Ryan, Walter Davis, Charles Smith, Dick Barnett, Harley Redin and Michele Timms will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in August.
Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter among finalists for the Hall of Fame class of 2024
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced today at NBA All-Star Weekend 2024 the selection of 14 Finalists from the following committees: North American, Women’s, Men’s Veterans, Women’s Veterans, International, and Contributors. The Finalists will then be put forward to the Honors Committee to be considered for election as members of the Class of 2024. The new class will be announced in Phoenix on April 6 at the NCAA Men’s Final Four. North American Committee Finalists (in alphabetical order): Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Bo Ryan, Charles Smith
Marc J. Spears: The National Basketball Retired Players Association names Charles “Choo” Smith as Chairman, Shawn Marion as Vice Chairman, Sam Perkins as Treasurer and Grant Hill as Secretary. The NBRPA also added Directors Mike Bantom, CJ Kupec, and Nancy Lieberman.
Mark Jackson was among a group of current and former NBA players in Manhattan on Tuesday for the premiere of NYC Point Gods, a documentary from Kevin Durant about the history and cultural impact of top lead guards from New York City in the 1980s and 1990s. During an appearance on the red carpet Tuesday, Jackson took a few questions from reporters. One question: Does he ever think about what the Knicks could have done if they didn’t trade him? "Well I do believe that we win a championship," said Jackson, who was traded to the Clippers in a three-team deal that sent Doc Rivers and Charles Smith to New York in 1993. "We had a great team, we had a process moving along, we advanced. We had the ultimate champs on the ropes. So I believe we win a championship if that team stays together. But I’m sure if you ask the opposition, they believe they win anyway."
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In Jackson’s final season in New York, which was 1992-93, the Knicks lost a second-round series against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in seven games. "I believe if we stay together, we beat (Jordan and the Bulls). We were up in the fourth quarter of a Game 7, with Michael Jordan on the team. So I’m not saying something that’s asinine," Jackson said. "They were an all-time great team and they had an all-time great player. But I believe we had a chance to beat him and I think that if we stayed together we would have."
As Dennis Rodman continued his controversial "basketball diplomacy" inside North Korea Friday, his U.S. teammates at an exhibition game Wednesday flew out of Pyongyang praising their trip and declaring "mission accomplished". "On behalf of all the players that went on the trip, it's probably best to say that we set out on a mission to use basketball as a bridge for cultural exchange and we accomplished that mission," said Charles Smith at Beijing airport Friday.
Former NBA star Charles D. Smith says he feels remorse for coming to Pyongyang with Dennis Rodman for a game on the North Korean leader's birthday because the event has been dwarfed by politics and tainted by Rodman's own comments. Smith and other former NBA players are scheduled to play with Rodman against a team of North Koreans in a game on Wednesday that organizers say leader Kim Jong Un is expected to attend. Many of the players on Tuesday privately expressed second thoughts about going ahead because of an outpouring of criticism in the United States.
Smith, who played for the New York Knicks, said the North Korea trip has been dwarfed by politics and Rodman's frequent boasts about his close friendship with Kim. "What we are doing is positive, but it is getting dwarfed by the other circumstances around it," Smith told The Associated Press. "Apparently our message is not being conveyed properly due to the circumstances that are much bigger than us, and I think that has to do with politics and government."
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NBA players union executive director Billy Hunter utilized union funds to support former NBA forward Charles Smith's attempt to overthrow the National Basketball Retired Players Association, sources say, one of several maneuvers that inspired union president Derek Fisher to call for a business review of the union's activity. The players' union is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, sources have confirmed.
NBA players union executive director Billy Hunter utilized union funds to support former NBA forward Charles Smith's attempt to overthrow the National Basketball Retired Players Association, sources say, one of several maneuvers that inspired union president Derek Fisher to call for a business review of the union's activity.
The players' union is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, sources have confirmed. Recent reports by both Yahoo! Sports and Bloomberg News detailed a number of other expenditures and hirings made by Hunter without executive committee oversight. The financial support of Smith is another one, sources said.
Several months later, as Smith fought to win back his position, the NBPA's late lead counsel, Gary Hall, told a retired players' association representative that the NBPA was in full support of Smith, would pay his legal fees and play "the race card," if necessary, sources said. Smith is black and Danny Schayes, selected to replace him, is white. Hall's comments were made, sources added, with Hunter present.
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