duncan228
04-04-2010, 08:55 PM
Reports: Malone, Pippen in Hall (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5054384)
ESPN.com news services
Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen will follow their comrades into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
A year after John Stockton and Michael Jordan were enshrined, the second-leading scorer in NBA history and the second-leading scorer in Chicago Bulls franchise history have been elected, according to a report in The Star-Ledger of Newark.
"Karl Malone deserves it," said Utah Jazz coach and 2009 inductee Jerry Sloan, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "He worked every day as hard as any player you can have work, and when the games started he laid it out there on the line."
Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss is also Hall of Fame bound, multiple sources within the organization told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Arash Markazi.
Joining them will be the late former Boston Celtics guard Dennis Johnson, sources confirmed to ESPNBoston.com, and ex-WNBA star Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, according KRIV-TV in Houston.
Longtime high school coach Bob Hurley Sr., will also be inducted Aug. 13 into the Hall in Springfield, Mass., according to The Star-Ledger.
An official announcement is expected Monday morning in Indianapolis, where the Final Four is being held. The five were among 19 finalists announced in February.
A 19-year veteran, Malone finished his career after one season in 2003-04 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Malone, a 14-time All-Star who won two league MVPs, led the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and '98 against the Bulls of Jordan and Pippen.
Pippen finished with seven All-Star selections and eight appearances on the All-Defensive team. He also ranks second for the Bulls in all-time assists and steals. After 11 seasons with the Bulls, Pippen played a season with the Houston Rockets and four with the Portland Trail Blazers before retiring after one last season in Chicago.
Buss has owned the Lakers since 1979. Los Angeles has won nine NBA titles during that time.
Helping spur the WNBA's early success as her Houston Comets won the league's first four championships, Cooper-Dyke was a two-time MVP. She won an Olympic gold medal in 1988.
Cooper-Dyke has coached Prairie View A&M in Texas since 2005.
Hurley will be the third high school coach elected into the Naismith Hall.
He had 984 victories and 24 state titles at the diminutive St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J., over 38 years.
Hurley is the father of former NBA veteran and Duke guard Bobby Hurley, who helped lead the Blue Devils to back-to-back national titles as a point guard in 1991 and '92.
Johnson, who Larry Bird called the best teammate he ever had, won three NBA titles -- with the Celtics in 1984 and '86 and the Sonics in '79. He finished with five All-Star nods and a 1979 NBA Finals MVP award.
Johnson died of a heart attack in February 2007 at the age of 52. He played 14 seasons in the NBA, the final seven with Boston. He was considered a defensive specialist and one of the top guards of his era.
"It really doesn't come as a surprise to me," said former Celtics general manager Jan Volk. "The surprise is that it took so long. Anyone who ever played with or against Dennis Johnson knew that no one competed harder. And the bigger the game, the better he played."
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Sources: Buss elected to HOF (http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5055075)
By Arash Markazi
ESPNLosAngeles.com
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, multiple sources within the organization confirmed.
Buss, who has been the owner of the Lakers since 1979 and has won nine NBA championships in Los Angeles, was among 19 finalists for the Hall of Fame, including Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Johnson, ex-WNBA star Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and longtime St. Anthony's High School coach Bob Hurley, who were reportedly elected as well.
An official announcement is expected Monday morning in Indianapolis, where the Final Four is being held. The induction ceremonies are scheduled for Aug. 13 in Springfield, Mass.
Buss, 77, helped usher in the "Showtime" era of the Lakers after purchasing the team along with the Los Angeles Kings, the Forum and a 13,000-acre Kern County ranch in 1979 for $67.5 million, then the largest transaction in sports history. Buss later sold everything but the Lakers, who are now primarily run by his son Jim and daughter Jeannie.
The Lakers had won only one championship in 25 years before Buss purchased the team. After drafting Magic Johnson with the first overall pick in the 1979 NBA draft and teaming him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers would win five championships over the next nine years while advancing to nine NBA Finals in 12 seasons.
With Buss at the helm, the Lakers became first NBA team to have a dance squad, the Laker Girls, and courtside seats became a living Hollywood Walk of Fame on game nights as Jack Nicholson became as synonymous with the Lakers as Pat Riley.
The Lakers have gone on to win four more championships this decade and currently have the second-best record in the league. The Lakers' nine championships under Buss' ownership are the most by a team in any of the four major North American professional leagues since he purchased the team.
"My dream really was to have the Lakers and Los Angeles identified as one and the same," Buss recently told ESPNLosAngeles.com "When I was just a fan, I used to really object when I would go to see the Lakers playing New York and most of the crowd would be ex-New Yorkers cheering for the Knicks. Then the next time, it would be the same with some other team. When you think New York, you think Yankees. I wanted that to be the case here as well. That when you think L.A., you think Lakers. I believe I've accomplished that."
ESPN.com news services
Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen will follow their comrades into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
A year after John Stockton and Michael Jordan were enshrined, the second-leading scorer in NBA history and the second-leading scorer in Chicago Bulls franchise history have been elected, according to a report in The Star-Ledger of Newark.
"Karl Malone deserves it," said Utah Jazz coach and 2009 inductee Jerry Sloan, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "He worked every day as hard as any player you can have work, and when the games started he laid it out there on the line."
Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss is also Hall of Fame bound, multiple sources within the organization told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Arash Markazi.
Joining them will be the late former Boston Celtics guard Dennis Johnson, sources confirmed to ESPNBoston.com, and ex-WNBA star Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, according KRIV-TV in Houston.
Longtime high school coach Bob Hurley Sr., will also be inducted Aug. 13 into the Hall in Springfield, Mass., according to The Star-Ledger.
An official announcement is expected Monday morning in Indianapolis, where the Final Four is being held. The five were among 19 finalists announced in February.
A 19-year veteran, Malone finished his career after one season in 2003-04 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Malone, a 14-time All-Star who won two league MVPs, led the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and '98 against the Bulls of Jordan and Pippen.
Pippen finished with seven All-Star selections and eight appearances on the All-Defensive team. He also ranks second for the Bulls in all-time assists and steals. After 11 seasons with the Bulls, Pippen played a season with the Houston Rockets and four with the Portland Trail Blazers before retiring after one last season in Chicago.
Buss has owned the Lakers since 1979. Los Angeles has won nine NBA titles during that time.
Helping spur the WNBA's early success as her Houston Comets won the league's first four championships, Cooper-Dyke was a two-time MVP. She won an Olympic gold medal in 1988.
Cooper-Dyke has coached Prairie View A&M in Texas since 2005.
Hurley will be the third high school coach elected into the Naismith Hall.
He had 984 victories and 24 state titles at the diminutive St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J., over 38 years.
Hurley is the father of former NBA veteran and Duke guard Bobby Hurley, who helped lead the Blue Devils to back-to-back national titles as a point guard in 1991 and '92.
Johnson, who Larry Bird called the best teammate he ever had, won three NBA titles -- with the Celtics in 1984 and '86 and the Sonics in '79. He finished with five All-Star nods and a 1979 NBA Finals MVP award.
Johnson died of a heart attack in February 2007 at the age of 52. He played 14 seasons in the NBA, the final seven with Boston. He was considered a defensive specialist and one of the top guards of his era.
"It really doesn't come as a surprise to me," said former Celtics general manager Jan Volk. "The surprise is that it took so long. Anyone who ever played with or against Dennis Johnson knew that no one competed harder. And the bigger the game, the better he played."
*********************
Sources: Buss elected to HOF (http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5055075)
By Arash Markazi
ESPNLosAngeles.com
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, multiple sources within the organization confirmed.
Buss, who has been the owner of the Lakers since 1979 and has won nine NBA championships in Los Angeles, was among 19 finalists for the Hall of Fame, including Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Johnson, ex-WNBA star Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and longtime St. Anthony's High School coach Bob Hurley, who were reportedly elected as well.
An official announcement is expected Monday morning in Indianapolis, where the Final Four is being held. The induction ceremonies are scheduled for Aug. 13 in Springfield, Mass.
Buss, 77, helped usher in the "Showtime" era of the Lakers after purchasing the team along with the Los Angeles Kings, the Forum and a 13,000-acre Kern County ranch in 1979 for $67.5 million, then the largest transaction in sports history. Buss later sold everything but the Lakers, who are now primarily run by his son Jim and daughter Jeannie.
The Lakers had won only one championship in 25 years before Buss purchased the team. After drafting Magic Johnson with the first overall pick in the 1979 NBA draft and teaming him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers would win five championships over the next nine years while advancing to nine NBA Finals in 12 seasons.
With Buss at the helm, the Lakers became first NBA team to have a dance squad, the Laker Girls, and courtside seats became a living Hollywood Walk of Fame on game nights as Jack Nicholson became as synonymous with the Lakers as Pat Riley.
The Lakers have gone on to win four more championships this decade and currently have the second-best record in the league. The Lakers' nine championships under Buss' ownership are the most by a team in any of the four major North American professional leagues since he purchased the team.
"My dream really was to have the Lakers and Los Angeles identified as one and the same," Buss recently told ESPNLosAngeles.com "When I was just a fan, I used to really object when I would go to see the Lakers playing New York and most of the crowd would be ex-New Yorkers cheering for the Knicks. Then the next time, it would be the same with some other team. When you think New York, you think Yankees. I wanted that to be the case here as well. That when you think L.A., you think Lakers. I believe I've accomplished that."