Shaquille O'Neal named finalist for Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

[Dos Equis]

Shaq and AI are obviously shoe-ins. 

Shaquille O'Neal named finalist for Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

Former Laker Shaquille O'Neal addresses fans during a ceremony to retire his jersey at Staples Center on April 2, 2013. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Eric Pincus

Former Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal was announced as a finalist for the 2016 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday.

O'Neal, who played 19 years in the NBA, won three titles with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers (2000-02) and one in Miami with the Heat (2006).

The Lakers retired O'Neal's No. 34 jersey in 2013.

O'Neal is eligible for the Hall of Fame because of a recent rule change that allows for enshrinement after four full seasons of retirement instead of the traditional five.

He's joined by guards Allen Iverson and Kevin Johnson, who earned their greatest fame with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns, respectively.

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Former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is expected to be announced as a finalist at a later date by the hall's international committee.

Others nominated include coaches Charles "Lefty" Driesell, Tim Izzo, Robert Hughes, John McLendon, Eddie Sutton and Bo Ryan, along with referee Darrell Garrettson.

The women's committee nominated former Houston Comets champion Sheryl Swoopes, coaches Leta Andrews and Muffet McGraw as well as 10-time AAU national champion Wayland Baptist University.

The official class of 2016 will be announced on April 4 in Houston, ahead of the NCAA men's championship game.

Enshrinement will take place in Springfield, Mass., in early September.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-ln-shaquille-oneal-finalist-hall-of-fame-20160212-story.html

[Dos Equis]

Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson highlight 2016 Hall of Fame class
ESPN.com news services

Much like during their playing careers, there was no stopping Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson when it came to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The larger-than-life 7-foot-1 big man and the ultra-quick 6-0 point guard lead the 10-member Class of 2016, which was announced Monday.

O'Neal won four NBA championships and an MVP award and is in the league's top 10 in career scoring. Iverson won four scoring titles and was the league's MVP in 2001, when his 48-point performance for the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals handed O'Neal's Los Angeles Lakers their only loss of the most dominant postseason in NBA history.

Hall of Fame Class of 2016
The 10-member Class of 2016 that will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 9.
INDUCTEE   CONTRIBUTION
Zelmo Beaty   Player
Darrell Garretson   Referee
Allen Iverson   Player
Tom Izzo   Coach
John McLendon   Coach
Yao Ming   Player
Shaquille O'Neal   Player
Cumberland Posey   Player
Jerry Reinsdorf   Owner
Sheryl Swoopes   Player

Iverson and O'Neal will be enshrined along with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, former WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes and Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

Longtime NBA referee Darrell Garretson, coach John McLendon and former stars Zelmo Beaty and Cumberland Posey will be enshrined posthumously.

O'Neal is one of four players to win three Finals MVP awards, joining Michael Jordan (6), Tim Duncan (3) and Magic Johnson (3). He was one vote shy in 1999-2000 of becoming the first unanimous MVP in NBA history as Iverson received the only other first-place vote.

Iverson, an 11-time All-Star, is the only player 6-0 or shorter to average at least 20 points per game for his career, finishing at 26.7.

Izzo has reached seven Final Fours and earned 524 career victories since becoming the head coach at Michigan State in 1995. In 2000 he guided the Spartans to the NCAA national championship with an 89-76 win over Florida.

Ming, the No. 1 overall pick by the Rockets in 2002, didn't have the numbers of some other great centers, but he bridged a path for the NBA to China. The third Chinese player in league history was an eight-time All-Star before injuries shortened his career, as he missed 159 out of a possible 164 games in the last two years in the NBA. Ming was a first-team all-rookie in the 2002-03 season. In his first game against O'Neal, he blocked his first three shot attempts in the first three minutes of the game.

Shaquille O'Neal was a 15-time All-Star, tied with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett for the third-most selections in NBA history. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19), and Kobe Bryant (18) have more.

Swoopes was the first player signed by the WNBA. She went on to win three MVP awards and four championships in the league, but it was her 47-point performance in leading Texas Tech to the 1993 NCAA championship that many think of first when talking about one of the greats of women's basketball.

As the owner and chairman of the Bulls since 1985, Reinsdorf turned the franchise into a consistent winner that claimed six NBA championships in the 1990s.

Garretson was an NBA referee for 27 years and spent 17 years as the league's chief of officiating. He worked 1,798 regular-season games, 269 playoff games, 41 Finals games and five All-Star Games.

McClendon was the first African-American coach in a professional league, directing the American Basketball League's Cleveland Pipers.

Beaty played 12 seasons (8 in NBA, 4 in ABA), averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Posey was known as the best African-American basketball player of his time, playing from the early 1900s through the mid-1920s. After retiring from basketball, he became a standout in baseball and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Candidates needed at least 18 of 24 votes from the honors committee to be inducted. The enshrinement ceremony is Sept. 9 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15129339/shaquille-oneal-lead-10-member-class-naismith-memorial-basketball-hall-fame