{"id":120400,"date":"2025-09-05T09:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/120400\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T09:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:08:07","slug":"basketball-trailblazers-feel-snubbed-by-hall-of-fame-induction-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/120400\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball trailblazers feel snubbed by Hall of Fame induction class"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 2025 induction class<\/a>, Pepe Sanchez was taken aback.<\/p>\n

Among the honorees was the 2008 United States Olympic men\u2019s basketball team. It wasn\u2019t that Sanchez begrudged that squad \u2014 \u201cThe Redeem Team\u201d \u2014 being honored. But enshrining them ahead of the Argentinian team, which won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, felt like a snub.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got a point.<\/p>\n

In the nine Olympics since the Dream Team ushered in NBA players to the games, the Americans have won eight gold medals. Argentina has the other. They beat a Team USA team led by Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson in the semifinals before beating Italy to earn gold.<\/p>\n

Stateside, the focus was: \u201cWhat was wrong with Team USA?\u201d <\/p>\n

And there was certainly plenty there to dig into. The Americans had grown overconfident and, in some cases, disinterested in international competition. That clearly needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n

But ignoring Argentina skips a hugely important chapter of modern basketball history.<\/p>\n

The 2004 Argentina squad was the peak of that country\u2019s golden basketball generation. Led by Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Sanchez, they were the first team to beat Team USA in international play two years earlier at the FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis. That was brushed aside as a lesser tournament. But beating USA in the Olympics was a historic moment, for both Argentina and international basketball.<\/p>\n

Sanchez, who played collegiately for John Chaney at Temple and briefly in the NBA, is frustrated that it seems to be forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we are a small-population country, I guess we are being overlooked,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we were Americans, we would be in the Hall of Fame.\u201d <\/p>\n

Symbolically, Argentina winning gold in 2004 was a basketball parallel to the Miracle on Ice in 1980 without the same geopolitical undercurrent.<\/p>\n

But from a basketball standpoint, that result was a reflection of just how much the game had evolved internationally. When the U.S. brought the Dream Team instead of college kids to Barcelona, it set a new bar. If the rest of the world wanted to be competitive at the Olympics, their federations had to invest and innovate to have any chance against the American NBA stars.<\/p>\n

Argentina did, and the result was a gold medal. But the impact stretched well beyond the South American country\u2019s borders. It spurred further development around the world, including the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey called them the Redeem Team. What were they redeeming themselves from?\u201d Sanchez asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n

Hall of Famer Larry Brown, the USA coach in 2004 agreed with Sanchez.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball has been getting better around the world because of what the Dream Team did in \u201992,\u201d Brown said after the tournament. \u201cRather than knocking our guys, we should give credit to the guys who won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich, who coached Ginobili on four NBA championship teams with the Spurs, incorporated approaches and techniques he saw from Argentina and other countries that are now utilized in the NBA. Mike Krzyzewski studied Argentina when assembling the Redeem Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the recognition of our peers. You ask Coach K about us. You ask Pop about us. You ask LeBron and all those guys and we have their respect,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cWe played some of the most beautiful basketball you can ever play. I think we played Hall of Fame basketball and we backed it up with results.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same way, the Dream Team forced other countries to commit to elevating their national teams, Argentina\u2019s success motivated USA Basketball to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose players respected us. Whenever we see one of the players on the USA team, they tell us, \u2018we had to rebuild our team after 2004. We took a hard look at what you guys are doing,\u2019\u201d Sanchez said. \u201dWe were inspirational to the USA team that started to be more focused on chemistry and role players and so on and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Naismith Hall of Fame has taken well-deserved pride in not just being the NBA hall of fame or the American basketball hall of fame. It has embraced being a museum that has celebrated all basketball at all levels. High School coaches are celebrated alongside Michael Jordan. Pioneers are next to modern superstars and international players who never set foot on a court in the USA are enshrined in Springfield.<\/p>\n

Inducting teams instead of just individuals is a unique aspect of the Basketball Hall of Fame that doesn\u2019t exist in other sports. It has allowed the museum to recognize important contributions to the game made by people, who weren\u2019t Hall of Famers as individuals, but whose collective effort was crucial to the sport. <\/p>\n

The 2004 Argentina team fits those criteria. Not only for what they meant to the growth of the game, but how they interacted on the floor. They were great because of how they played together. Player for player, Team USA was much more talented with five future Hall of Famers<\/a> on the court and another as the coach, but Argentina thrived as a unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not comparing individually. That would be very stupid. That\u2019s not the conversation. We\u2019re talking about team. This is not tennis. This is basketball. This is a team,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Hall of Fame is inducting teams and you\u2019re not going to mention our team? It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Redeem Team was significant. In addition to being one of the most talented rosters in basketball history, it made playing in the Olympics more prestigious for American NBA stars again. Having the best players in the Olympics elevates basketball all over the world.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re worthy of induction. But putting them in first is skipping a step.<\/p>\n

Inducting the Redeem Team without inducting Argentina is jumping from Act I to Act III without showing Act II. <\/p>\n

Sanchez is hopeful that someday Argentina will get the induction call to complete the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully someday, I\u2019m not happy the Redeem Team got in before us,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the USA was the one overlooked, people would be screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outtakes from a busy week<\/a>…NBA vs. Clippers could be messy<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see how the NBA navigates its investigation into the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n

If Leonard, as Pablo S. Torre reports, did receive $28 million for a phony side gig to allow the Clippers to circumvent the salary cap to sign him, there are some interesting issues to determine.<\/p>\n

How do the Clippers get punished? In 2019, The Athletic wrote <\/a>that NBA commissioner Adam Silver \u201csees salary-cap circumvention as a cardinal sin in the NBA.\u201d That would suggest that a punishment has to be massive. But doing so is complicated.There figures to be considerable fines and salary cap penalties. Will they be stripped of future draft picks? Can Steve Ballmer still be allowed to be the team\u2019s owner\/governor? Can he be suspended?What happens to Leonard? Do the Clippers get to keep him, even though they got him by cheating the system?Should Leonard be punished? He obviously knew he was violating the rules. Does he get suspended? If so, for how long? Does he have to give the money back?Should other players who signed with the Clippers in good faith, thinking they were joining a potential contender, have the option of leaving if the penalties cripple the Clippers?Or are there other Clippers players who had similar off-the-books contract shenanigans?What happens if the investigation reveals that the Clippers aren\u2019t the first team to do this?<\/p>\n

The NBA has to be relieved the Clippers never won a title with Leonard or this would be 100 times worse.<\/p>\n

Bridging the rift?<\/p>\n

Robert Kraft says he plans to eventually put a statue of Bill Belichick next to the one of Tom Brady.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that great 20-year era ended, it was always my intention to commission a statue for both Tommy and Bill when their respective careers were over, playing and coaching,\u201dKraft told Dan Roche<\/a>. \u201cWhen Bill\u2019s coaching career ends, we look forward to sitting down with him and having a statue made to be right next to Tommy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 owner looked classy for saying it when he said it. But after Thursday\u2019s revelation that Belichick had barred New England scouts from practice <\/a>out of spite, Kraft looked like the bigger man and Belichick looks awfully petty.<\/p>\n

Real Jeopardy! Clue<\/a><\/p>\n

Sports clues from actual editions of America\u2019s favorite quiz show. As always, mind the date<\/p>\n

CATEGORY: Sole Men – $1000<\/p>\n

Date: July 2, 2015<\/p>\n

His Basketball HOF bio says in 1921 he \u201chobbled into a Converse Chicago sales office complaining of sore feet<\/p>\n

\u2014 Answer below<\/p>\n

The Top 5The Top 5 new Patriots, whose debuts I\u2019m most eager to watch on Sunday<\/p>\n

5 – K\u2019Lavon Chaisson<\/p>\n

4 – Will Campbell<\/p>\n

3 – Robert Spillane<\/p>\n

2 \u2014 TreVeyon Henderson<\/p>\n

1 \u2014 Stefon Diggs<\/a><\/p>\n

Today in Boston Sports History<\/p>\n

Sept. 5<\/p>\n

1928 \u2014 The Boston Braves continued a stretch of 9 straight doubleheaders on 12 days. Nine Twinbills with three days off scattered in the middle.<\/p>\n

Lightning roundCoaches recruiting against North Carolina can\u2019t wait to use his blocking scouts from practice against him on the recruit trail.It feels like Randy Moss is going to be a great advocate for cancer causes going forward.Kristian Campbell would have a better chance to give the Red Sox a spark in Roman Anthony\u2019s absence than Nate Eaton.Today\u2019s entry to the Absurd Stories Pitched to Me by a Media Company Hall of Fame: Where Bill Belichick ranks among the handsomest coaches in college football?The grittier version of Born in the USA on the soon-to-be-released expanded version of Bruce Springsteen\u2019s \u201cNebraska\u201d is better than the original.I\u2019ll eventually watch \u201cThe Paper,\u201d the new show from the creators of \u201cThe Office,\u201d but I have low expectations. I used to work at small newspapers. If that show is realistic, it won\u2019t be good television.Best wishes to retiring UMass men\u2019s lacrosse coach Greg Cannella. A great coach and an even better man. The school and the sport will miss him.Real Jeopardy! Question:<\/p>\n

Who is Chuck Taylor?<\/p>\n

Finally…<\/p>\n

Happy National Be Late for Something Day<\/a> to those who celebrate, although if you do, you\u2019ll probably do it tomorrow.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 2025 induction class, Pepe Sanchez was taken aback. Among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[85104,64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-120400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-argentina-argentine-arg-win-wins-winning-united-states-american","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}