Leave it on the field
Why Hall of Fame inductees should be judged on the field, not off
September 2002
by Alexander Washburn

Today, the NBA Hall of Fame inducts the late Drazen Petrovic. Today, I also display my cold-hearted tendencies for the entire web community to see.

Petrovic was a good shooter. There is no taking that away from him. His scoring average of 22.3 percent was a team high for the New Jersey Nets in the 1992-93, the last year he played. Of course, these are the early-1990 Nets, not exactly the Dream Team here. So, we're basically saying that Drazen outscored Greg Morris and Armon Gilliam. That certain doesn't place him in Magic Johnson's class. His 22 points per did not even land him among the NBA's scoring leaders from that season. Michael Jordan outscored Petrovic by 10 points per game and Jordan WAS getting double-teamed. Over his career, Drazen averaged 15.4 points per game - not actually a Hall of Fame number by any stretch. Lots of people also make note that Petrovic scored over 100 points for his Croatian team. The late-80's European league wasn't exactly the NBA or the Big 10 for that matter. Plus, this is the NBA Hall of Fame so his European stats shouldn't come into play here.

The Hall of Fame, in all sports, should be about what you did on the field of play. It's not a place for people who could've been great or were great for a small part of their careers. Sorry, as someone who saw him play can't say for certain that he would've been a great player if he played until he was 33 or beyond. After Keith Van Horne's first year, you would've thought of him as a lock for the hall. This year, the Nets have casted him off to Philly where he can watch someone else score. What if Van Horne would've died after his rookie year would he deserve to be in Hall?

Although tragic, Drazen shouldn't be in the hall of fame because he died in a car accident. Does Bobby Phils belong in the Hall for the same reason? What about Reggie Lewis? What about people who had their careers cut short because of injury? Does Sterling Sharpe belong in the pro-football Hall of Fame because he put together three good seasons before having to retire due to injury? What about Bo Jackson, who is arguably the best athlete of the last century but will have to buy a ticket if he ever wants to get into the Hall of Fame because his career was way too short to judge? Longevity is also the mark of a Hall of Fame athlete and for what ever reasons one doesn't achieve that longevity, it cannot be crossed off as not mattering much.

I'll stop now before I start making a case for Darryl Strawberry....

(Alexander Washburn is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)

Leave it on the field
January 2003
by Klemen Podobnik

Since this is supposed to be the "commentary for the socially misguided" webzine I somewhat reluctantly decided on responding to the article on the late Drazen Petrovic and his (un)deserved induction to the Hall of Fame. There are just three things I would like to clarify. First, Drazen was an International Inductee - therefore his pre-NBA achievements (European league championships, Olympic medals, etc...) must and do count.

Second, the level of pro European basketball in the eighties was...hmmm..about 25% above the Big Ten. I'll never forget Mourning's tears after his USA team got thrashed by Yugoslavia (Petro scored around 30 points, I think) in the World Champs finals in Argentina (1990). Oh, and in '89 McDonald's Open the Denver Nuggets were saved from losing to Jugoplastika Split (Croatia) by the ref...

Third, Drazen WAS double-teamed a lot (think of the Nets-Houston game...) and could still score. Big.

So, the clarifying being done, let me point out just one thing: when Vlade Divac (remember him? He was in the Yugoslav team that finally kicked USA out of the medal chase in Indianapolis...hehe) was asked to summarize his opinion on Petro, he said that Drazen was the best player ever to play in Europe and that all of the guys looked up to him.

All of the guys that beat USA-Basketball in Indy. All of the guys that now are key players in their NBA teams.

Think about it.