Vince Carter should be a lock, though I don't think he was quite as good as people remember him to be.
BTW, check out his wild trade history, before he even played a game in the NBA. I don't remember the circumstances surrounding the last one on the list below...but it strikes me as real strange that he got traded straight up as the 5th pick in the draft (with some cash thrown in), for the 4th pick in the draft (Antawn Jamison).
I mean, Toronto obviously knew that the Warriors wanted Antawn Jamison all along...and they probably wanted Vince all along, but somehow knew they could squeeze some extra cash out of the Warriors by taking Jamison 1st and still get the player they wanted.
Just really weird.
Quote:
June 30, 1993: Traded by the Golden State Warriors (as a future 1998 1st round draft pick) with Anfernee Hardaway, a 1996 1st round draft pick (Todd Fuller was later selected) and a 2000 1st round draft pick (Mike Miller was later selected) to the Orlando Magic for Chris Webber.
July 29, 1994: Traded by the Orlando Magic (as a future 1998 1st round draft pick) with Scott Skiles and a 1996 1st round draft pick (Todd Fuller was later selected) to the Washington Bullets for a 1996 2nd round draft pick (Randy Livingston was later selected) and a 1998 1st round draft pick (Keon Clark was later selected).
November 17, 1994: Traded by the Washington Bullets (as a future 1998 1st round draft pick) with Tom Gugliotta, a 1996 1st round draft pick (Todd Fuller was later selected) and a 2000 1st round draft pick (Chris Mihm was later selected) to the Golden State Warriors for Chris Webber.
June 24, 1998: Drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 1998 NBA Draft.
June 24, 1998: Traded by the Golden State Warriors with cash to the Toronto Raptors for Antawn Jamison.
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Chauncey Billups was a nice player and is probably due to get in this year, where there's not a particularly strong class for this year's inductions.
Walter Davis started his career with a bang and looked like he had the makings of a "Great", but after only a few years regressed to a "Very Good" player, and pretty much stayed there for the rest of his career.
Michael Cooper is not really the type of player who gets in the HOF. Defensive stopper yes, but only 1 DPOY award in a relatively short career, and didn't stuff the stat sheets in other areas that get players like him in, such as Rebounds and/or Blocks. If he played on any other team besides those Laker teams during that time period, he wouldn't even be close to being considered.
Can't really speak on any of the other nominees this year, other then Jerry West will likely get in a 2nd time as an executive.