by P. Byrd

Created on: June 17, 2008

It has been a glaring omission for Adrian Dantley to not be in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Here was an athlete who was not the "ideal" size or quickness for his position, yet he excelled at all levels of competition, high school, college and professional. The reality is AD deserves to be in all American basketball Halls of Fame.

It is rare indeed for a player of ADs stature to be so dominant in the paint. He did not possess tremendous leaping ability or height (he was listed at 6 feet, 5 inches), but was a delight to watch as his skill in using his strength, quick release and basketball instincts regularly put him in the top scorers in the league during the prime of his career. In many games he seemed to live at the free throw line, always taking the trademark roll around of the ball before skillfully sending it on its way. This was again a credit to his tenacity and instincts. While most opponents attempted isolate the man he was assigned to guard, AD more than held his own night after night against much taller power forwards or quicker small forwards.

It is true that Halls of Fame are often popularity contests and too much emphasis is placed upon the success of the teams that a player was on. Unfortunately, there are also some voters who let the player's likeability and off the court demeanor play a part in their choices. Clearly one or both of these had something to do with the tardiness of his selection to the hall.

The reality is that Adrian Dantley stands taller on the measuring stick of basketball ability than many players of his era who are in the Hall of Fame. I do not find it necessary to go through a list of players who do not deserve it as much as AD, since any such list is not an endorsement of AD, but an attack on another who was deemed worthy of inclusion. When a player is in the top 20 in NBA history in field goal percentage, shot over 80% from the free throw line (averaging more than 10 free throw attempts per game) and averaged more than 24 points a game for his career in the NBA he deserves to be in. When coupled with his career records at Notre Dame - team's leading scorer and rebounder and consensus All American for 2 seasons, consensus national player of the year as a senior, significant contributor to 1976 gold medal Olympic team - the wait should not have been this long.

Please note that Adrian Dantley was finally awarded the honor of election to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a part of the class of 2008 that was announced in April 2008, more than ten years after he was first eligible for election.

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