So all leagues that take themselves seriously have a Hall of Fame. Hell even PBSL had a Hall of Fame. That one was illustrious but kinda fell apart as time went on and the league was moved into modern day and with fake players. I thought I would look into who would be apart of the potential inaugural class of the NPBSL Hall of Fame now that we are ten season into this thing. So I went back to my trusty system to rank players and looked at point totalities to help whittle down to a number where I could then look at their achievements. I had to take achievements into this because of the way the algorithm pulls an amount. Basically it took into account how many seasons they played, so older players who were drafted (Kareem) would obviously rank lower on the list compared to players who played for a longer time (Gervin). Both may be applicable to be in the Hall, but I just realized I needed to take into account several things since were so new still.
I will include the list of the top 195 in a separate post because it is just too long otherwise. I have also included a voting section at the top to give it a little bit more interactiveness. I would love to see who y'all think is also worthy of Hall of Fame induction. There may even be some banners created if we get enough votes.
Of those 195 players, only 19 players were retired as of this season. I could have inlcuded FAs that were clearly not going to be signed again by one of our teams, but they would not be considered for the Hall until they are officially retired, so we will not count them here. The list of just retired player is now:
| Name | Score |
| Robert Parish | 414412 |
| Walter Davis | 365433 |
| George Gervin | 310631 |
| Marques Johnson | 305977 |
| Greg Kelser | 299823 |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 278892 |
| Rickey Green | 270671 |
| Jamaal Wilkes | 238164 |
| Artis Gilmore | 227883 |
| David Thompson | 218199 |
| Julius Erving | 200944 |
| Gerald Henderson | 183786 |
| Dan Issel | 168865 |
| Bobby Jones | 149616 |
| Bob McAdoo | 143705 |
| Cedric Maxwell | 114714 |
| Elvin Hayes | 114574 |
| Truck Robinson | 108658 |
| Player | Seasons Played 1980+ | Best Score & Season | Best RPG/APG & Season | All-Star Games | All-League Awards | Individual Awards | All-Defensive Teams | Player of the Game |
| Robert Parish | 10 | 27.0 PPG — 1981 | 10.9 RPG — 1981 | 4 | 2 — 3rd Team | 1 — Sixth Man of the Year | 1 — 1st Team | 142 |
| Walter Davis | 9 | 24.8 PPG — 1983 | 6.6 APG — 1980 | 2 | 3 — 2× 2nd, 1× 3rd | — | 3 — 2nd Team | 92 |
| George Gervin | 8 | 33.2 PPG — 1981 | 4.4 RPG — 1981 | 2 | 2 — 1st Team | — | — | 80 |
| Marques Johnson | 10 | 23.5 PPG — 1982 | 6.9 RPG — 1982 | 1 | — | 1 — All-Star Game MVP | — | 40 |
| Greg Kelser | 9 | 19.1 PPG — 1983 | 6.2 RPG — 1985 | — | — | — | — | 39 |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 7 | 30.2 PPG — 1980 | 8.5 RPG — 1980 | 1 | 1 — 2nd Team | 1 — Defensive Player of the Year | 1 — 1st Team | 81 |
| Rickey Green | 9 | 15.9 PPG — 1980 | 11.0 APG — 1984 | 3 | 2 — 3rd Team | — | 1 — 2nd Team | 41 |
| Jamaal Wilkes | 8 | 30.8 PPG — 1980 | 6.5 RPG — 1980 | 1 | — | 1 — Sixth Man of the Year | — | 46 |
| Artis Gilmore | 9 | 21.0 PPG — 1980 | 11.5 RPG — 1980 | 1 | — | — | — | 36 |
| David Thompson | 6 | 21.9 PPG — 1985 | 3.6 RPG — 1985 | — | — | — | — | 44 |
| Julius Erving | 6 | 26.9 PPG — 1980 | 9.3 RPG — 1980 | 2 | 1 — 3rd Team | — | 2 — 1st Team | 60 |
| Gerald Henderson | 9 | 13.7 PPG — 1983 | 6.0 APG — 1983 | — | — | — | 1 — 2nd Team | 9 |
| Dan Issel | 6 | 28.7 PPG — 1980 | 6.2 RPG — 1980 | 1 | — | — | — | 32 |
| Bobby Jones | 7 | 17.0 PPG — 1980 | 7.2 RPG — 1980 | — | — | — | — | 14 |
| Bob McAdoo | 5 | 21.0 PPG — 1980 | 7.1 RPG — 1980 | — | — | — | — | 11 |
| Cedric Maxwell | 6 | 13.3 PPG — 1980 | 6.5 RPG — 1980 | — | — | — | — | 5 |
| Elvin Hayes | 4 | 20.4 PPG — 1980 | 7.6 RPG — 1980 | 1 | — | — | — | 15 |
| Truck Robinson | 6 | 16.9 PPG — 1981 | 9.2 RPG — 1981 | — | — | — | — | 7 |
No Shot Tier :
Say goodbye to David Thompson, Gerald Henderson, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Bob McAdoo, Cedric Maxwell, and Truck Robinson. These guys were ok but mainly were not the center of their team builds. The hardest guys to put here are Dan Issel and Bob McAdoo. They are good players who could do some things well but they just didn’t have the accolades to get it done I think when looking at the full picture.
Good Players Who Played Long But Nope Tier:
Jamaal Wilkes, Artis Gilmore, Greg Kelser. Wilkes had one REALLY good season for the Lakers in 1980, and followed up in 1981 with a slightly worse but great season too. However, he just never really popped off as a top tier player. He only has one All Star Game and was a victim of just better guys being around at the time of his playing. Artis Gilmore and and Kelser both played nine years. Kelser really was just a solid guy to play for teams as a support player. Gilmore also had no award success but averaged a very respectable double double in 1980.
Great Players Who Are Hurt for Playing for Short Terms Tier:
Elvin Hayes and Julius Erving. Both are great player who were just too old by the time that 1980 came around. If they were players that were drafted in at 22 instead of being at the end or past their prime the first season, they would probably have been a lot closer to being voted in. Oh well…
Stats Look Good, but Eye Test Says No Tier:
Rickey Green and Marques Johnson. I actually don’t know that I know either of these players. They both played for a long time, I just could not be bothered to remember who they are five mins after I am done writing this section. This is the Hall of Fame after all, and they should be guys that are popping off the page with their abilities and stats. Johnson I want to highlight. I feel like he is someone that I may have been interested in, but he was never a guy that should have gotten a max contract. Hey, he did get a ASG MVP award at least! Neither are giving me that vibe after doing the research for this article.
Eye Test Says Yes, but Up to Vote:
George Gervin and Walter Davis. Let’s start with Gervin. He jumped all over the tiers. He started in the No Shot Tier, then I added him to Good Players but Nope tier, finally he ended up in this section. That is because every time I added him somewhere I would do two things. I would look at his stats when he played and then I would remember how much of a terror he was and how I wanted him to be on my team instead of playing against him. Walter Davis I feel less sure about. He had a few all league appearances, several all D appearances and nearly 100 player of the game awards. He was for sure a guy people enjoyed having on their team, I just don’t know that he is a Hall of Famer when push comes to shove.
Yes, These Guys are In:
Robert Parish and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. First let’s start with Parish. He had the perfect balance of playing for a long time and being a central cog in several Milwaukee and Golden State teams that were menaces. He may have never been the scoring guy on the team, or even the best big, but he was a menace that always showed up. Kareem is kinda the opposite of what Parish is. Kareem had a shorter career than Parish, but when he was at his peak he was one of the best players in the league. He won the first Defensive Player of the Year award, while also scoring 30 ppg. He was also scoring over 20 ppg in his 37 year old season. If he was 22 at the beginning of the league he would have been at the Kevin McHale level of ability and awards.
