The Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 2015 inductees this week, and with the induction of Dikembe Mutombo, the Hall seems to continue to be rewarding great defense. Among the others chosen for induction were former players Spencer Haywood, Jo Jo White, and Lisa Leslie along with college coach John Calipari and referee Dick Bavetta, all of whom were selected along with five others by separate committees. The induction of Mutombo comes four years after Dennis Rodman was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, two years after Gary Payton, and a year removed from the induction of his former Georgetown teammate Alonzo Mourning. The induction of players like Mutombo and Mourning show that playing great defense pays off and can get you recognition, with the Hall of Fame finally rewarding great defense.
Players like Mourning and Payton were known for playing great defense throughout their careers both winning Defensive Players of the Year awards, but they both were great offensive players as well. Each made it into the Hall on the merits of both their offensive and defensive accomplishments and won a championship together with the Miami Heat in 2006. Mutombo was not the offensive player that Mourning was at the center position and had to make a name for himself as one of the dominant defensive players in the NBA. We all know his trademark finger wag after swatting away opponents’ shots, and he was one of the best to ever do it in the Association. His enshrinement begs the question of whether other defense-first big men can make it to the Hall, particularly players like Ben Wallace.
A look at some of the key career stats for the recent big men who have been inducted shows that Wallace has a good chance of being inducted if the voters want to continue to reward the best defensive players of a generation. Following what was a fantastic college career (15, 12, 4.7 blocks as a senior), Mutombo had an impressive career that spanned 18 seasons, with career averages of 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game. He led the league in blocks three times and rebounds twice. His greatest accomplishments were on the defensive side of the ball, where he won a record four Defensive Player of the Year awards, was six times voted to the All-Defensive team (3 1st team selections), and is second only to Hakeem Olajuwon in career blocked shots. His eight All-Star selections gives him more selection than Mourning, and he was also a competent offensive player, with eleven seasons averaging more than 10 points per game. The later years of his career saw his number fall dramatically while playing reduced minutes, but Mutombo was able to average a double-double for a full decade.
Aside from Mourning’s good offensive numbers early in his career he thrived on defense, winning Defensive Player of the Year twice and making the All-Defensive team twice as well. He finished with averages of 17.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game. Mourning led the NBA in blocks twice, was a seven time All-Star and sits in eleventh place on the all-time blocks list. But comparing the defensive numbers with Mutombo and Wallace to Mourning for enshrinement is not exactly fair, as he averaged over 20 points per game six times, far above the averages of the former two. A better comparison might be Dennis Rodman.
The former bad boy Piston played fourteen seasons with averages of 7.3 points, 13.1 rebounds, and less than 1 block per game. Rodman was more known for his tenacious defense and rebounding, leading the league in the latter seven times. He was much more known for his defense than his offense, and was twice given the Defensive Player of the Year award and was named to the All-Defensive team eight times (7 1st team selections), while only surpassing 10 points per game once in his career (11.6 in 1988). Rodman has an edge in his team success, winning five championships with the Pistons and Bulls, as compared to one for Mourning and none for Mutombo. Rodman was a unique player, not to mention his eccentricities off the court, but his career numbers and his style of play are very similar to someone like Wallace and whose comparison probably gives him the greatest chance at induction.
Wallace played sixteen NBA seasons and was relatively limited on the offensive end, similar to Rodman, and averaged only 5.7 points along with 9.6 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. What Wallace had that Rodman didn’t was an ability to defend opposing big men as well as block shots. Wallace led the NBA in rebounding twice and once in blocks despite being only 6’9” tall and never having a season scoring greater than 10 points per game. What gives Wallace a good chance to get voted into the Hall of Fame is his record tying four Defensive Player of the Year awards to match Mutombo, his four All-Star selections, and his championship as a member of the Pistons in 2004. He sits in thirteenth place on the career blocked shots list.
The enshrinement into the Hall of Fame means recognition of Mutombo as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. What made him unique was his ability to play defense, block shots, and rebound the ball, impacting the game while not necessarily scoring a lot of points. The recent induction of players like Mutombo and Rodman highlight the Hall’s voters’ ability to recognize great defensive players and their impacts on the game. Ben Wallace was a unique player in the same way Mutombo and Rodman were unique players. The resumes of Mourning, Rodman, and Mutombo may be slightly better than Wallace’s, but one cannot deny the impact Wallace had each and every game on the defensive side of the ball. If the defensive accomplishments of some of the recent inductees is enough to get voted into the Hall of Fame, expect to see Ben Wallace’s name among those voted in in the years to come.
