Big Shot Bob...Hall of Famer?

Over at ESPN, J.A. Adande states his case for Robert Horry to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. The article is long, but his argument can pretty much be boiled down to this:

1. He won 7 Championships
2. He made some big shots in the playoffs

Let me get two things out of the way before I dissect Adande's piece: First, I have nothing but respect for Robert Horry, who's a classy guy, a terrific clutch performer, and, rumor* has it, one hell of a salsa dancer. Second, my standards for inclusion in any sport's hall of fame are incredibly high. Generally, if there's any sort of debate over whether or not a certain player should be included, I fall on the side of "no way in hell."

This is no exception.

Horry has had three seasons where he averaged more than 10 points a game, maxing out a robust 12.0 in 95-96. He has once averaged more than 7 rebounds per game (7.5 in 97-98). For his career, his numbers are 7.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.9 bpg. Fine, and not wholly indicative of his contributions to the many good teams he played on. But not even close to hall of fame worthy.

No problem, says J.A. Adande. His legacy of winning dwarfs his statistical insufficiency. And he trots out a precedent: K.C. Jones.

"The NBA hasn't seen a winner like Horry in three decades. John Havlicek retired in 1978, the last member of the Boston Celtics' 1960s dynasty to check out, and one of only six players in NBA history with a championship ring collection larger than Horry's seven. Of those six players -- Bill Russell (11 rings), Sam Jones (10), Tom Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Tom Sanders and Havlicek (eight each) -- Sanders is the only one not in the Hall of Fame. But the fact that K.C. Jones is makes the case for Horry.

Jones averaged 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in his nine-year career. Horry has averaged 7.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in 16 seasons. Jones proved there's a place in the Hall for underwhelming statistics if they came on winning teams."

Adande left out the fact that Jones, in addition to his 8 NBA titles (in 9 years!), won 2 more college championships with Bill Russell at San Francisco, an Olympic gold medal, and 2 more championships as a head coach ('84 and '86 with the Celtics). Though I would deem his inclusion controversial myself, by all reports his defensive and playmaking presence was a key to those 8 championship teams. Tom Sanders, mentioned above, had better career numbers than Jones or Horry (9.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg), and 8 championships (in 13 years), and yet is deemed unworthy of inclusion.

Robert Horry won 7 championships in 16 years. He won them riding on the coat tails of Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, Robinson, etc. Occasionally, he hit a huge (often wide open) shot late in the game, generally after one of the previously mentioned players had been double teamed. He was a very good positional defender, a solid spot up shooter, and, early in his career, an athletic asset on the fast break.

And he is not a hall of famer.

Not even close.

*There is no substantiation for this rumor. I'm starting it.