CLEVELAND – (Staff Report from official News Release) – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named Reggie Minton as the winner of the 2022 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award. Minton, a longtime military officer, men’s basketball coach and former executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Minton will be honored at the Hall of Fame Tip Off Celebration and Awards Gala during Enshrinement Weekend in September.

The Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award was instituted by the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees in 1973 and is the most prestigious award presented by the Hall of Fame outside of Enshrinement. Named in honor of Hall of Famer John W. Bunn (Class of 1964), the first chairman of the Basketball Hall of Fame Committee who served from 1949-1964, the award honors coaches, players and contributors whose outstanding accomplishments have impacted the high school, college, professional and/or the international game.

“The Basketball Hall of Fame honored to recognize Reggie Minton as the recipient of this year’s Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “Mr. Minton embodies what it means to be a person of integrity and character. From his time honorably serving our country to the passion and knowledge he brought to the gym as a coach, he left a wonderful impact on everyone who he came into contact with. We look forward to honoring his legacy in Springfield this September.”

A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Minton was an all-state selection at Bridgeport Central High School and was a collegiate standout at the College of Wooster. Following his graduation, he honorably served more than 20 years in the United States Air Force.

After concluding his military career, Minton turned to coaching where he was the head coach at Dartmouth (1983-1984) and the Air Force Academy (1984-2000), where his 16 years still stand as the longest coaching tenure in school history.

Minton joined the NABC staff as the associate executive director in 2000 and was elevated to deputy executive director in 2004. During his time with the NABC, he focused on issues that impacted college basketball and its coaches, legislative actions, and other matters pertaining to the NCAA. He was also the association’s liaison in its partnership with the American Cancer Society in the Coaches vs. Cancer program, which has raised over $100 million since its inception. Throughout his career, Minton was active with USA Basketball, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Trustees and the NIT selection committee. He also served on several NCAA committees, including a term as chair of the rules committee and a consultant to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Issues Committee.

Minton will be honored with the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hall of Fame Tip Off Celebration during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend September 9-10, 2022

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NEW YORK – (Source: Official NBA News Release) – The National Basketball Association will unveil its 75^th Anniversary Team, comprised of the 75 greatest players in league history, during special editions of TNT’s NBA Tip-Off, presented by CarMax and ESPN’s NBA Today from Tuesday, Oct. 19 through Thursday, Oct. 21.

Twenty-five members of the team, representing a cross section of positions and eras from throughout the NBA’s rich history, will be announced on each of the three days.  The team is being selected by a blue-ribbon panel of media and current and former players, coaches, general managers and team executives.

TNT will begin the unveiling of the 75^th Anniversary Team on Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. ET during an extended edition ofNBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax with the Sports Emmy Award-winning studio team of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.  The 90-minute pregame show will air prior to the network’s opening-night doubleheader featuring the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks hosting the Brooklyn Nets (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Golden State Warriors visiting the Los Angeles Lakers (10 p.m. ET).

ESPN will take over the honors on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. ET when it announces 25 more members of the team duringNBA Today, the network’s new daily 60-minute NBA show hosted by Malika Andrews, ahead of its season-opening doubleheader with the Boston Celtics facing the New York Knicks (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Denver Nuggets taking on the defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns (10 p.m. ET).

The final 25 members of the team will be revealed on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax on Thursday, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. ET, in advance of the network’s presentation of the Dallas Mavericks vs. the Atlanta Hawks (7:30 p.m. ET) and the LA Clippers vs. the Warriors (10 p.m. ET).

As part of “NBA 75,” the league’s celebration of its landmark 75^th Anniversary Season, the NBA selected Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler, Magic Johnson, Bob Pettit and Oscar Robertson, as well as 14-time NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, to serve as ambassadors for the 2021-22 season.  Representing different eras of the league’s history, the ambassadors will make appearances throughout the 75^th Anniversary Season and have a significant presence at NBA All-Star 2022 in Cleveland.

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TL’s Sunday Sports Notes

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The NBA began its 75th Anniversary celebration in typical NBA style, and that was to come out of the summertime hiatus and walk immediately into training camp with self-inflicted controversy. It happens more often than not. Instead of fans delving into the playoffs and NBA title contenders, the most promising rookies, blockbuster roster moves or coaching changes, the headlines go elsewhere. This season, instead of reminiscing about the league’s 75 best players of all-time, we’re talking the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Although some 90-95% of the NBA’s rank and file players, plus all of the coaches, assistant coaches and athletic training staff are all vaccinated against the coronavirus with hope of fighting off COVID-19 and its Delta variant, the remaining five percent grabbed every NBA headline as the league conducted Media Days in every franchise city.

From Andrew Wiggins in Golden State to Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn to Bradley Beal in Washington DC, the unvaccinated few became the story. So be it.

The NBA forewarned the fact certain state and local government jurisdictions will have their own say on the matter and players will not be able to enter the very arena where the games are to be played, one being the Barclays Center in Brooklyn which would cut Irving’s season in half, right off the bat.

The league made matters known about foregoing paychecks for those games, the NBA Players Association, in transition at both the President (Chris Paul to CJ McCollom) and Executive Director (Michelle Roberts to Tamika Tremaglio) levels, are encouraging vaccinations and pointing out their Union membership is vaccinated at a much higher rate than the American public rates. Joining the NBA players, the NFL, MLB and NHL unions are also encouraging vaccinations while the NBA league is requiring all personnel who interact with the players at practices and games be fully vaccinated by this past Friday, October 1.

Players who choose not to be vaccinated will undergo extensive testing procedures throughout the season and teams will go to the length of securing separate transportation and dressing facilities, as best they can arrange.

What is an amazing juxtaposition on the issue? The fact the NFL was lauded as its season kicked-off and to some 93.5% vaccination rate for the players, yet the few NBA players are being criticized despite the slightly higher (up to 95%) rate of vaccinated union members. Go figure?

The voice of reason this week was the point of view of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the retired NBA legend, Hall of Famer and very high on the short list of the NBA’s all-time greatest players.

“The NBA should insist that all players and staff are vaccinated or remove them from the team,” Abdul-Jabbar told Rolling Stone (magazine/online). “There is no room for players who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates, the staff and the fans simply because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation or do the necessary research. What I find especially disingenuous about the vaccine deniers is their arrogance at disbelieving immunology and other medical experts. Yet, if their child was sick or they themselves needed emergency medical treatment, how quickly would they do exactly what those same experts told them to do?

In its lengthy article (highly recommended by WWYI) Abdul-Jabbar said that players who remain silent about the (COVID-19) vaccine are no longer legitimate role models.

“They are failing to live up to the responsibilities that come with celebrity. Athletes are under no obligation to be spokespersons for the government, but this is a matter of public health,” Abdul-Jabbar detailed to Rolling Stone in an e-mail. The former LA Lakers’ team captain, Milwaukee Bucks superstar and UCLA all-time great remains especially disappointed in athletes of color: “By not encouraging their people to get the vaccine, they’re contributing to these deaths. I’m also concerned about how this perpetuates the stereotype of dumb jocks who are unable to look at verified scientific evidence and reach a rational conclusion.”

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: As stated, short of the vaccination controversy, this column would’ve begun with my personal list of the 75 Greatest Players in NBA History. As the league prepares to unveil its official list, I’ll list mine but will do so in groups of 10, holding back my Top 10 and my choices for No. 60-75.

NBA AT 75: You can plan to read about my Top 10 NBA Players of the first 75 years in next Sunday’s column. This week, I’ll start with my “Next Ten,” listed in alphabetical order, you’ll notice) and move along until I hit No. 60.

NBA at 75: Next 10 or No. 11-20:

Rick Barry

Tim Duncan

Julius Erving

Karl Malone

Moses Malone

Dirk Nowitzki

Hakeem Olajuwon

Shaquille O’Neal

Bob Pettit

Jerry West

And, the Next Ten: (21-30)

Charles Barkley

Steph Curry

Kevin Durant

John Havlicek

Allen Iverson

George Mikan

Scottie Pippen

David Robinson

John Stockton

Isiah Thomas

And, the Next Ten: (31-40)

Bob Cousy

Walt Frazier

George Gervin

Dan Issel

Sam Jones

Bob McAdoo

Kevin McHale

Willis Reed

Dwayne Wade

Bill Walton

Next Ten (which is my No. 41-50):

Ray Allen

Nate Archibald

Dave Bing

Dave Cowens

Artis Gilmore

Hal Greer

Elvin Hayes

Earl Monroe

Lenny Wilkens

James Worthy

The Next Ten: (51-60)

Paul Arizon

Billy Cunningham

Clyde Drexler

Alex English

Patrick Ewing

Reggie Miller

Jason Kidd

Wes Unseld

Russell Westbrook

Dominique Wilkins

WHO’S GOT NEXT? That leaves the naming of a relatively easy Top 10 list of NBA players and then the more difficult (No. 61-75) to be named in this missive next week. Joining the final list, I’ll also name a small group of players who will remain “On the Bubble.” Although they remain worthy of consideration and would make almost anyone’s Top 100, the challenging aspect of this celebration is drawing a line at No. 75.

I chose to list in groups of ten for a strong method of easy organization and an attempt at some level of talent grouping, but, in reality, I ask: Can anyone say whether Nate “Tiny” Archibald is better or worse that Elvin Hayes? Or whether David Robinson was better than Dan Issel, Bob McAdoo or Wes Unseld?

It’s impossible to factor in the changes in the game over the years, the comparison of point guards to centers or power forwards or whether the players made their teammates better or those who might’ve been void of talented teammates? Would Utah’s John Stockton be a lock at an all-time great if he didn’t have Karl Malone finishing at his side?

At the “NBA@50” celebration with the late, great Wilt Chamberlain at his side, Bill Russell casually explained to the assembled media that there are simply a lot of “ties” for best, asking no one, “Can you say Oscar Robertson was better than Jerry West or Elgin Baylor?” No. They’re all in a tie for first.”

In the past, the NBA celebrated its history with an NBA 25th, 35th and 50th anniversary teams.

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