Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
On thursday, longtime NBA point guard Derrick Rose announced his decision to retire from the league after a memorable 16-year career. Former Los Angeles Lakers player Nick Young argued on X that if Rose ends up getting enshrined in the Hall of Fame, three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Jamal Crawford should receive the same honor.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Mass. where the sport was invented by James Naismith. While it’s difficult to definitively claim that Crawford should be enshrined if Rose is, both players have legitimate arguments for making the Hall of Fame.
Rose saw his prime get cut tragically short by injuries, hence he earned only three All-Star appearances, and all of those nods came in the early stages of his career. But because of how great the floor general was at his peak, he seemingly has a real chance of joining the exclusive club at some point down the line.
In the 2010-11 season, Rose won the league’s MVP award, and he became the youngest player in the history of the league to receive the hardware. He was in just his third season in the NBA, and across 81 regular-season games played, he averaged 25.0 points, 7.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 steal per contest.
If Rose does make the Hall of Fame, it won’t be at least for another couple of years, though. To be considered for induction, a player must be fully retired for four seasons.
Conversely, Crawford deserves consideration for the notion that he is one of the better bench scorers in the history of the game. Nothing better illustrates the knack that Crawford had for scoring the ball off the pine than his several Sixth Man of the Year awards. He won his first Sixth Man of the Year award as a member of the Atlanta Hawks and his final two with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Crawford and Lou Wiliams — who also played for the Clippers at one point — are tied for having the most Sixth Man of the Year trophies of any player in league history.
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