Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Suns fans and fans across the country.
It’s Hall of Fame week here at Bright Side of the Sun as we prepare for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to welcome a new class into its sacred halls. Among those being inducted, the Seven Seconds or Less era will be well represented, as Mike D’Antoni and Amar’e Stoudemire are set to be enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts.
And we’ll
do our celebrating. Make no mistake about that. But Hall of Fame week also creates another conversation, one centered around the players who still haven’t made it.
On the most recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons went through a list of 7 players he believes should be in the Hall of Fame but currently aren’t. And well represented among that group were three former members of the Phoenix Suns.
The first was Paul Silas, the man who still sits atop the Suns’ single-season rebounding leaderboard after averaging 12.5 rebounds per game in 1971. He spent three seasons in Phoenix and was a pit bull in all the right ways, earning an All-Star nod and two All-Defensive Second team honors. Holistically, he played 16 years, won three championships, and was a five-time All-Defensive player in the era of Redwood trees roaming the paint. At 6’7”, Silas was pound-for-pound one of the best interior players of his generation.
Then there’s Kevin Johnson, my favorite player growing up, and someone who was an absolute force before his body began to fail him in the mid 90s. When you look at his 12-year career and see averages of 17.9 points and 9.1 assists per game, it’s hard to understand why he still isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Of course, there may be off-court factors that play into that discussion.
And then there’s Tom Chambers. Chambers spent five seasons with the Suns and averaged 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game during his time in Phoenix. He still holds the franchise record for points per game in a single season after averaging 27.2 in 1989–90. He’s also most notably remembered as the first unrestricted free agent in NBA history, something you would think deserves recognition in Springfield.
Chambers was a four-time All-Star, with three of those selections coming as a member of the Suns, and he also holds the unenviable distinction of being one of only four players in NBA history to score more than 20,000 career points and not be in the Hall of Fame.
Perhaps this is a biased question, but it also sets up a point I plan to make later this week. So for this week’s Suns Reacts survey, I’ll ask you this: Should Tom Chambers be in the Hall of Fame?
Cast your vote, then let me know why or why not in the comments below. And while you’re there, share your favorite Tom Chambers memory.
