In the offseason, we've been enjoying discussions about who belongs in the Hall of Fame. Arturo took the discussion seriously and went about making an analytical approach to deciding who belongs in the Hall. Check out his first piece here. Arturo used a recipe blending a player's prime and their total career to decide if they were worthy. We've reviewed players that have been unjustly forgotten. Today we'd like to give a cheat sheet to future voters. Here are players that deserve First Ballot honors when their time comes.
Let's start off with players that have left the game. The NBA has a waiting period before players are eligible for the Hall of Fame. These players should be no-brainers when that happens though.
| Rank | Player | HoF Score | HoF Year Eligible |
| 6 | Jason Kidd | 98.7 | 2018 |
| 8 | Ben Wallace | 89.5 | 2017 |
| 13 | Dikembe Mutombo | 82.7 | 2015 |
| 18 | Shaquille O'Neal | 74.9 | 2016 |
| 41 | Marcus Camby | 52.2 | 2018 |
| 53 | Brent Barry | 44.7 | 2015 |
| 84 | Jeff Foster | 35.3 | 2017 |
| 94 | Grant Hill | 32.5 | 2018 |
| 99 | Lamar Odom | 31.3 | 2018 |
| 100 | Tracy McGrady | 31.2 | 2017 |
To clarify, rank is a players rank out of all players that have been active since the 1977-1978 NBA season. I'll stress that Dikembe Mutombo is a no-brainer! Here was Arturo's take on this list of amazing candidates.
If the Hall has any sense at all Kidd, Wallace, Mutombo and Shaq should get in first ballot. Mutombo and Wallace are probably going to be helped by facing a clean field in their first year of eligibility. Camby might get in first ballot on the strength of his college play. Jeff Foster is never getting in or even nominated. The last four on the list (Brent Barry, Grant Hill, Odom and Tracy McGrady), I think all get in eventually. I think Hill and Tmac go in first. Barry will need some "stat geek" think pieces supporting him (got your back @Barryathree). Odom gets in further down the line and we hopefully get a heartfelt, tearjerking acceptance speech.
Finally, we have players that are still plugging along in the NBA. Surprisingly (or not), a ton of all-time greats are still in the NBA. And a few are still years away from their retirement.
| Rank | Player | HOF Score Total |
| 9 | Kevin Garnett | 87.4 |
| 11 | LeBron James | 85.3 |
| 14 | Chris Paul | 82.5 |
| 17 | Tim Duncan | 75.8 |
| 20 | Steve Nash | 72.2 |
| 22 | Shawn Marion | 67.6 |
| 24 | Dwight Howard | 64.9 |
| 32 | Andrei Kirilenko | 59.5 |
| 36 | Dwyane Wade | 54.5 |
| 38 | Tyson Chandler | 54.0 |
| 42 | Manu Ginobili | 52.0 |
| 54 | Chauncey Billups | 44.6 |
| 55 | Andre Iguodala | 44.5 |
| 61 | Elton Brand | 43.1 |
| 65 | Ray Allen | 41.7 |
| 73 | Paul Pierce | 39.3 |
| 75 | Pau Gasol | 39.1 |
| 77 | Kevin Durant | 38.1 |
| 78 | Kobe Bryant | 38.0 |
| 81 | Dirk Nowitzki | 36.4 |
| 83 | Rajon Rondo | 35.7 |
| 85 | Joakim Noah | 35.2 |
| 87 | Andre Miller | 34.8 |
| 91 | Shane Battier | 33.7 |
| 96 | Gerald Wallace | 32.3 |
| 97 | Jose Calderon | 31.7 |
| 98 | Kevin Love | 31.7 |
Reminder, LeBron may be the greatest ever to play! Here were Arturo's thoughts on this impressive list of twenty-seven names!
KG, Lebron, Chris Paul, Duncan and Nash are a pretty unassailable, first ballot, top five. I'd say of those 27, Kirilenko and Calderon might have to rely on euro ball to get in, Tyson Chandler and Rajon Rondo needs another deep playoff run, Iguodala needs a playoff moment, Brand, Miller and Wallace will be joining the "he really should be in" club and Battier will need the "stat geek" hipster vote.
We'll wrap up with the players in Arturo's top 100 that are already in the Hall and who Arturo thinks should be voted in over the next few classes! We'll see you then.