Post by Rog on Aug 16, 2016 0:33:50 GMT
You could call our 44th nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame a flash in the pan. He was here, made his impact, and just like that he was gone. Was his ten years in the league enough for him to be remembered as elite? Or did he retire way too soon and will always be remembered as that guy with a lot of talent who just didn't love basketball? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
36.3 MPG, 20.5 PPG, 8.0 APG, 5.4 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 2.3 TOPG on 45.2% from the field, 86.1% from the line, and 40.9% from three
Best Season
Bulls(2008) - 25.3 PPG, 9.8 APG, 5.9 RPG, 2.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 2.3 TOPG on 45% from the field, 84.6% from the line, and 39.8% from three
Career Highs
Points: 46
Rebounds: 14
Assists: 21
Steals: 9
Blocks: 3
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 161
Player of the Week: 2
Player of the Month: 2
Double Doubles: 298
Triple Doubles: 19
Accolades
2005 - All-Rookie Second Team
2006 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2008 - All-Star Game Participant
2008 - All-League Third Team
2008 - All-Defensive Second Team
2012 - All-Star Game Participant
2012 - All-League Third Team
Arguments For Induction
- Calderon played in two All-Star games and was also named to two All-League Third teams in his career.
- Good passer, even great, in every year of his eight year prime, Calderon was an 8 assist guy, even reaching over 9 and 9.5 at times in his career. Thats a solid eight years. He even did it while keeping his turnovers down, an impressive thing in this class. He only averaged 2.3 turnovers in his career and really only was a 2.5 guy in his prime. Solid numbers.
- Was as good of a scorer as he was a distributor, averaging over 20 points a game for his career. Take out his first year and he probably is closer to 22 points a game, which is what he was almost always good for in his 8 year prime. He shot the ball pretty decently as well.
- Was also a pretty solid rebounder, not quite as good as Kidd and Miller were, but better than average. He averaged 5.4 for his career, 6 in his prime, and had 19 triple doubles.
- Excellent thief, averaging 2.2 steals for his career and 2.5 for the majority of his prime. Thats pretty solid.
- Calderon had a great 8 year prime, with numbers at 22 points, 8.5 assists, 6 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 2.5 turnovers and shot decently. His best seasons were as good as any non top 3 OAT point guard you can ask for. For 8 years its impossible to argue that Calderon was not a top 5 PG. Feels like Hall of Famer to me.
Arguments For Induction
- Once again, 2 All-League Teams, 2 All-Star games is not enough, just flat out not enough. You can't be a Hall of Famer with those awards.
- Was he a great passer? Sure twice in his career maybe, but overall he was just a good to average passer who didn't turn it over, good job on not giving the ball to the other team doesn't mean your a Hall of Famer does it?
- Did he have good percentages? Seems to be they were average at best, and for an outside shooting oriented point guard in this league, his percentages just might need to be looked at as below average. Tough to say a guy who wasn't a great volume scorer and doesn't have good efficiency to boot was a Hall of Famer, right?
- Sure he was a good scorer, maybe a good defender, an okay passer, didn't turn it over, above average rebounder, but does any of that sound like he was a legend? Sure doesn't to me, never once can you say Calderon was elite in this or that, sure he had two elite seasons, but outside of that he was really average. Top that off with the fact that he only had 8 years where he was an above average point guard, and he retired after 10 seasons which leaves no counting stats, no legacy, and not titles, and this seems pretty cut and dry to me.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully!
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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