Class of 2020

The address is 1000 Hall of Fame Ave, Springfield, Massachusetts 01105, United States. The name of the street already says it all, or almost. We are just over 3km from Alden St's 263, which is the main entrance to International YMCA College, what Springfield College is for everyone today. They are two sacred places for world basketball, a bit like Uluṟu (aka Ayers Rock) for Aborigines. In the first lies the history of world basketball, a temple where the most glorious characters who made "The Game" reside; in the second the game was literally made, that is where Professor James Naismith invented basketball.

The Hall of Fame has always been synonymous with eternity, consecration, infinity. Being introduced into the HoF means entering the Olympus of those who can never be forgotten and those who deserve the highest honor. Like everything, however, there is a rather important downside. Even if those walls ooze with epic moments, with tears of joy for sportsmen who are really considered demigods, they also represent the definitive conclusion of a career, "the culmination" as someone has called it, the end of an era.

Every year, since 1959, important personalities from the world of basketball are introduced: players, coaches, referees, teams. All the older ones are part of this great elite family. Each class has its own spearhead, a legend that has left its mark in this sport. The 2020 class is one of the best - and successful - ever: it will be for the meaning of the members that make it up, it will be for the legacy they have left, it will be because of someone who has entered the hearts of everyone, forcing the whole world with tears of sadness this time.

On August 29, 2020 will be introduced in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Eddie Sutton, 4 times Coach of the Year and coach of more than 800 victories in NCAA; Rudy Tomjanovich, Houston Rockets coach NBA champions in 1994 and 1995; Tamika Catchings, 10-time All-Star, 4-time winner of the Olympic gold medal (Athens, Beijing, London, Rio) and author of a double quadruple with 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 catches and 10 stops; Kim Mulkey, 3-time NCAA champion coach with the Baylor Lady Bears; Barbara Stevens, 5-time Division II Coach of the Year; Patrick Baumann, FIBA executive who died prematurely in 2018. Each of these people related to the world of basketball has an incredible story, but none equals those of the 3 jewels of the class.

11 NBA titles, 3 Olympic gold medals, 4 regular season MVPs, 5 NBA Finals MVPs, 48 All-Star appearances, 86,210 points scored are numbers that have helped Kevin Maurice Garnett, Timothy Theodore Duncan and Kobe Bean Bryant become halls of famer, but that's not all. Numbers often insult icons, do not do justice "to blood, toil, tears and sweat"  that they put on the field every night, to put it at Winston Churchill - or at LeBron James after the 2016 NBA Finals if you prefer. What these 3 players have represented in the last 20 years for basketball is something that transcends being exceptional basketball players.

KOBE BEAN BRYANT 

"An incredible achievement and a great honor, of which we are extremely proud: the election in the Hall of Fame is the peak of Kobe's career, because each victory was only a small step to get here. Obviously we would have liked him to be here with we are celebrating. We are proud of what he has done, there is a modicum of comfort in the fact that we had a certain confidence to see the name of Kobe in the 2020 class ".
Vanessa Bryant

How can you not start from Mamba. Paradoxically, everything has already been said about him, although everyone would have preferred a different reason. The celebration of Kobe Bryant's life, interrupted too soon after the Calabasas helicopter crash, deserved this step more than any other. It is not the numbers, as mentioned, that let Kobe enter the Olympus of basketball from the front door, assuming it was this introduction in the HoF that consecrated him as an eternal legend. Being considered by the majority of colleagues, professionals and fans to be one of the 5 best interpreters of the Game was sufficient, but consecration is a ritual that must be respected.

He will not be there on August 29 at 1000 in Hall of Fame Ave and it will be one of the reasons to transform tears of joy into tears of sadness and despair. We will not hear his words, his voice, maybe some thanks in Italian just to his Italy. It has not yet been announced how his entry into the HoF will be celebrated, but the NBA will also take care of this last eternal celebration in detail.

KEVIN MAURICE GARNETT

"It's the culmination, man. You put countless hours into this. You dedicate yourself to a craft. You take no days off. You play through injuries. You play through demise. You play through obstacles. You give no excuses for anything. You learn, you build. This is the culmination. All those hours ... this is what you do it for, right here. For me, to be called a Hall of Famer, is everything".
Kevin Garnett

One hundred stories could be told about KG: the stories of violence in Mauldin in South Carolina, his innate competitiveness, how he managed to live with the pain of the disappearance of his best friend, his art of trash talking, the his release when in 2008 he shouted to the world that "anything is possible". "The Big Ticket" is maybe a nickname that he does not fully appreciate, also because it is fastened to him early and for a reason beyond the played basketball. Much more suitable is instead "The Revolution" and the reason explains it directly Paul Pierce, his teammate to the Celtics and the Nets: "Nobody had ever seen such a thing, a combination of speed, athletic ability and versatility at the same time He was the first". Revolutionizing the game is not so simple, but KG has also succeeded in this endeavor. His speech is one of the most anticipated ones.

TIMOTHY THEODOR DUNCAN

"It's kind of the end of the journey here. It was an incredible career that I enjoyed so much. To call it a dream come true isn't doing it any justice, because I never dreamt I would be at this point. I played the game, enjoyed the game, loved what I did, and to be here now with the guys I will be put in the Hall of Fame with is just an amazing class".
Tim Duncan

Vanessa (if she will give the speech) and Kevin Garnett will cry, even a lot. Duncan, on the other hand, will not presumably do so. And not because he is not satisfied, honored and excited at the idea of entering the Hall of Fame. The Spurs' # 21 has always tried to hide emotions, what he feels, also leveraging on the degree in psychology obtained at the time of Wake Forest University. The emotional sphere of the crucian has always been mysterious and enigmatic, while its impact on the game is irrefutable. She was one of the best big wings in history, with a complete skills package. The San Antonio dynasty makes it a symbol and a legend in Texas, America, all over the world and in its small Christiansted, a small village of 3,000 inhabitants on the island of Saint Croix, in the archipelago of the Virgin Islands.