Pippen, Malone, and Dream Team enter Hall of Fame

Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, enshrined individually and as members of the famed 1992 Olympic U.S. basketball “Dream Team”.

Pippen thanked his “best teammate” Michael Jordan, while Malone in a tearful speech, thanked his mother who died seven years ago.

“MJ, you have touched so many people’s lives, but none quite like mine,” Pippen said. He added that he would “cherish their relationship forever.”

Pippen was an unknown basketball player out of Central Arkansas when the Bulls got him in 1987. He and Jordan eventually became six-time NBA champions for the Bulls during the 1990s.

“Who knew that No. 23 would be here 23 years later presenting me to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame?”

Malone delivered an emotional speech, and with his voice cracking at the end, he thanked his mom who died seven years ago Friday.

“I’m here because of her,” Malone said.

Earlier in his speech, Malone also thanked deceased Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller for “believing in me.”

Malone attributed his success by staying true to his Louisiana roots. He is second on the N.B.A. career scoring list after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and was awarded two MVP trophies.

“I hope I did it the way my peers did it before me,” he said. “I didn’t do anything but try to play hard.”

The so-called Dream Team, led by Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, that won the gold in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and the 1960 US gold-winning team, captained by Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, were also part of the class enshrined Friday.

Also part of the class were Cynthia Cooper, the first WNBA player to enter the Hall of Fame, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and coach Bob Hurley of St. Anthony’s High School in New Jersey. Posthumous enshrinement was also awarded to Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson, and Maciel “Ubiratan” Pereira of Brazil.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Sunday August 15 2010, 11:58 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0