Reggie Miller joins long list of Hall of Famers who did not win an NBA title.
Reggie Miller, right, receiving a Hall of Fame jersey from the shrine's president John Doleva, joins a long list of players who did not win a title.Reggie Miller has regrets about not winning an NBA championship, but the Hall of Famer will not allow that to define his career.
In 18 years with the Indiana Pacers, Miller led his team to the playoffs 15 times, the Eastern Conference finals six times and to the NBA Finals once.
But no titles.
“Your ultimate goal in any profession is be the best that you can be and in professional sports you want to win championships at the highest level,” Miller said. “ I’d probably be more upset if I’d never had the opportunity but I knocked on the door so many times. I was in six conference finals and one NBA Finals. I had my chances.”
Miller, who did win Olympic Gold and led UCLA to an NIT championship, is not alone as Hall of Famers without NBA rings.
Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Karl Malone are just a few recent enshrinees without NBA titles.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?: Ralph Sampson didn’t get it. Neither did Reggie Miller.
It’s not uncommon for future Hall of Famers to miss that big call from shrine president and CEO John Doleva.
“We clearly say to them that I will be calling between say noon and 3 p.m. Eastern Time on this date and I would say 25 percent of the calls go into voicemail and you have to call back,” Doleva said. “Sometimes after two or three calls I have to leave a message and I say you’ve been elected so give me a call back because we have some things to talk about.”
There is a very good reason for some to miss the call. Doleva has to call the nominees who don’t make it as well.
“a lot of times if guys think they’re on the bubble they let it go to voicemail thinking I’ll leave the bad news on the voicemail and I’ll ask them to call me back because it might be good news,” he said. “Apparently they can take the bad news better that way.
WALKER ON TRADE TO BULLS: Pat Williams and I, who will be honored in the Hall of Fame as well, were working for Philadelphia at the time and Pat became general manager in Chicago. But he was still under his contract with the 76ers. So they blackmailed Pat and told them if he wanted to get out of his contract he had to take me.
I don’t know if Pat wanted to take me or not but to get out of his contract with the 76ers he had to take me. I don’t know if it was a trade or they just got rid of me.
But it worked out for both of us because we had a six-year streak there that was really nice. Before that Chicago had never really embraced NBA basketball and I think the teams there with Pat and myself laid the foundation for NBA basketball in Chicago.
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LIKE SISTER, LIKE BROTHER: Reggie Miller will not be the first one from his family to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as his sister Cheryl already resides there.
Cheryl Miller was inducted in 1995 after an outstanding collegiate career at USC and winning Olympic Gold in 1984.
“We are definitely the first brother and sister (to be inducted), I don’t know if there are two brothers in in any other sport,” Reggie Miller said. “We’re excited about that, I mean come on, that’s bragging rights in itself.”
Reggie said his first call upon receiving the induction news was to his sister, who will pair with Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley to present him.
COMMON LINKS: Three members of the class of 2012 attended UCLA: Miller, Don Barksdale and Jamaal Wilkes.
Three of Hall of Famers were born in Michigan: Don Nelson and Chet Walker in 1940 and Mel Daniels in 1944.
Miller and Daniels are two of just five Pacers to have their numbers retired.
NELSON’S EMPIRE: Don Nelson may be the busiest retired person on the globe.
The Maui resident has rental property on the beach, a couple of stores he owns, his company is building a wedding venue for beach weddings and he has about 22 acres of farmland and grows everything from coffee to flowers to vegetables.
He also has a new company on the mainland called
“Shinola’’ that will be making goods such as watches, leather goods, bicycles and stationary in the U.S. by Americans.
We’re doing a lot of neat things,’’ Nelson said. “There is life after basketball and I’m really enjoying it.’’