It’s time to celebrate, Boston!

More specifically, Green Teamers! As many outlets in town have been reporting today as a cause for celebration, Paul Pierce has been named an official Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Nominee*.

Surely this is a great honor. Now, The Truth will be considered for HOF election as part of the 2021 Class with 54 other contemporaries. Well, 54 other men….there are also 12 women up as nominees.

So, 66 Nominees…well, that’s not entirely true either. That doesn’t account for the other categories of nominees:

• Contributors (40)
• Early African-American Pioneers (13)
• International (17)
• Veterans’ Committee (60) plus 3 entire teams
• Women’s Veterans’ Committee (9)

So, all told, Paul Pierce is up for Nomination, with a very exclusive group of 205 other individuals… I can see why this is exciting.

Now, as is my wont, I’m being sarcastic here. The Hall of Fame considers all of these categories because it’s a museum- no, THE MUSEUM- of Basketball. And they strive for representation from all facets of the game. But, what we’re really talking about when we say “Hall of Famer” is Players elected post-retirement, when considered among their peers to be the best of the best. And if we narrow the list to individuals who meet those requirements, we’re looking at 18 names.

Ben Wallace

Buck Williams

Chauncey Billups

Chris Bosh

Chris Webber

Dale Ellis

Lamont Robinson

Marcus Camby

Mark Eaton

Mark Jackson

Marques Johnson

Michael Cooper

Michael Finley

Muggsy Bogues

Paul Pierce

Richard Hamilton

Shawn Marion

Tim Hardaway

Not the most impressive group, and again, not cause for celebration that Pierce was nominated. But the writing on the wall says, Paul Pierce is a SLAM DUNK, NO-BRAINER, first ballot selection. At that point, and NOT UNTIL THEN, will allow any celebration…you hear me?! Then we can applaud