Reggie!! Reggie!! Reggie!! Miller Entering the Hall

By - Kris Fletcher

Rarely do I take the time to cover an athlete being elected to their particular sports Hall of Fame. But in the case of Reggie Miller, I'm willing to make an exception.

The main reason being because Miller was one of my favorite players growing up. To this day, he remains one of my all-time faves.

Photo by: George Kalinsky

However, that's not the only reason why.

See in my opinion, Miller was one of the best pure shooters in NBA history. If you gave him an inch, he'd flat out bury you.

Still, a lot of folks seem to think that's not reason enough for him to be enshrined.

I have a problem with that.

Grant you, plenty of guys have put up bigger numbers over the course of their careers. But the fact of the matter is, anyone that believes Reggie Miller isn't Hall of Fame worthy doesn't really know a whole lot about basketball.

While Miller never led the Indiana Pacers to a championship, he was the main reason they were in the title hunt year-in and year-out for the better half of a decade.

Besides, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley never led their teams to any rings either, but I don't recall hearing anyone complaining when they were voted in.

Now that's not to say that Miller was the same caliber of player as Malone or Barkley, but like them, he was always the focal point of the oppositions defense. If teams were going to lose, they wanted someone other than Miller to be the guy that beat them.

And even then, Indiana won more often than not.

If that isn't a sign of greatness, I dunno what is.

Quite frankly, Miller would have almost been worthy of Hall of Fame consideration just based solely on what he did to the New York Knicks over the duration of his career.

Anyone else remember Reggie erupting for 8 points in the span of 8.9 seconds to give the Pacers an improbable win over the Knicks in Game 1 of their playoff series back in 1995?

Still don't think Miller should be a Hall of Famer?

Ask Spike Lee.

Regardless though, no matter what other basketball enthusiasts believe, I feel that Miller's selection is completely justified. And fittingly enough, come September, it will once again be "Miller Time" when the Class of 2012 takes their place alongside all the other NBA greats of the past.