Is Andre Iguodala a Hall of Famer? Plus open thread.
Is Andre Iguodala a Hall of Famer? Plus open thread.
We let Dub Nation decide
The master list of Honorary Warriors For Life lists everyone already polled.
The Nominee: Andre Iguodala
You know who he is. The 2015 Finals MVP, starter of a trend for stars to join the Stephen Curry - Klay Thompson - Draymond Green core after playoff defeat, the man who finessed the Warriors into giving him a whopping large contract at the end of his career, then got the Grizzlies to pay him money to rest and rehab before guiding himself to land on the beaches of Miami, and then return to the Warriors for one more championship in 2022 before finally retiring in 2023.
We usually ask for departing Warriors the question of whether they are Honorary Warriors For Life.
The concept is simple. You get to vote on the question “Is X an Honorary Warrior For Life?”
What does that phrase mean? I am leaving it vague on purpose.
(I once tried to define it, and people found it more fun to bring in their own definitions, so it is now back to being kept vague like “Most Valuable Player” or “Greatest Of All Time” or “sandwich” or “taco”.)
You can vote at the poll at the end of the article.
Because Andre already departed the team once, DNHQ has already had its vote on this after his first departure and the results were a resounding yes.
Poll Results: Well 93.7% / Poorly 0.5% / Don’t Care 5.3% / Don’t Know Them 0.5%
So, since Andre continues to be an Honorary Warrior For Life, we move on to a different question:
Is Andre Iguodala a Hall of Famer?
There was a nice nuanced article about this by Justin Kubatko which I recommend you go and read. (Do not embarrass me by leaving disrespectful comments there or there will be consequences here as well.)
Kubatko goes through a series of questions inspired by baseball’s Bill James and concludes with:
This is a tough one. I’m fairly confident Andre Iguodala will eventually be elected, but I’m conflicted about his candidacy. On the one hand, Iguodala is a four-time NBA champion and the 2015 Finals MVP Award winner. On the other hand, he’s a one-time All-Star who was never named to an All-NBA team and won just one major award.
It’s hard to ignore Iguodala’s four championship rings, but in one of those runs he was rarely used (2022). Yes, Iguodala played a bigger role for those other squads, but I’d argue he was, at best, the fifth most important player on those teams (behind Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson). The first nine seasons of his career, when Iguodala was consistently one of the top two players on his team, he did not enjoy much success, with a cumulative regular season record of 359-369 (.493) and just one postseason series win in six tries.
There’s no doubt Iguodala was a good player for a long time. He was also an interesting interview and, by all accounts, a great teammate.
Game thread: https://dubnationhq.com/p/game-2-gsw-sacramento-steve-kerr?r=3lm3s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Of course the hall will induct him, he played the right way. Iguodala epitomized a champion, sacrificing ego for the team goal: Four Rings. He made the right plays like he was a machine! Like he was Tony Williams playing behind Miles Davis. He was a master and improvised at a moment’s notice to counter the opponent’s scheme. He was a jack of all basketball trades AND a master in the right moments. Need a three pointer with seconds remaining in the game? All net. Need to defend a one point lead against their best player? How about a steal. Need to tie and win the game on the free throw line? No problem. Sink both like Curry. Need to play off the bench in the Finals to cover LeBron in his prime? How about an MVP worthy performance. Iguodala exceeded in multiple dimensions. His 19 years of basketball relevance served as testament to the flexibility and power of his mind, body, and “down-the-lane-dunk-jamming” spirit.