4 legendary Utah Jazz players with a case to be in the Hall of Fame

Andrei Kirilenko

As far as professional Hall of Famers goes, Andrei Kirilenko should be a no-brainer, but as so much of his career was in and around the Euro-Asian basketball scene, it’s fair to say that he has a high hill to climb.

As far as his NBA highlights go, they’re nice, but not Hall-worthy on their own accord. He had a single All-Star nod in 2004, and made the NBA All-Defense team three times, once in 2006 as a member of the First Team, and then in 2004 and 2005 as a Second Team selection.  He also made the 2002 All-Rookie First Team, as well as the league’s block leader in 2005.

But it’s his international career that should net him a Hall of Fame spot. He has six MVPs to his name, one for the EuroBasket MVP in 2007, another for the EuroLeague MVP in 2012, a third MVP of the Russian League (2000), a fourth for the VTB United League in 2012, a fifth MVP as the VTB United League Final Four MVP, and a 1999 FIBA U-19 World Cup MVP Award.

He’s also a two-time FIBA Europe Men’s Player of the Year, a four-time Russian Player of the Year, and a one-time Euroscar Player of the Year. That’s just half of his international accolades. It’d be fair o say that Kirilenko is among the most decorated international players in the history of the game.

And that isn’t even counting his team accolades during the Olympics or EuroBasket.  It’s hard to make a case that Kirilenko shouldn’t be in the Naismith Hall of Fame if the outfit cares about pro basketball and not just NBA basketball.

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