Is Andre Iguodala A Hall Of Famer?

The Golden State Warriors would not be the team they are today without Andre Iguodala. But is he going to one day be in the Hall of Fame?

No matter how this year’s NBA Finals ultimately play out, there’s no question now that the Golden State Warriors are one of the best teams of all time.

Their two-year run as champions, finalists, regular-season record breakers and their three-point prowess has afforded them their place among the greats.

There were many subtle changes that allowed this team to grow into the behemoth we know today though. Trading Monta Ellis was one, while not trading Klay Thompson for Kevin Love was very much another.

Perhaps no move has been more important to this team on its path to greatness than how it has used Andre Iguodala though.

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Acquired from the Denver Nuggets in a 2013 sign-and-trade deal to a team-friendly four year, $48 million contract, Iguodala would start all 63 of the games he appeared in that year.

That season the Warriors were good, a playoff team that got bounced in the first round in a great seven-games serie against the Los Angeles Clippers. It was unsure what this team needed to do in order to fit their considerable talent together in a more coherent way though.

Enter head coach Steve Kerr. Now, there were many things Kerr did in his first year as coach of the team that led to the Warriors winning their first championship since 1975.

But none was as important as bringing Iguodala off the bench. He would play in 77 regular-season games, starting none.

The rest was history, with Iguodala going on to win Finals MVP honors for the way he handled LeBron James and contributed offensively as well. It’s been quite a late-career surge for the 32-year-old, but will it one day land him in the Naismith Hall of Fame?

On the surface, this would appear to be a no-brainer. Everybody has different criteria in their own minds as to what constitutes a Hall of Fame-level player, but these are the facts. Iguodala is an NBA champion (possibly two-time by the end of this week) and Finals MVP.

He has been an All-Star once in his career, while a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. During his eight-year run with that team, they made the playoffs five times. Of all the players Iguodala went to the postseason with, the list of most notable ones is light.

An aging Allen Iverson, a beat-up Elton Brand, and a couple of young players yet to find their place in the league in Kyle Korver and Thaddeus Young. In fact, you could argue that Lou Williams and a rapidly improving Jrue Holiday were the best players he played with during his time there.

Matt Barnes has gone on to have a nice career but only played for the team for 50 games before moving on. He was also only in his third year in the league at the time as well.

So really, for Iguodala to quickly grow into their best player and lead the team to the playoffs for over half the time he was there, is an achievement he does not get enough credit for. It should also go on his potential Hall of Fame credentials.

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Something else people forget is just how important he was to the Denver Nuggets in his one season there. Iguodala is one of those players whose impact goes beyond the numbers. If he’s the second- or third-best player on your team, you’re likely to be a contender.

That Nuggets team of 2012-13 was a playoff team with or without Iguodala. Guys like Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, Anthony Randolph, a young Evan Fournier and Andre Miller ensured this team had a nice blend of players.

With the two-way play of Iguodala though, they posted a franchise-record 15 straight wins on their way to a 57-25 record, the best mark the organization has ever achieved since joining the NBA.

They did get upset in the first round by the Warriors (of all teams), but we have to remember that these achievements should be listed beside Iguodala too.

There are plenty of players who have posted amazing numbers in the NBA without ever winning a championship. They get celebrated, and in some ways rightly so. The most prolific of these players make it into the Hall as well.

It’s the reason that one day Carmelo Anthony will likely take his place in there, even if this particular writer doesn’t quite agree with that. Iguodala, on the other hand, is that harder to find and even harder to quantify player.

He makes teams better, even if his numbers don’t always reflect that fact (he posted 13 points, 5.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds as a starter his lone season in Denver).

All players talk about wanting to win and making sacrifices to do so, but Iguodala is one of the few players who backs that talk up.

So to clarify, Iguodala has won it all, been a Finals MVP, been a franchise player for multiple seasons (Philadelphia) and helped another team to arguably its greatest season ever during his one year there (Denver).

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He’s been an All-Star and has career highs of 19.9 points, 5.4 assists and 6.5 rebounds. In five of his first six seasons in the league, he started in every single game for his team (the one year he did not he still started 76 games).

He’s shown consistent durability and productivity, no matter how he’s been asked to help his team.

Really there is no clearer candidate to one day make it into the Hall of Fame. He’s the model professional and the kind of player everybody should aspire to. He’s filled many roles during his time in the league, but is clearly most comfortable as a complimentary piece.

His defensive abilities will likely never be properly appreciated either, because he does the hard work off the ball that casual fans don’t care about. In actual fact, you could make the case that he’s a top-10 all time Golden State Warrior player as well.

That achievement may have as much to do with the lean years that franchise endured, but it also reflects his importance to a team that has changed basketball.

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Should Andre Iguodala one day end up in the Naismith Hall of Fame? Really, is that even a question?