Grateful Cheeks finds Hall of Fame invitation ‘humbling’
PHILADELPHIA » During a multi-year run of 76ers’ achievement and entertainment, Billy Cunningham had something of a standard postgame routine.
After almost every tense victory, and no matter how high Julius Erving dunked or how low Moses Malone had worked along the baseline, the Sixers’ coach would make sure to add: “And what can I say about Maurice?”
There wasn’t much more to be said at the time about Maurice Cheeks, whose understated point guard precision helped push the Sixers to the 1983 NBA championship. But there was officially something new to say about him Saturday: He’s a Hall of Famer.
In an announcement in San Antonio, Texas, site of the Final Four, Cheeks was among 13 elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Former Sixers president Rod Thorn was also chosen.
The formal induction ceremony will be Sept. 7 in Springfield, Mass.
“I’m extremely humbled to get chosen,” Cheeks said. “And when I think about it, it’s an amazing, amazing feeling. I think about Doc (Erving) and playing with Doc and the way Doc played the game. He just had this huge, huge impact on the game. To think of myself to be in the same class as Doc is an overwhelming feeling.”
A second-round draft choice from West Texas State in 1978, the 6-1 Cheeks played 11 seasons for the Sixers, 15 overall in the NBA. With the Sixers, he averaged 12.2 points, 7.3 assists and 2.3 steals, shooting 52.8 percent from the floor. The Sixers retired his No. 10 in 1995.
“I’m thrilled that the Hall of Fame has decided to bestow this incredible honor on Sixers great Maurice Cheeks, recognizing what a great point guard and on-court leader he was,” said Sixers president Bryan Colangelo in a statement. “Mo was always under control offensively while making teammates better, but he made his biggest contributions controlling the game defensively.”
From 1984 through 2001, when they reached the NBA Finals, Cheeks was an assistant coach with the Sixers. He left to become the head coach in Portland. In 2005, he returned as the Sixers’ head coach. He was released after a 9-14 start to the 2008-2009 season.
Thorn, best known for drafting Michael Jordan while an executive with the Bulls, was the Sixers’ president from 2010 through 2013. A former NBA player, Thorn was chosen as a basketball contributor.
“On the one hand, I feel very humbled,” he said. “On the other hand, I feel very proud to be part of this distinguished class, to be part of an institution that you can only dream about. You don’t really think about it because there are so few people who are honored in this way.”
With Cheeks and Thorn, Ray Allen, Grant Hill, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash were elected, along with former University of Maryland coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell and women’s stars Katie Smith and Tina Thompson.
Charlie Scott was chosen from the Veterans Committee, Dino Rajda from the International Committee, Ora Mae Washington from the Early African American Pioneers Committee and Rick Welts from the Contributor Committee.
“Congratulations to Maurice Cheeks on earning his rightful place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame,” Sixers owner Josh Harris said in a statement. “Mo is one of the greatest players in Philadelphia 76ers history as evidenced by his accomplishments as an NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star and fourtime NBA All-Defensive First Team member. Mo will forever be a legend in Philadelphia and his legacy only grows stronger as he’s now a Hall of Famer.”
“Mo will always be remembered as a champion, an elite defender and a fierce competitor,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said in a statement. “But more importantly, he was a great teammate and he’s an even better human being. Mo Cheeks epitomizes what the city of Philadelphia is all about.”
Cheeks was involved in a Thunder practice when he received the phone call from Springfield, so he had to wait to hear it on voicemail.
“As I started listening to the message I started walking to Coach (Billy) Donovan and (general manager) Sam Presti and I just kind of broke out crying,” said Cheeks, who twice before had been a Hall of Fame finalist. “I said, ‘I made it.’ It was just an amazing I feeling.”
Cheeks gave Sixers fans an amazing feeling when he capped the decisive Game 4 of the 1983 Finals in Los Angeles with an iconic breakaway dunk.
“We had come through some trials before we won that championship,” he recalled. “So when that play happened, Doc was running on the side of me and I didn’t even see Doc. That was probably the first time I didn’t see Doc.
“I don’t know how I dunked it. I have no idea. I think the adrenaline of the championship had me dunk it. Typically, I wouldn’t have done that. Typically, I would have given it to Doc. He even said it when we were going back, ‘Why didn’t you pass me the ball?’ I did not see it until I saw the film. He was right on side of me.”
Then, they were on the same floor. By September, they will be together in the Hall of Fame. Cheeks does not know who he will choose to present him at the ceremony, but he mentioned Erving and Cunningham.
“I woke up at like 5:30,” Cheeks said Saturday. “I just walked to the window and I said, ‘Is this real?’ It’s an unreal feeling. I don’t know how to describe it, because when you think about the Hall of Fame, you associate it with Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird and all of these guys. You think about the players.
“I just never saw myself like that. To get this, it is something special.”