Allen, Kidd are Hall finalists
LOS ANGELES - The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced its finalists for the 2018 class on Saturday at Staples Center and two men with ties to the Milwaukee Bucks were among the 13 finalists.
Ray Allen, who spent his first 61⁄2 seasons in Milwaukee, and Jason Kidd, who coached the Bucks for 31⁄2 seasons before being fired Jan. 22, were tabbed as finalists for their careers as players.
Allen, the No. 5 pick in the 1996 NBA draft, played 494 games with the Bucks, his highest total with any of his four teams. Allen averaged 19.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists with Milwaukee while shooting 40.6% from three-point range. That stretch also included the first three of Allen’s 10 all-star selections.
During his 18-year NBA career, Allen won championships with the Boston Celtics (2008) and Miami Heat (2013) while making an NBA-record 2,973 three-pointers. He also won an Olympic gold medal in 2000 with Team USA.
Like Allen, Kidd was also a 10-time allstar and won the gold medal in 2000 and later collected an additional gold in 2008. The 1995 co-rookie of the year was a fivetime first-team all-NBA selection and was named to the all-defensive first team four times. Kidd ranks second all-time in steals (2,684) and assists (12,091).
Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Maurice Cheeks and Chris Webber also made the cut.
Charles “Lefty” Driesell, Rudy Tomjanovich and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey made the final ballot as coaches. Katie Smith, Tina Thompson and longtime NBA official Hugh Evans are also finalists.
The 1953-’58 Wayland Baptist University teams that won 131 consecutive games and four AAU national championships is the lone team finalist.
The Class of 2018 will be announced March 31 in San Antonio before the NCAA men’s Final Four.
Three-point contest: Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns won with a record 28 points in the final round. He beat 2016 champion Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors and Tobias Harris of the Los Angeles Clippers.
The previous record was 27 points, set by Stephen Curry in 2015 and matched by Thompson the following year.
Skills challenge: Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets won the competition.
Dinwiddie, who played at Taft High in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, beat Lauri Markkanen of the Chicago Bulls in the final round.