Big Hall of Fame weekend for Detroit basketball

A former member of the  Detroit Shock of the WNBA was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend, while a Pistons coach and a former player made it into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. Lots of honors all around for Pistons affiliated people.

It is kind of the sweet spot in the sports schedule, where it is a good time to have hall of fame ceremonies. The summer is over, so people are back from vacation, but the basketball and winter and spring seasons are not ready to begin.

That means people are available to attend these events, which is good. Not much fun to induct someone into a hall of fame, when they can’t be there to enjoy it.

Three people with ties to Detroit pro basketball were inducted into Hall of Fame’s over the weekend:

Swin Cash: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

Last year, Cade Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart and other Pistons were in Springfield, Massachusetts for Ben Wallace’s induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

This year, it a former Shock player, the WNBA franchise that was owned by the Pistons, who is being inducted in Springfield.

Cash played for the Shock after being the second overall pick in the 2002 WNBA draft. The 6-foot-1 forward averaged 12.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, as Detroit won WNBA titles in 2003 and 2006. She went on to win another championship with the Seattle Storm in 2010.

It looks like she had a good time at the ceremony:

Also making it were: two-time NBA All-Star Manu Ginobili, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, two-time NCAA National Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, the NBA’s sixth-winningest coach of all-time George Karl and longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans.

Besides Cash, on the women’s side, the Hall of Fame welcomed five-time WNBA All-Star Lindsay Whalen (who was a major pain in the neck for the Shock in the playoffs), and NCAA national champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley.

Committees that sent inductees included Lou Hudson from the Veterans Committee, Larry Costello and Del Harris from the Contributor Committee, Theresa Shank-Grentz from the Women’s Veterans Committee and Radivoj Korac from the International

If you would like to watch Swin Cash’s Hall of Fame acceptance speech, you can do so here.

John Beilein and Chris Webber: Michigan Hall of Fame

While Cash was in Massachusetts, on the same day, the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame was having its induction ceremony at a sold out MotorCity Hotel & Casino.

The Class was voted on by the Hall of Fame’s Election Task Force, a Statewide Election Committee, and the public. The Election Task Force and Committee are comprised of current and former journalists, sports executives, and representatives from smaller Sports Halls of Fame in Michigan.

Among those honored (for the entire list, go here), were Pistons director of player development John Beilein (heard he did pretty well as a college in at Michigan as well), Chris Webber, who played near the end of his NBA career with the Pistons, as well as 2004 NBA FInals MVP Chauncey Billups, who had been voted in back in 2020, but was unable to make it until now.

Shane Battier, a Detroit native, was another pro basketball player honored.

Beilein coached the Wolverines to two NCAA title games during his time at Michigan, he then was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA and now helps the young players in Detroit.

Webber led Detroit Country Day to three high school championships and then helped Michigan to two NCAA title games as part of the ‘Fab Four.’. He played 15 years in the NBA, including part of the 2006-7 season with the Pistons.

Webber helped Detroit reach the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost in six games to the Cavaliers. He already is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Billups was a key part of the Pistons ‘Goin’ to Work’ team that beat the Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers squad in five games for the NBA championship.

The weekend ceremonies were a good reminder just how prominent basketball players and coaches from Michigan, are on the national landscape.