I can't think of a more underrated owner in sports. Good for him.

Dantley got in too.

http://www.hoophall.com/genrel/040708aaa.html

SPRINGFIELD, MA - Hakeem Olajuwon, who led the University of Houston to three straight Final Fours and the Houston Rockets to back-to-back NBA titles; Patrick Ewing, who captured the 1984 NCAA title at Georgetown before capturing two Olympic gold medals and becoming an 11 time NBA All-Star; Adrian Dantley, an unstoppable offensive player at Notre Dame and in the NBA, Pat Riley, who has led two NBA teams to five NBA championships; women's basketball pioneer and Immaculata University coach Cathy Rush; dynamic ESPN television broadcaster Dick Vitale; and Detroit Pistons and Shock owner Bill Davidson were announced today as the seven members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2008. The announcement was made today in San Antonio, TX site of the 2008 NCAA Men's Final Four.

The Shock got him in.

I'd say the Palace and roundball one got him in.

I'd say the Palace and roundball one got him in.


Ah yes,

THE PLANE

THE PLANE

Buying a plane = HOF

But no offense, good for him.
No offense.

He was the first owner in NBA history to buy a private plane for his team.

Roundball one was a pretty big innovation, as was the palace of auburn hills, which is a marvel of the modern era.

I wonder if it saved him money?

I wonder if it saved him money?

I'd say it's cheaper to simply charter your players, as opposed to owning and operating your own private airplane.

You have to employ your own crew, technicians, pay for maintenance, repairs, etc. No way is that cheaper.

The Palace has obviously been very profitable for him, But let's not forget at the time, it was a punch-line idea around the NBA. It was in the middle of a nowhere suburb next to a landfill, out of the city, and Davidson invested his own money into everything.

A lot of NBA owners thought it had no chance of working, and it turned out to be a visionary idea.

^I asked that as a serious question, not a dig, btw.

I wonder how many years of charter flights it would take to justify buying a plane?

I know that they use it for sponsor/advertising schmoozing too, so that would have to factor in as well.

I'm just happy he got his due credit.

He catches a lot of flak here because he's rich and doesn't overpay for people. People forget there's more to being a good owner than that.

The Pistons were a joke in 1974, and 34 years later they are a flagship franchise of the NBA. Every other team wishes it was run like us, and that starts with the guy at the top hiring the right people and making the right decisions.

He was the first owner in NBA history to buy a private plane for his team.

Roundball one was a pretty big innovation, as was the palace of auburn hills, which is a marvel of the modern era.

I agree with most of what you said cept this.

I agree with most of what you said cept this.

The Palace is 20 freaking years old. It's ancient by NBA standards.

It remains a beautiful place. It remains one of the NBA's best basketball arenas. It's a more modern establishment than most arenas 15 years younger.

How many franchises are in turmoil with crappy cut-rate arenas? Teams want new places to play every 10 years?

The Palace was the first of the "modern" NBA arenas, and it remains one of the best.

You can easily picture the palace being around for another 20 years. How many NBA arenas can you say that about?

Somebody cue the Langlois story on this.

I bet Keith was up late last night making Tom Wilson's revisions.

I agree with that too, I just think 'modern marvel' is a bit too puffy a term for it. But to each his own.

I've watched Pistons games at Cobo and remember them playing at the Silverdome, so the Palace is a very very good arena.

In an NBA context, I think modern marvel is a fair term. It's the one modern arena in the NBA that never gets old or outdated, and it's been around the longest.

Half the arenas in the NBA today were directly based off the Palace, and they're still inferior.

I wish it was in downtown Detroit sometimes.

I still can't believe Dan Gilbert didn't change the name of Gund arena to "The Castle". I mean, come on. It goes right along with his extreme desire to mimick everything Pistons and it fits perfectly with his franchises only real asset LeBron. Plus it guarantees that covetted White Castle sponsorship. Dude missed a HUGE opportunity.

Davidson's been a HOF shoo-in for awhile, but I suspect they decided to do this now because of his health.

And DANTLEY MADE IT IN?!? YES!!!!! I hope JD gives him his HOF speech.

I hate the plane talk. The Palace is, I believe, the 2nd oldest arena after MSG, and still plays fresh.

BillyD is a winner, plain and simple, but he has made decisions that people may choose to use to call him cheap. I am amoung those people.

the palace is nice but i hate that its not in detroit.

i couldnt care less about the plane, but i cant imagine a scenario where it would be cheeper to own your own jet than to just charter. maybe if gas were free.

he probably deserves it, but i dont like it.

I agree with that too, I just think 'modern marvel' is a bit too puffy a term for it. But to each his own.

I've watched Pistons games at Cobo and remember them playing at the Silverdome, so the Palace is a very very good arena.


The Palace = one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Much like Flint, peeps come from around the world to see it.

Only the Pyramids of Egypt are more magnificent...

My rankings...

Pyramids
The great genitalia of Zeus
The Palace
Flint

Zeus is mythology, how dare you put that ahead of The Palace in your rankings?