Tag: fiba hall of fame

Former Wisconsin basketball star selected to FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame

Former Wisconsin basketball star selected to FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame

Former Wisconsin men’s basketball standout Kirk Penney will be inducted 2024 FIBA Hall of Fame Class, according to a release on Tuesday.

Now serving as a special assistant to head coach Greg Gard on the Badgers staff, Penney is slated to join eight other 2024 inductees at an enshrinement ceremony in September in Singapore.

Penney represented New Zealand at a pair of Olympic Games and four FIBA Basketball World Cups. He becomes the second New Zealand native to enter the FIBA Hall of Fame alongside 2017 inductee and infamous coach Pero Cameron.

“Being selected to the FIBA Hall of Fame is an incredible honor for me,” Penney said to uwbadgers.com. “More than anything, it is a testament to all the hard work done by a great group of people over 15 years. Traveling across the globe together representing New Zealand and battling the best. It was always the honor of a lifetime, so this Hall of Fame induction is uniquely special.

Penney was a two-time Big Ten champion at Wisconsin and the first Badger to pocket consecutive first-team All-Big Ten honors (2002-03) in over 50 years.

He also played in the NBA with the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

Only one former Celtic is on the FIBA 50 greatest players list

For such a storied ball club, this is a bit of a surprise.

The Boston Celtics are among the most storied clubs in the sport’s history, with a number of former players in both the Naismith Memorial Basketball and FIBA halls of fame. But when it comes to players counted among the 50 most influential FIBA players of all time, there is just one former Celtic on the list.

That would be Croatian big man Dino Radja, who was taken 40th overall by Boston in the 1989 NBA draft. The Split native played for the Celtics for parts of four seasons (1993-1997), carving out part of a Naismith Hall of Fame career there as well.

But it was his play for Croatia in the 1998 and 1992 Olympics, the 1994 FIBA World Cup, five EuroBasket competitions between 1987 and 1995 and in other FIBA play that earned Radja a spot on this list.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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The Boston Celtics have three former players in the FIBA Hall of Fame

Can you guess all three of them?

The Boston Celtics have no shortage of Hall of Fame members — and not just the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Three Celtics are in the FIBA Hall of Fame, which honors international excellence as well. Two are in that hall as individuals and one — Larry Bird — is part of arguably the most talented Olympic squad ever fielded.

If anything, it is surprising there are not more Boston players in the FIBA hoops hall.

Let’s take a look at the trio of past Celtics in the “other” Hall of Fame, as well as the contexts that got them in there.