Malone, Pippen, Dream Team highlight Hall of Fame finalists

Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen are among the finalists for the 2010 class of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Malone and Pippen were both members of the original "Dream Team," the 1992 U.S. Olympic squad that easily won a gold medal in Barcelona. That entire team, along with the 1960 U.S. men's Olympic team, are also finalists for the Hall.

Joining Malone, Pippen and the Olympic teams as finalists from the North American committee is Chris Mullin -- another member of the "Dream Team" -- as well as Dennis Johnson, Bernard King and Jamaal Wilkes. Other North American finalists are Lakers owner Jerry Buss, famed high school coach Bob Hurley Sr., and coaches Don Nelson and Tex Winter.

Veterans committee finalists are Gus Johnson and Richie Guerin, while women's committee finalists are former WNBA star Cynthia Cooper, college coach Harley Redin and the All-American Red Heads -- the first women's professional basketball team.

International committee finalists are former Soviet Union coach Vladimir Kondrashin and Brazilian legend Maciel Ubiratan Pereira.

The Class of 2010 will be announced Monday, April 5 in Indianapolis prior to the NCAA men's championship game. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Enshrinement festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts are scheduled for August 13.

Malone was a two-time NBA MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. In addition to the 1992 team, he also played in the 1996 team that won gold in Atlanta. Last year, his long-time Utah Jazz teammate, John Stockton, was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

An All-NBA First-Team forward from 1989-99, Malone was named one of the league's 50 greatest players in 1996 and ranks second on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 36,928 points. He finished his career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04.

Pippen was a seven-time NBA All-Star and a member of six championship teams with the Chicago Bulls. He also played in the 1996 Olympics, was a three-time All-NBA First-Team member and was voted to the NBA All-Defensive first team from 1992-99. After leaving the Bulls, Pippen played for Houston in 1998-99 and Portland from 1999-2003.

The 1992 Olympic team dominated the Barcelona Games, winning all eight of its games by an average of 43.8 points. Coached by Hall of Famer, the late Chuck Daly, the "Dream Team" was the first team made up primarily of NBA players who were eligible to compete in international basketball for the first time because of the change of FIBA rules in 1989. Eight players from the team -- Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, David Robinson and Stockton -- have already been enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Before the "Dream Team," there was the 1960 Olympic squad that ran through the Rome Olympics with an 8-0 record on the way to a gold medal. That squad, with six members -- including Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West -- enshrined in the Hall won their games by an average of 42.4 points.

Mullin, a finalist for the third year in a row and another member of the "Dream Team," was a five-time NBA All-Star and collegiate standout at St. John's, where he is still the all-time scoring leader and was named Big East Player of the Year an unprecedented three times. He also won Olympic gold in 1984 and played 16 NBA seasons for Golden State and Indiana, amassing 17,911 points.

Dennis Johnson was previously a finalist in 1999, 2003, 2005 and the past two years. Considered one of the best defenders of his era, Johnson earned nine straight NBA All-Defensive Team honors during his 14-year career with Seattle, Phoenix and Boston. He led the Sonics to the 1979 NBA title, earning Finals MVP honors, and helped the Celtics to NBA crowns 1984 and '86.

King spent 15 seasons in the NBA with New Jersey, Utah, Golden State, New York and Washington after an All-American career at Tennessee. He averaged 22.5 points in the NBA, was selected for the All-Star Game four times and was chosen as First-Team All-NBA twice.

Wilkes was a member of four NBA championship teams, first in 1975 with Golden State and the Lakers in 1980, '82 and '85. After a stellar collegiate career at UCLA, where he was a member of two national championships, Wilkes won the 1975 NBA Rookie of the Year and finished his 12-year career with an average of 17.7 points per game.

Buss has owned the Lakers since 1979 and the team has captured nine NBA titles under his stewardship. During his ownership, the Lakers have also won 16 Western Conference titles and have recorded the most wins and the highest overall winning percentage in the NBA.

Hurley is a New Jersey high school coaching legend, having compiled more than 900 wins as head coach at St. Anthony's in Jersey City since 1972. He has led the school to 25 state parochial titles. If elected, he would become only the third person elected exclusively for their service to high school basketball, joining Morgan Wootten and Bertha Teague.

Nelson, still coaching with the Golden State Warriors, was previously a finalist in 2006, 2008 and last year. He is also a three-time NBA Coach of the Year winner and is currently second in NBA coaching victories. An NBA player with the Chicago Zephyrs, Lakers and Boston Celtics, Nelson has also coached Milwaukee, the New York Knicks and Dallas.

Winter was the 1998 recipient of the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement award, presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame to recognize his work in coaching and as the proponent of the triangle and triple-post offense that has been the foundation for the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers teams and nine NBA championships. He compiled a 454-333 record at the collegiate level with Kansas State, Washington and Long Beach State.

Gus Johnson was a five-time NBA All-Star in the late 1960s and early '70s, and won an ABA championship with Indiana in 1973. He led the Baltimore Bullets to five playoff appearances in nine seasons, including the 1971 NBA Finals. In 10 NBA seasons, he averaged 17,1 points and 12.7 rebounds.

Guerin, in his fourth year as a finalist from the Veterans' Committee, was a six-time NBA All-Star (1958-1963) and accumulated 14,676 points, 4,278 rebounds and 4,211 assists during a pro career with the Knicks (1956-63), St. Louis Hawks (1963-67) and Atlanta Hawks (1968-70).

Cooper won a pair of NCAA women's titles at Southern California and captured four WNBA crowns with the Houston Comets. She was twice the league's MVP and won an Olympic gold medal in 1988.

Redin is recognized as one of the greatest coaches in basketball after leading the Wayland Baptist University women's team from 1955 through 1973. Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999, he compiled an overall record of 431-66, including a 76-game win streak from 1955 through 1958.

The All-American Red Heads were founded in 1936 in Cassville, Missouri and competed in games all over the United States and Canada, regularly playing more than 200 games a year during six decades (1936-86).

Kondrashin was known as the founder of basketball in Leningrad, where he compiled an overall record of 727-365. He led the Soviet Union National Team to the Olympic Gold Medal in 1972 and the Olympic Bronze Medal in 1976.

Pereira, a finalist for the third year in a row, is widely considered one of the greatest players in South American basketball history. A member of three Brazilian Olympic teams, Ubiratan led his countrymen to the bronze medal at the 1964 Olympic Games.