Dennis Rodman And Chris Mullin Top List Of Basketball Hall Of Fame Finalists, Reggie Miller snubbed

The Basketball Hall of Fame announced its list of finalists Friday and the names who made it are just as newsworthy as the ones that didn't.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honors basketball players of all stripes. This year's class of inductees includes NBA players (Chris Mullin, Maurice Cheeks, Ralph Sampson, Jamaal Wilkes and Dennis Rodman), NBA coaches (Dick Motta and Tex Winter), a college coaches (Herb Magee and Stanford women's Tara VanDerveer), a former player and coach (Al Attles), and a referee (Hank Nichols).

Each new inductee deserves this honor, but what's surprising is the one name not on the list: Reggie Miller.

Miller certainly had a Hall of Fame-caliber career for the Indianapolis Pacers, but for some reason or another, was not named on the required seven of nine ballots. Miller played 18 seasons with the Pacers, scoring 25,000 points. The thin-framed shooting guard was the all-time leading three-point leader until Ray Allen recently broke his record. Miller also excelled at UCLA where he averaged over 22 points-per-game as upper-classman.

Rodman is deservedly being honored for being one of the best defenders and rebounders in NBA history, but with his on and off-the-court antics, it's interesting that he made the final cut and Miller did not. Perhaps Rodman's five championship rings to Miller's zero was one of the biggest factors.

The inductees will be announced officially on April 4 at the Final Four in Houston and there will be a ceremony in August at the Naismith Memorial in Springfield, MA.