By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
On Friday, 7th of September at the Springfield Symphony Hall, former Boston Celtic center Dino Radja will become the eight European and third Croatian player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame class.
All future Hall of Famers got to pick a previous inductee to present them at the ceremony and in Radja’s case, it will be another Celtic in Larry Bird. Radja played his entire four-year NBA career (1993-1997) with the Celtics and averaged 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds.
Three years before joining the Celtics, he won back-to-back European Championships with Yugoplastica (1989-1990) while also winning various medals with Yugoslavian and Croatian national teams.
The full list of the 2018 Hall of Fame class and their presenters is as follows:
Ray Allen – Reggie Miller (’12)
Maurice “Mo” Cheeks – Billy Cunningham (’86), and Julius Erving (’93)
Charles “Lefty” Driesell – John Thompson (’99), Mike Krzyzewski (’01), and George Raveling (’15)
Grant Hill – Isiah Thomas (’00), Mike Krzyzewski (’01), Patrick Ewing (’08), and Alonzo Mourning (‘14)
Jason Kidd – Gary Payton (’13)
Steve Nash – Don Nelson (’12)
Dino Radja – Larry Bird (’98)
Charlie Scott – Dave Cowens (’91), Julius Erving (’93), Larry Brown (’02), James Worthy (’03), Jerry Colangelo (’04), Roy Williams (’07), and Spencer Haywood (’15)
Katie Smith – Dawn Staley (’13)
Tina Thompson – Cheryl Miller (’95)
Rod Thorn – Jerry West (’80)
Rick Welts – Bill Russell (’75), Lenny Wilkens (’89 & ’98), Annie Meyers (’93), Russ Granik (’13), and David Stern (’14)