Flames alumni Timms unveiled as eligible candidate for Naismith Hall of Fame
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this week announced the list of eligible candidates for the Class of 2024, including Australian trio Andrew Gaze, Penny Taylor and Michele Timms – who spent the 1995 and 1996 seasons with the Sydney Flames.
These three green and gold stars are among a host of international players shortlisted, including David Blatt, Ettore Messina, Tal Brody, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jean-Jacques Conceicao, Andres Nocioni, Mirza Delibasic, Fabricio Oberto, Jorge Garbajosa, Jose Ortiz, Amaury Pasos, Panaglotis Giannakis, Modesto Palauskas, Giuseppe Giergia, Modesto Palauskas, Giuseppe Giergia, Togo Soares, Dusan Ivkovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Vladimir Kondrashin, Amaya Valdemore, Marcos Leite and Ranko Zeravica.
Other notable high-profile, first-time nominees, include the 2008 US Olympic Men’s Basketball Team (‘Redeem Team’), Vince Carter, Seimone Augustus, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Barnes and Mike Fratello.
Flame #66 Timms, who was the first Aussie drafted to the WNBA (to the Phoenix Mercury), is a household name and synonymous with basketball right around the world.
A trailblazer for Australian sport, she was the first basketballer from her country to play professionally in Europe in the 1980s.
The tenacious point guard – who played 285 games across four WNBL clubs including the Flames – was an integral part of the Opals team which made history in Atlanta in 1996 winning Australian basketball’s first Olympic medal.
Four years later, she would captain her country to a silver medal on home soil at the Sydney Olympics.
She’s continued her association with the Olympics ever since as both a commentator and assistant coach for Australia and China in campaigns at Beijing, London and Rio.
Timms was the first Australian woman inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2016.
Congratulations to three greats of Australian Basketball in Penny Taylor, Andrew Gaze and Michelle Timms who have all been announced as candidates for the @Hoophall class of 2024. pic.twitter.com/ijD6XEJcHN
— Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) December 27, 2023
Other individual highlights include:
- Seven-time WNBL All Star Team (1988–1992, 1994, 1996).
- Basketball Australia Merit Award (1996).
- All Star 5 of the FIBA Women’s European Champions Cup Final Four.
- 1st Australian player to be selected to play in the WNBA (1996).
- WNBA All Star Game selection (1996).
- Two-time Basketball Australia International Player of the Year (1994, 1996).
- Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (2004).
- Inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame (2006).
- Inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2008).
Finalists from the Honor’s Committee for the Class of 2024 will be announced on Friday, February 16, in Indianapolis, Indiana, during NBA All-Star Weekend.
The entire Class of 2024 will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday, April 6.