Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, 'Redeem Team' among Basketball Hall of Fame finalists

Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard are one step closer to going into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

If all goes well, they might get in twice.

Anthony and Howard were among the finalists announced Friday by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame for enshrinement as part of the class of 2025. They both made it as individuals — and for their roles on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team that won gold at the Beijing Games, the so-called "Redeem Team" that also is now one step from induction.

"I think any time you have an association with a group of people that come together for a common cause and good, you see a lot of good things happen," said Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo, who also was managing director of the 2008 Olympic team. "I've said some things about that experience ... ‘The Star-Spangled Banner' being played, the flag being raised, it was a moment of total completion."

Also announced as finalists on Friday: women's basketball greats and Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore and Jennifer Azzi. Bird won five Olympic golds, Fowles won four, Moore won two, and Azzi was part of the team that won gold at Atlanta in 1996.

"You look at the accomplishments for each of them in terms of championships, in terms of winning gold, in terms of being the players they were for as long as they were, it's a real tribute to the game of basketball and women's basketball in particular," Colangelo said.

The other finalists as picked by the North American committee were Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan (a two-time NCAA champion coach at Florida); Gonzaga coach Mark Few; retired NBA referee Danny Crawford; NBA legends Marques Johnson and Buck Williams; and Jerry Welsh — who coached Potsdam in upstate New York to NCAA Division