LeBron: Don’t Be Stupid
I know half the staff and our readers are going to rip me apart for this but…
“Retiring” #23 is stupid and here is why. First I would like to say that I respect LeBron as a player and I actually do like him on and off the court (unlike Shooter) but this is ridiculous. What has Jordan done for the game that Wilt Chamberlain didn’t do or Kareem or Bill Russell or Oscar Robinson? Jordan didn’t change the game, I’m sorry but he didn’t. Rules were changed for Wilt Chamberlain, not Michael Jordan.
Ok so Jordan won 6 NBA Championships, but if we are talking about retiring a jersey number because of the number of championships Jordan won then why don’t we retire Bill Russell’s number league-wide? Bill Russell won 11 NBA Championships.
Jordan was 5-time MVP of the league that would be a good reason to retire his number but again so was Bill Russell so I need for LeBron to backup his petition. This just doesn’t make any sense to me and frankly it irks me, A LOT. It’s actually ironic that LeBron wants to switch to number 6 because THAT’S BILL RUSSELL’S NUMBER!
LeBron definitely choked under pressure on Thursday night (like that’s never happened before) and dropped the ball. I really hope the NBA doesn’t ACTUALLY retire Jordan’s number and prevent anyone from wearing it again.
In MLB the only number retired throughout the league, forever, is Jackie Robinson. What did he do again? Oh that’s right HE BROKE THE COLOR BARRIER allowing anyone to play the game of baseball today. Now if you look at baseball it is so diverse and that was all in thanks to Jackie Robinson who DESERVED to have his #42 retired.
What did Jordan do to change the game? Make nice shoes?
-The Basher (you know I had to bash MJ or I wouldn’t be The Basher)
See, here I was, ready to never comment again, but I’m back!!! Bang Bang!!!
I’m stealing ‘bang bang’ from Shooter.
Anyway, the reasons to retire Jordan’s number are probably mostly superficial. I admit that. But I look at it like this:
If you take Michael Jordan away, where would the NBA be right now? Hell, where would sports be right now? Who is every great player in the league compared to? How many kagillions of dollars has MJ brought to basketball and sport in general.
I feel like a league wide retirement of a Jersey number goes to a player that transcends all sports. Jackie Robinson’s number is retired not just because of what he did for baseball, but all sports. After he broke the color barrier in ‘America’s pastime,’ other sports followed suit and the world was changed forever.
Every star in basketball is compared to him, and in other sports it’s easy to hear, for example: “Oh, Sidney Crosby, he’s the Michael Jordan of Hockey.” It’s like uh…”wouldn’t he be the Wayne Gretzky of hockey?”
So my main point is that Michael Jordan stands above everyone in basketball, not just from what he did on the court, but from his impact on basketball, sports, America, and the world (in thanks to brilliant marketing).
So do I think it’ll ever happen? No, probably not. But I would support it only because Jordan is the face of basketball, and in a sense the face of all sports.
-G
(….back into my non-commenting cave of sneakers)
finally the Basher does some bashing
G I do agree with your comment to an extent:
Yes, he did bring an amazing amount of media to the game and was loved by all, even by opposing teams, but the market would have found another canditate if MJ wasn’t around. It’s not like the media and/or the public wouldn’t find another outlet for a superstar.
However, I do agree that anyone else wouldn’t have an impact like MJ did, but as the Basher said, he didn’t change the league. Hell for arguments sake, you can say that Kobe changed the league (when talking about rules) more than MJ did.
I guess the question really is: What warrants a league wide retired jersey??
not much.. you have to be careful with it because then the best player of every generation will have a number retired and eventually each number will be retired
Saying Jordan didn’t change the league is ridiculous. The best two gaurds in the league all model their game after the guy. Kobe, Dwayne, all have Jordanesque qualities about their game. They want to be like Mike.
He made dunking mainstream. Yeah there were great dunkers before Jordan but he sold the dunk. He made everybody want to be able to slam it home. Before Jordan, and besides Julius Erving, who else do you see posterizing people on a nightly basis. Today you have huge dunks every night.
Plus he was the first one who rocked the baggy shorts.
Should his number be retired?… I’m not sold on it but you can’t say he didn’t change the game.
I really don’t see dunking as a valid argument. Guys today are much more athletic and stronger than guys in that day. Dunking HARD was going to happen regardless of who started it. Jordan just happened to be one of the best players to dunk as well. But what about Dominique Wilkins?
The same could be said for Duncan modeling his game off of Kareem or Dr. J or someone of that nature. I’m saying that some of the greatest big men of all-time don’t get credit for changing the game and I think it’s unfair. Jordan played in a time where basketball was more marketable. Chamberlain played in a time were games weren’t even on TV.
In 15-20 years guys are going to model their games off of LeBron and Kobe because these guys were model players while kids today are growing up and watching them. A 12 year old didn’t get to see Jordan like D-Wade and Kobe did.
Obviously Russell and Wilt changed the game because they were really the first skilled big men. Jordan evolved it with pure talent alone.
Can we get a petition going to get Balk’s #32 retired…while he’s wearing it?
Jordan did a lot for the league, but there was a league before MJ. Bird, Magic, Isiah — those guys all helped the league develop. People would have still been interested in basketball if there was no Jordan and it was Barkley or Pippen or Clyde or whoever as the star of the league.
I agree with this. You should check into this, but I bet LeBron gets a percentage of apparel sales from Nike and this is only going to help him financially.
Dan
http://danstake.com/
And Sean, Julius Erving changed dunking, not Michael Jordan. That’s a moot point. Darryl Dawkins changed dunking for big men, and Dominique Wilkins was a better dunker than MJ. His nickname is the Human Highlight Reel. Enough said.
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