Nick Collison announces his retirement

Nick Collison, in his own words: I've had an incredible run. But it's time to go.

Spoiler: A few JH mentions

The practice court was in a big metal shed out in the middle of nowhere.

It actually used to be an old skating rink, the air outside stained with the faint smell of dog food because of a production plant nearby. It was our second year in Oklahoma City, coming off a 23-59 debut season, one we started 3-29 and had people wondering if we were the worst team of all time.

But this was different. I'd played one season already with Kevin Durant, but he was getting really good. Russell Westbrook was still trying to dunk everything, but he was getting better. James Harden was our new draft pick, and even though he'd just gotten here, he already knew what to do.

There was a new guy named Serge Ibaka that they'd drafted a year before, but he was here earlier than they thought. I wasn't sure if he spoke English, but man, he was a freak athletically.

I remember thinking, "Are we good? I think we're good."

Nobody knew at the time that there were two MVPs -- and a likely future one -- in that gym.


[...]

I loved playing with James and our second unit. It's still crazy to think we had all those guys playing in the NBA Finals under the age of 24. I wish I would have appreciated it more at the time, because things would change fast.

[...]

I still remember going to see James at his house the night he was traded. It was a gut punch.

We just sat there together in shock, we couldn't believe it happened. We talked about how it went down, about negotiations and stuff, but we just couldn't believe it.

I mean, we'd just gone to the Finals.

There have been a few other gut punches, but I won't dwell on them here. The eventual 30 for 30 will be really good. It'll probably have to be a four-part mini-series.

[...]

I love my teammates. My best friends in the world were my first teammates in Iowa Falls. Kirk Hinrich is the toughest guy I played with. Brent Barry has been a mentor to me. Royal Ivey is like a brother to me.

I love KD. I miss him. I played my best basketball with James. I wish we would have had more time. I feel like a proud big brother watching Russ become both the player and the man that he is. I really appreciate all the battles we've been through.

I love Perk [Kendrick Perkins], A-Mo [Anthony Morrow], Dre [Andre Roberson]. Luke Ridnour gave me terrible haircuts, but the way he puts his family above everything has inspired me to be a better father.

Serge and Thabo cleaned up a lot of our mistakes and didn't get enough credit. I learned a lot from D-Fish [Derek Fisher].

Steven Adams is special. He has a unique mix of humility, ability, toughness, and he will do anything for one of his guys. And he has such a sick sense of humor -- I love it. I can't name all the guys I played with here, but I hope all of them knew I wanted to win with them above anything else.