Being the "best player ever" is subjective - and while most people believe it was MJ, there are many other players who have the hardware and statistics to make an argument. So...if you believe the league should retire #23 because MJ was sooooo good, then would you retire Wilt Chamberlain's #13? Oscar Robertson's #14/#1? Larry Bird's and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's #33? Shaq, Karl Malone, and Magic Johnson's #32? Shaq and Hakeem's #34? Bill Russell's #6? Kobe's #8 and #24? Get the point?
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I loved watching MJ play. The guy truly is a legend of the game and ONE OF its greatest players, but crap like this tarnishes his image for me and makes me sick to death of hearing about him. I could accept a league-wide retirement for Wilt (not that I'd like it or support it, but I could accept it), who was literally the sole reason for several rule changes and therefore had more impact on the NBA than anyone else, but that's it. And to compare MJ or Wilt to Jackie Robinson is just silly, stupid, and is historically downright insulting.
No where did I say that MJ is like Jackie anywhere! I honestly don't know where you guys see that. I said that the NBA should retire it league wide like they did with Jackie. I never compared the two of them. At all..you guys are just morons that just want to insult everything you see that you don't agree with on a message board. The only thing I wanted to know was if you guys thought the NBA should retire the number of who I think is the greatest player to play the game. But everyone on this thread had to derail it and blame me for a comparison I never made.
I think a league-wide retirement of #23 would be an insult to the other players who had their #23 retired by their respective teams. Here are the guys: Lou Hudson, Atlanta Hawks Calvin Murphy, Houston Rockets Frank Ramsey, Boston Celtics John Williamson, New Jersey Nets Lou, Calvin, Frank, and John, sorry but acknowledgement of all your contributions to your teams will have to be obliterated to accomodate the fawning cult of personality of Michael Jordan.
As great as Jordan was, I don't think any one player should be greater than the game of basketball itself.
Yes, you did. Right there. Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson's number league wide not because he was a great player - and he was an incredible player, probably an exceptionally underrated player - but because he broke the color barrier. They didn't retire Babe Ruth's number, or Walter Johnson, or Ty Cobb or Cy Young or Bob Gibson or Rogers Hornsby or any of about a dozen players you could make a case for being the best of all time - but what Robinson did transcends that. That's why his number is retired league-wide and that is what it should take to retire a number league-wide.
I didn't know Jack Sikma's number was retired league wide. Hell, I didn't even know he went by Jackie either!
No. Wilt, Russell, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Dream, etc.... Where would you draw the line? You retire one great player's number, you have to retire them all.
Stupid to retire it in the NBA. You have to retire it across ALL sports including little league, pee wee, etc... ALL sports.
The NHL did do it with Gretzky, and I don't think there was much backlash about that. That being said the reason why I don't think that it should happen in this case though is that LeBron wants to switch to #6, the number of Bill Russell and Dr. J. I find it to be somewhat disrespectful to them to switch to that number.
As long as there isn't another Bull wearing #23. Who cares if Stephen Graham wears #23 for the Bobcats.
Forget retiring the #23. Parents should be allowed to name their kids Jordan or Mike, Michael or even have the initials MJ for that matter. Anyone with those names or initials need to change them.
one reason is that the international teams all use 1-15, so when those guys come to the states they keep the number another thing I have noticed is that most numbers with two digits are 0-5 & 0-5 - I always thought they did that so refs, coaches, and other players could use hand signals to call out a specific player
Yeah, that's it. Many younger leagues require you to use both digits under 5 for the refs to call easier.
Jordan did great things for the NBA. He helped broaden the sport, and redefined marketing. That doesn't mean his number should be retired.
isn't it good enough that Chicago retired the jersey? i dont think a league wide jersey number retirement is a good idea, sure he became the league's most internationally influential superstar ever in the history of the NBA, but he really did not do anything that important in regards to the game. as far as Jackie Robinson's jersey number retired, ummm whomever compared Jackie Robinson to MJ should get slapped with a history book, and then made to read the Chapter on Jackie Robinson. Afterwards he can right a essay about it and post it on ClutchFans forum.
