He needs it up there. A lot of people here probably think he wasnt an "all time" Rocket. But think about it, look around on the message board here. Deke has touched not only a select group of fans, but the entire city of Houston. Moreso than any other city he's played for. He was everything this team is about. Professionalism, defense, leadership, personality. Yao Ming, Tmac, Steve Francis... None of them have that special impact on the Rockets or city the way Dekembe does. In the post Hakeem era, Dekembe IS THE ROCKETS. For that alone, plus everything else he's done for the team and city, deserves having his jersey retired. He put his heart and soul into this team when everyone else thought he was finished. We embraced him just as he embraced us. Put it this way, 10, 15, 20 years down the line, I can almost guarantee you will remember the great days of Dekembe on the Rockets. Yes he was THAT special
Deke has been a class act all the way, a great humanitarian, a fun guy to watch, and let's not forget that he's been a heck of a defensive player. Deke should be an NBA HOF, no doubt. As for the Rox retiring his jersey, I say no. I think you retire a guys jersey when he has been a superstar, and when he spends the majority of his career with your team. Deke has been with us a few years as the backup center. If anyone were to retire his jersey, it should be Denver.
I'd only be for this if none of the other teams he played for ( Denver, Atlanta, etc. ) retired his jersey first. If anything, we should let Deke choose which team should retire his number. He deserves to be retired, but he's a special case where he didn't play on one team long enough to have an obvious place to retire his jersey. If I could decide, I would say the Rockets. He was most appreciated here.
I thought I remember Deke saying he wanted his jersey retired in Houston if he had a choice...Can't find the interview anywhere though...It was sometime last season...
He's a national hero and a great basketball player who deserves to have his jersey hung somewhere but he just didn't have his prime years in Houston and that's why I think its hard to justify. Yeah you could say the same thing about Clyde but he still had a good year and put us over the top to win our second championship. If you are approrpriatley judging his body of work as a Rockets player (not humanitarian) then I think its very similar to Charles Barkley in that they were good but past their prime and didn't win a ring.
Kind of strange retiring his number as a Rocket when most of his career was spent at other places. I could see it if he won a championship.
Signed. He did so much for this city and our team. When he first arrived everybody thought he was just a washed up veteran taking up space on our salary cap. If T-Mac had half the heart of this guy we would've easily gotten out of the 1st round. Also remember this, we owe our 1st championship to him. If he doesnt knock Seattle out in the 1st round, we may not have won. Seattle was our Utah back then.
He's my favorite player, but he wasn't even a starter here a majority of the time unless Yao was hurt. When you retire a jersey, it is usually reserved for starters, or so I thought.
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signed... it's a no brainer that he be retired for everything he brought to the game, on and off court.
There really are no rules to retiring a jersey...I was under the impression Calvin's jersey was retired due to his contributions as a broadcaster, not a player...The Heat retired Jordan's jersey even though he wasn't really related to the franchise in anyway. Other people's jersey's have been retired for coaching and even just being the owner of the club. I was hoping to have Mutombo be the first in the NBA to have his number retired for his off the court behavior....After all, one of the new NBA's marketing ploys is "NBA Cares"
It really was upsetting to see him go down in pain like that and then the emotional pain of knowing his career was over... you could see it on the guy's face. I'm glad it was in Portland where people cheered for him and not Utah, that's all I can say.
one of the greater humanitarians in the world. one of the greatest teammates in all of sports. everything about him deserves to be remembered. from his hospital, to his finger wag, to his quotable interviews. i do NOT want to see another rocket wear #55.
