Hell no...and hell no again!! MJ hasn't won the most (Russell). Even Kareem has won just as much. He doesn't have more MVP's than anyone (Kareem). He doesn't dominate the record books (Wilt). You can say he had such a huge impact on the game expanding, but was that any bigger than the impact Magic & Bird had? I don't see one solid reason.....
NBA & ABA Players Who Wore Uniform Number 23. 185 players not name Micheal Jordan. Including 10 players last season. http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/numbers.cgi?number=23&year=
No. Too many other players would deserve the same treatment then exactly where (who) would be the cutoff point? Magic Johnson? Larry Bird? Dream? Wherever they stopped the next person in line would not be happy and rightly so. Jordan doesn't deserve it any more than any of the other TOP 10 or so players of all-time.
The Jackie Robinson reference is used fairly. Jackie Robinson's legacy was for society's benefit. Jordan's legacy is for basketball, big business and Jordan's benefit. Fair or not, I think Jim Brown is right in saying Jordan and many other athletes like him DONT use their influence enough voluntarily doing things like helping out the inner city communities...Charitable contributions dont have to be documented, they can be purposely concealed... but has Jordan done anything like McGrady going to Darfur, or Mutombo's hospitals and humanitarian efforts in his home country? Not gonna take anything away from the brand name Jordan became and the huge influence he's been on the sport, but league wide number retiring is too much. If you do that league wide for Jordan, do you retire Dr J's number in 10 arenas, Magic in half the arenas? No one can wear 23 on the Minnesota Timberwolves cuz of Jordan's impact in Chicago?
I voted Yes!!! but i think only teams that still have the number open, like the Thunder......so this wouldn't really effect teams that already have the number retired, like the rockets.....peace!!! -rocketblaze
I guess it's not common knowledge around here anymore. Yeah, we do have a hall of fame #23. is it that they quickly forget or do they not care about Rockets history?
lebron james might turn out to be better, and so might other players currently playing or in the future, retiring 23 worldwide is obsurd IMO.
I think Riley makes a fair argument. I really don't have a problem with not allowing anybody else to wear 23. I personally hate the fact that Lebron wears the number bc no matter what he does outside of winning 10 championships his number is always going to be Jordan's number. Jordan essentially won 6 titles in 6 yrs if you don't count his mini retirement. I can't think of any other player that has dominated modern team sports like that. You also have to throw in that he has the record for ppg while shooting about 50% for his career which is ridiculous for a two guard at that shooting volume. He is also second all time in steals and third all time in steals per games. Then you have to throw in the Jordan Effect on the global economy which at one point forbes estimated could be around $13 billion dollars. I'm not going to go as far as saying that his number for sure should be retired league wide but I do know that I wouldn't be bothered at all if it did happen.
Michael Jordan people. He should not be retired league wide. Retire him sports wide. I don't wanna see an elementary soccer player with 23 on. No NASCAR 23s. No 23s. Retroactively put asterisks next to the Calvin Murphy's of the world. If they don't do this then make everyone in all sports wear 23 simultaneously. Either way.
michael jordan introduced basketball to countires world wide. sure there were awesome players before him, ie, bird, magic, wilt, russell, iceman, kareem, but none of them had the world wide appeal that jordan has had. think about it, EVERYBODY WANTED TO BE LIKE MIKE!!!! if anyone was to get their # retired by the nba, michael jordan is one of the most deserving of the honor.
Wow! What a completely absurd idea. I can't believe almost 30% have voted yes. ^ This is really the best point -- Mutombo is never in discussions as an all-time great, but deserves this type of recognition more. ghettocheese, your argument could be turned on its head... Jordan was a great basketball player, no doubt, and very charming, but it could be argued the NBA Marketing machine, along with the likes of Nike, McDonalds, Gatorade... made Jordan and not the other way around. His popularity made them all a lot of money, so they invested in boosting that popularity heavily.
