Kevin Durant on the whole “retire 23″ thing
November 18th, 2009
Not surprisingly, KD swishes it. As told to Art Garcia of NBA.com:
“I have a lot of respect for Michael Jordan and LeBron is one of my best friends, so whatever he wants to do as far as his own number I’m behind. But I also know who came before me,” Durant said. “Nothing against MJ, but if you retire his number around the league, what about Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor? And all of the other great players who went before?
“If you’re going to do that for Michael, you should do the same for the rest of those guys. Whatever happens, happens. I just don’t think guys like Russell and Robertson and Chamberlain should be forgotten.”
If you read further in this article, apparently Rick Carlisle has never heard of Jackie Robinson.
KD is da man!!! I love his respect of the game and overall humility.
@Mark
Or Wayne Gretzky.
What a great and thoughtful response.
KD is the man.
I think Ricks point was that this is a groundswell of support coming from the players instead of a decision from the league brass. That is totally ridiculous seeing as this is clearly a calculating marketing move from Lebron: position yourself as the humble young star grateful to those that came before you AND boost your jersey sales in the process. Guys will fall in line because they don’t want to look like they’re dissing Jordan.
Well done Lebron.
His response is good, really there is no one player that is the GOAT, all the top players had rules or talent or play style on their side.
@chris
Carlisle says that no other league has done “league-wide” number retirement. You can’t wear 42 (Robinson) in MLB or 99 (Gretzky)in the NHL. Both of which were retired a few years ago.
You are right. It’s all about selling more jerseys, not respect. Otherwise, James would never have picked 23 to begin with.
i have come to hate lebron, he is just so arrogant. I hope he never wins a championship
@Mark
There also a difference with the guys getting their number retired. Robinson’s number was as much a show of respect for what he did as a person as it is about his play. Gretzky is probably THE comparison for Jordan (though even Jordan didn’t rewrite the history books like Gretzky). Gretzky is very probably the best hockey player ever, but it’s a little hard to see his number retired when Howe and Orr don’t have the same. MJ, for all his greatness, I’m not even sure is the best basketball player there’s been. Oscar Robertson played in a different time, but MJ never touched his records. Same with Wilt. Magic, in my mind, was just as good as MJ, delivered just as much, he just happened to be born too early for the crazy globalization of the sport. As great as MJ is, his legacy is more about selling the game to the world than about doing something that had never been done and could never be done again (which would be the reason to retire number 23). But the fact is, Lebron is putting up MJ numbers on a team that is only 75% as fast paced. Hollinger did a comparison between the two if they played the same pace and minutes. Lebron would have been putting up 33, 11, and 11 in MJ’s place. It’s not a perfect comparison, of course, but it shows that what MJ did isn’t as completely unparalleled as the hype machine would have most people believe.
@Keith
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not supporting the league-wide retirement of his #.
Back to Durant’s response, I think the decision to come into the league wearing your own number reflects a higher character. Every time I see someone wear 23 I cringe.
@DizzyDai
I don’t know how well it reflects to come in and ask for your own number. While most numbers are meaningless and it doesn’t hurt just to ask, I wouldn’t feel the same if a player comes in and demands a number (even if it doesn’t correspond to a former great).
Im not a fan of retiring any numbers. There are others ways of distinguishing the greatness of a player like murals, jerseys, banners, named on property etc,A number is just a number and if it matters I did play sports and I do have a favorite number.