Should Raptors retire Lowry’s #7 when all said and done

[RaptorsJunkie]

When it’s all said and done I think the Raptors will hang Kyle Lowrys lucky #7 jersey in the Rafters at Scotiabank Arena (ACC). Regardless of happens from here on out.

He’s a perfect comic book hero for our franchise and after bringing home our first Chip, I think he’s earned it as well.

Should the Raptors retire Lowrys #7 jersey?

Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

No it doesn't. But regardless, his jersey should be retired.

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

[macNcheese3]

I suppose he deserves to have his jersey in the rafters. I just really can't fathom the fact that if true he would have requested a trade if not for the extension. Whether, we dealt him or not that shouldn't necessarily bother him that much. He would have still got paid from another team, possibly even Philly (if they created the means to do such).

[Chandan]

Lowry deserves a statue inside scotia bank arena.

[TdotRap4Lyfe]

Does a bear **** in the woods?

[scirocco53]

1000% and to be honest I hope they do it for Derozen too. Without him we don't get Kawhi and what we built wouldn't have existed. These two are a big part of how we won this year. I will cherish that feeling and that moment forever.

Keeping it real right there. Lowry and DerRozan are the only players who deserve to get their jersey's retired. All others simply don't.

If this was Reddit I'd get crazy downvotes for this, but I don't see how you can retire Demar's number without retiring Kawhi's. Regardless if it was just one season, Championships are what you play for, and Kawhi brought that here while winning Finals MVP.

We can agree to disagree then. Length of service, and level of performance with a team has a lot more to do with a number being retired. He won a title in San Antonio, and I am not sure that they would ever retire his number there. Demar and Lowry deserve it more in my opinion.

[Oakville_Raptor]

When it’s all said and done I think the Raptors will hang Kyle Lowrys lucky #7 jersey in the Rafters at Scotiabank Arena (ACC). Regardless of happens from here on out.

He’s a perfect comic book hero for our franchise and after bringing home our first Chip, I think he’s earned it as well.

Should the Raptors retire Lowrys #7 jersey?

Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

No it doesn't. But regardless, his jersey should be retired.

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

Are you claiming that bears don't sh*t in the woods?

[RaptorsJunkie]

Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

No it doesn't. But regardless, his jersey should be retired.

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

Are you claiming that bears don't sh*t in the woods?

Yes I am.

[Danny1616]

If the franchise values Derozan as being worthy of a jersey retirement, they also valued Kawhi more than Derozan in admittingly trading Demar and however many years he would continue to be in the franchise + other stuff just for the risk of Kawhi leaving after a year because they knew Derozan`s value to the franchise wasn't worth more than that chance.

Kawhi put in the greatest playoff run of any Raptors franchise player, and it wasn't close. If you retire Demar's number, Kawhi has to go up as well at some point.

So 9 years of work (the longest ever for a Raptors player, breaking almost every Raptors scoring record, and helping the Raptors become a perennial contender afters years of mediocrity or terrible play means nothing?

He shouldn't be recognized for that?

Look at other teams that have retired jerseys and tell me Demar doesn't deserve it. I mentioned players below that you can make an argument that Demar has been more successful and helped his team more (probably only Reggie Miller, Webber, and Price have a stronger case).

Cavaliers - Ilgauskus, Nance, Price, Daughtery,

Mavericks - Harper, Davis, Blackman

Nuggets - English, Lever, Thompson, Beck, Mutumbo

Warriors - Mullen

Pacers - Miller

Grizzlies - Tony Allen, Z. Randolph

Heat - Tim Hardaway

Suns - Majerle

Portland - Hollins, Porter

Kings - Richmond, Webber, Peja, Vlade

Spurs - Bowen, Avery Johnson, Sean Elliot

Jazz - Hornacek, Eaton

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/retired-numbers

Not retiring Demar's number because Kawhi got us a chip is ridiculous. Kawhi winning it doesn't take away what Demar did for this franchise.

[Hungry]

As the best Raptor of all time he's clearly the most deserving of the honour. I would say yes, but you can make a case for no depending on how high a bar you want to set for jersey retirement.

As a few posters have touched on, there really should be a way to honour/remember players without retiring everyone's number. Some kind of tiered system similar to the Jays would be better. I see jersey retirement as the highest honour you can really bestow upon a player, and I think you want to keep the bar high. I absolutely think we should acknowledge Carter, Bosh and Derozan's contributions but not retire their numbers. Within the last 5 years we've had Kobe and Duncan retire, two top-15 (for now) all time players who spent their whole careers with one team and won 5 titles each. You've also had similarly Wade and Dirk, and a step below that even Pierce. If we ever had a player of that caliber spend all or most of their career with us what then?

[Danny1616]

As the best Raptor of all time he's clearly the most deserving of the honour. I would say yes, but you can make a case for no depending on how high a bar you want to set for jersey retirement.

As a few posters have touched on, there really should be a way to honour/remember players without retiring everyone's number. Some kind of tiered system similar to the Jays would be better. I see jersey retirement as the highest honour you can really bestow upon a player, and I think you want to keep the bar high. I absolutely think we should acknowledge Carter, Bosh and Derozan's contributions but not retire their numbers. Within the last 5 years we've had Kobe and Duncan retire, two top-15 (for now) all time players who spent their whole careers with one team and won 5 titles each. You've also had similarly Wade and Dirk, and a step below that even Pierce. If we ever had a player of that caliber spend all or most of their career with us what then?

This is jersey retirement...not the hall of fame.

Duncan, Kobe, Wade etc. are 1st ballot hall of famers and some of the greatest players ever. Don't really know what that has to do with anything.

Plenty of teams have retired jersey's of players that did not do near what Derozan did for the Raptors franchise.

9 years, all scoring records, 5 straight playoff appearances, 5 all-star appearances, an eastern conference finals appearance, great teammate, mentor, leader, ambassador for the organization easily make Derozan deserving of that.

Only Lowry and Derozan deserve to have their jerseys retired given their longevity, personal accomplishments and team accomplishments while playing with us.

Yeah and we have a player of that caliber then retire that jersey as well. I don't see what your point is.

Cavaliers retired Ilgauskas, Suns retired Mullen, Kings retired Webber, Peja and Divac, Nuggets retired English etc etc. Are those players more deserving of having their jerseys retired than Derozan?

This shouldn't be this big of a debate.

[Hungry]

As the best Raptor of all time he's clearly the most deserving of the honour. I would say yes, but you can make a case for no depending on how high a bar you want to set for jersey retirement.

As a few posters have touched on, there really should be a way to honour/remember players without retiring everyone's number. Some kind of tiered system similar to the Jays would be better. I see jersey retirement as the highest honour you can really bestow upon a player, and I think you want to keep the bar high. I absolutely think we should acknowledge Carter, Bosh and Derozan's contributions but not retire their numbers. Within the last 5 years we've had Kobe and Duncan retire, two top-15 (for now) all time players who spent their whole careers with one team and won 5 titles each. You've also had similarly Wade and Dirk, and a step below that even Pierce. If we ever had a player of that caliber spend all or most of their career with us what then?

This is jersey retirement...not the hall of fame.

Duncan, Kobe, Wade etc. are 1st ballot hall of famers and some of the greatest players ever. Don't really know what that has to do with anything.

Plenty of teams have retired jersey's of players that did not do near what Derozan did for the Raptors franchise.

9 years, all scoring records, 5 straight playoff appearances, 5 all-star appearances, an eastern conference finals appearance, great teammate, mentor, leader, ambassador for the organization easily make Derozan deserving of that.

Only Lowry and Derozan deserve to have their jerseys retired given their longevity, personal accomplishments and team accomplishments while playing with us.

Yeah and we have a player of that caliber then retire that jersey as well. I don't see what your point is.

Cavaliers retired Ilgauskas, Suns retired Mullen, Kings retired Webber, Peja and Divac, Nuggets retired English etc etc. Are those players more deserving of having their jerseys retired than Derozan?

This shouldn't be this big of a debate.

Absolutely correct that Raptor's jersey retirement is a different standard than HOF, but by the same token Raptor's jersey retirement isn't the same standard as any other team in the league. As they have yet to retire any numbers they have yet to eastablish a benchmark/minimum threshold. I personally would aspire to a higher standard than the teams you have mentioned, and Derozan would be under my threshold. Your threshold would be lower than mine, and that's a perfectly reasonable view to have.

Derozan certainly deserves to be acknowledged/remembered for his Raptors career. While not as good a player as either Carter or Bosh, he was a central piece of the to-date most successful run in franchise history. Hence why I would have some sort of multi-tiered player honouring, with currently only Lowry qualifying for jersey retirement

[Oakville_Raptor]

No it doesn't. But regardless, his jersey should be retired.

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

Are you claiming that bears don't sh*t in the woods?

Yes I am.

Pretty sure all you have to do is a quick google search to know that bears do indeed sh*t in the woods.

[realball]

As the best Raptor of all time he's clearly the most deserving of the honour. I would say yes, but you can make a case for no depending on how high a bar you want to set for jersey retirement.

As a few posters have touched on, there really should be a way to honour/remember players without retiring everyone's number. Some kind of tiered system similar to the Jays would be better. I see jersey retirement as the highest honour you can really bestow upon a player, and I think you want to keep the bar high. I absolutely think we should acknowledge Carter, Bosh and Derozan's contributions but not retire their numbers. Within the last 5 years we've had Kobe and Duncan retire, two top-15 (for now) all time players who spent their whole careers with one team and won 5 titles each. You've also had similarly Wade and Dirk, and a step below that even Pierce. If we ever had a player of that caliber spend all or most of their career with us what then?

This is jersey retirement...not the hall of fame.

Duncan, Kobe, Wade etc. are 1st ballot hall of famers and some of the greatest players ever. Don't really know what that has to do with anything.

Plenty of teams have retired jersey's of players that did not do near what Derozan did for the Raptors franchise.

9 years, all scoring records, 5 straight playoff appearances, 5 all-star appearances, an eastern conference finals appearance, great teammate, mentor, leader, ambassador for the organization easily make Derozan deserving of that.

Only Lowry and Derozan deserve to have their jerseys retired given their longevity, personal accomplishments and team accomplishments while playing with us.

Yeah and we have a player of that caliber then retire that jersey as well. I don't see what your point is.

Cavaliers retired Ilgauskas, Suns retired Mullen, Kings retired Webber, Peja and Divac, Nuggets retired English etc etc. Are those players more deserving of having their jerseys retired than Derozan?

This shouldn't be this big of a debate.

Absolutely correct that Raptor's jersey retirement is a different standard than HOF, but by the same token Raptor's jersey retirement isn't the same standard as any other team in the league. As they have yet to retire any numbers they have yet to eastablish a benchmark/minimum threshold. I personally would aspire to a higher standard than the teams you have mentioned, and Derozan would be under my threshold. Your threshold would be lower than mine, and that's a perfectly reasonable view to have.

Derozan certainly deserves to be acknowledged/remembered for his Raptors career. While not as good a player as either Carter or Bosh, he was a central piece of the to-date most successful run in franchise history. Hence why I would have some sort of multi-tiered player honouring, with currently only Lowry qualifying for jersey retirement

Your view is not reasonable at all. Why would the Raptors' threshold be any different than any other teams? Why adopt some multi-tiered system when the retiring jerseys thing has been working for every other team for decades? Derozan was a 5-time All-Star for us, who didn't leave or ask to be traded. That's reason enough to retire his jersey, no need for the Raptors to be petty and give him some lower tiered honour instead of doing what other teams do for other stars of Derozan's caliber.

[XxIronChainzxX]

This is jersey retirement...not the hall of fame.

Duncan, Kobe, Wade etc. are 1st ballot hall of famers and some of the greatest players ever. Don't really know what that has to do with anything.

Plenty of teams have retired jersey's of players that did not do near what Derozan did for the Raptors franchise.

9 years, all scoring records, 5 straight playoff appearances, 5 all-star appearances, an eastern conference finals appearance, great teammate, mentor, leader, ambassador for the organization easily make Derozan deserving of that.

Only Lowry and Derozan deserve to have their jerseys retired given their longevity, personal accomplishments and team accomplishments while playing with us.

Yeah and we have a player of that caliber then retire that jersey as well. I don't see what your point is.

Cavaliers retired Ilgauskas, Suns retired Mullen, Kings retired Webber, Peja and Divac, Nuggets retired English etc etc. Are those players more deserving of having their jerseys retired than Derozan?

This shouldn't be this big of a debate.

Absolutely correct that Raptor's jersey retirement is a different standard than HOF, but by the same token Raptor's jersey retirement isn't the same standard as any other team in the league. As they have yet to retire any numbers they have yet to eastablish a benchmark/minimum threshold. I personally would aspire to a higher standard than the teams you have mentioned, and Derozan would be under my threshold. Your threshold would be lower than mine, and that's a perfectly reasonable view to have.

Derozan certainly deserves to be acknowledged/remembered for his Raptors career. While not as good a player as either Carter or Bosh, he was a central piece of the to-date most successful run in franchise history. Hence why I would have some sort of multi-tiered player honouring, with currently only Lowry qualifying for jersey retirement

Your view is not reasonable at all. Why would the Raptors' threshold be any different than any other teams? Why adopt some multi-tiered system when the retiring jerseys thing has been working for every other team for decades? Derozan was a 5-time All-Star for us, who didn't leave or ask to be traded. That's reason enough to retire his jersey, no need for the Raptors to be petty and give him some lower tiered honour instead of doing what other teams do for other stars of Derozan's caliber.

We're taking about the guy who was responsible for all the success in that era. Kyle Lowry. DD in the absence of Lowry wouldn't have given us 5+ 50 win seasons.

If you think just 5+ all-star years and being the all-time leader in some categories of a franchise that just didn't have that many long serving players or any long-term stars, sure. Fine. Then you're basically retiring any guy who's a multi-year all-star and that's absurd.

[Black Watch]

Yes, because the Raptors need more history and this sort of lore—retiring numbers/jerseys—is an integral part of giving the fanbase a sense of identity (ditto for the city).

[realball]

Absolutely correct that Raptor's jersey retirement is a different standard than HOF, but by the same token Raptor's jersey retirement isn't the same standard as any other team in the league. As they have yet to retire any numbers they have yet to eastablish a benchmark/minimum threshold. I personally would aspire to a higher standard than the teams you have mentioned, and Derozan would be under my threshold. Your threshold would be lower than mine, and that's a perfectly reasonable view to have.

Derozan certainly deserves to be acknowledged/remembered for his Raptors career. While not as good a player as either Carter or Bosh, he was a central piece of the to-date most successful run in franchise history. Hence why I would have some sort of multi-tiered player honouring, with currently only Lowry qualifying for jersey retirement

Your view is not reasonable at all. Why would the Raptors' threshold be any different than any other teams? Why adopt some multi-tiered system when the retiring jerseys thing has been working for every other team for decades? Derozan was a 5-time All-Star for us, who didn't leave or ask to be traded. That's reason enough to retire his jersey, no need for the Raptors to be petty and give him some lower tiered honour instead of doing what other teams do for other stars of Derozan's caliber.

We're taking about the guy who was responsible for all the success in that era. Kyle Lowry. DD in the absence of Lowry wouldn't have given us 5+ 50 win seasons.

If you think just 5+ all-star years and being the all-time leader in some categories of a franchise that just didn't have that many long serving players or any long-term stars, sure. Fine. Then you're basically retiring any guy who's a multi-year all-star and that's absurd.

How is that absurd? Teams even retire jerseys of players who weren't All-Stars. Who said anything about retiring every multi-year All-Star anyways? Bosh made multiple All-Stars with us, we're not retiring his number. Same with Vince.

And Lowry was more important to our team no doubt. Which is why we should retire both jerseys.

[XxIronChainzxX]

Your view is not reasonable at all. Why would the Raptors' threshold be any different than any other teams? Why adopt some multi-tiered system when the retiring jerseys thing has been working for every other team for decades? Derozan was a 5-time All-Star for us, who didn't leave or ask to be traded. That's reason enough to retire his jersey, no need for the Raptors to be petty and give him some lower tiered honour instead of doing what other teams do for other stars of Derozan's caliber.

We're taking about the guy who was responsible for all the success in that era. Kyle Lowry. DD in the absence of Lowry wouldn't have given us 5+ 50 win seasons.

If you think just 5+ all-star years and being the all-time leader in some categories of a franchise that just didn't have that many long serving players or any long-term stars, sure. Fine. Then you're basically retiring any guy who's a multi-year all-star and that's absurd.

How is that absurd? Teams even retire jerseys of players who weren't All-Stars. Who said anything about retiring every multi-year All-Star anyways? Bosh made multiple All-Stars with us, we're not retiring his number. Same with Vince.

And Lowry was more important to our team no doubt. Which is why we should retire both jerseys.

Well, why wouldn't we retire Bosh's jersey or VC? They achieved just as much.

[B-Ball Freak]

Not even a question, he's the most deserving...BY FAR.

[B-Ball Freak]

Well, why wouldn't we retire Bosh's jersey or VC? They achieved just as much.

Because it also depends on how the fans view you, Derozan was and is still loved by the majority of Raptor fans because of his undying loyalty and love for the city. He also got traded away unlike VC and Bosh, they wanted out. It's not all about the accomlishments, reputation should play a part too.

Having said all that, I wouldn't mind if #15 got retired, he pretty much put Toronto on the map....#4, not so much.

[realball]

We're taking about the guy who was responsible for all the success in that era. Kyle Lowry. DD in the absence of Lowry wouldn't have given us 5+ 50 win seasons.

If you think just 5+ all-star years and being the all-time leader in some categories of a franchise that just didn't have that many long serving players or any long-term stars, sure. Fine. Then you're basically retiring any guy who's a multi-year all-star and that's absurd.

How is that absurd? Teams even retire jerseys of players who weren't All-Stars. Who said anything about retiring every multi-year All-Star anyways? Bosh made multiple All-Stars with us, we're not retiring his number. Same with Vince.

And Lowry was more important to our team no doubt. Which is why we should retire both jerseys.

Well, why wouldn't we retire Bosh's jersey or VC? They achieved just as much.

How did Bosh even come close to achieving just as much? He had two first-round exits - DD took us to the ECF.

And unlike VC and Bosh, DD didn't leave on bad terms.