Lebron: Raps should retire Derozan’s jersey

[Mr. Perfect]

I'm surprised by the results so far, thought it would be solidly in favour of Demar having his jersey retired. I don't think framing the question as agreeing with Lebron helps though, skews the results unnecessarily. Just put the question as is, why bring Lebron's comments into it?

That's because we're on RealGM lol. If you polled the general fanbase or people associated with the team I think the results would be strongly in favour of retiring Demar's jersey.

[NotMyKawhi]

I'm surprised by the results so far, thought it would be solidly in favour of Demar having his jersey retired. I don't think framing the question as agreeing with Lebron helps though, skews the results unnecessarily. Just put the question as is, why bring Lebron's comments into it?

That's because we're on RealGM lol. If you polled the general fanbase or people associated with the team I think the results would be strongly in favour of retiring Demar's jersey.

It's bc DD got us Kawhi and he got us a chip

He's an easy target but the truth is we got Kawhi for Derozan bc he's a really good player. Was he a superstar? No, but hes an all-star for sure.

[HiMyNameIsTrey]

Would be super lame to do so, which means we will likely do it. It's a shame Vince will never see his jersey retired however.

[Basketball_Jones]

One of the Goats recognizing another Goat. Big deal.

[TdotRap4Lyfe]

Easily yes.

#1 is Lowry
#2 is DeMar

Maybe Vince, although I'd be fine if we don't.
And no to Kawhi, he was essentially a mercenary. Retiring him sets our bar at rock bottom.

[wegotthabeet]

If Nick Collison can get his jersey retired then DeRozan should 1000% have his retired as well.

Hard to argue against this. Nick Collison sets the bar pretty low. Also Memphis announced recently that Randolph & Allen will have their numbers retired. They never made any Finals appearances or won any chips.

In an ideal world, I guess from a marketing standpoint at least, they would've kept DeMar & Lowry while adding Kawhi and still won a chip. Then retired all three for different reasons. If they traded Norm + FVV + Jakob the team would be worse off today, but it would have made a better story.

Would this lineup have won?

Lowry
DeRozan
Leonard
Siakam
Gasol - Ibaka

Probably.

[Kingsway_fan]

No.

[Kingsway_fan]

1. Vc
2.Lowry

....... no others

[djsunyc]

Yes, absolutely. For some odd reason there are posters here who think that we would somehow be lowering the bar if we retired DeMar's number, we wouldn't be. Just take a look at some of the players who have had their jerseys retired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Basketball_Association_retired_numbers

There are definitely a few teams who are treating it like a joke, but for the most part, it does look like we would be lowering our bar. What hurts DeMar is that he had to be carried by his teammates in so many of the playoffs series he played in, and his replacement won us the championship right after he left. He's too closely associated with failure and disappointment which he directly contributed in.

The pre-Kawhi teams consistently overachieved but because they didnt have the overall talent to get to the next level fans mistakenly labeled those seasons as "failures". Those teams reached levels 95% of NBA teams never get to....even more talented ones.

Frame of reference - When the Raptors made the ECF finals and took the Kyrie-Lebron Cavs to 6 games, a washed up Luis Scola and Demarre Caroll were starting and we were relying on complete scrubs like Bismack Biyombo, Patrick Patterson or inexperienced young players (think Ross, rookie Powell) to make key contributions off the bench. The notion that DeMar was carried by his teammates on those teams is complete lunacy.....take DeMar off that team and you think deer-in-headlights Ross or rookie Powell would take over, beat Lebron and take the team to the finals? Where exactly is the logic? ​ Put Kawhi on that team and he would've either failed to report or got Uncle Dennis to demand a trade to the Clippers mid-season.

Also the idea that Kawhi vs DeMar was the only thing that changed in 2019 is completely FALSE. Kawhi is twice the player Demar is but dont overlook the following:

- Siakam blossomed into a 2nd option the previous teams never had (it was always Demar trying to play 1st option role without a real 2nd option much like Siakam is trying to do today)
- Danny Green/Marc Gasol were starting level, veteran, experienced glue guys the previous teams always lacked.
- Nurse vs Casey
- No more Ibaka-JV pairing...this was major problem yet Casey loved this dated mid90s PF/C combo.
- All young players VanVleet, OG, Siakam, Powell had more experience under their belts (it takes time for young players to develop properly)

Kyle Lowry deserves to have his jersey retired. Vince and DeMar are open for debate. Nobody else comes close.

for 3 straight seasons, they only lost to lebron while beating everyone else.

[Lateral Quicks]

Retiring a player's number signifies excellence and winning. You could argue DeRozan was above average - though I would put him closer to average overall - but you can't argue he was excellent. Let's not equate high usage with excellence. As for winning, we did win a lot in the regular season, but not when it really counted. I mean, it one point his playoff performance got so bad that he was benched - and arguably should have been benched even sooner. Is that a player that deserves to have their number retired?

[ropjhk]

Is Lebron still trying to recruit Derozan to the Lakers?

[Alodar]

DeRozan repped this city as harder than anyone during some pretty dark years.
He is a flawed basketball player to be sure but he was a major piece in getting us from bad to good. (The guy he was traded for got us from good to great.)

In a perfect world Lowry and DeRozan would have their jersey's retired in the same ceremony.
They couldn't share a championship together but they could share this.

[rocky_da_best]

DeRozan repped this city as harder than anyone during some pretty dark years.
He is a flawed basketball player to be sure but he was a major piece in getting us from bad to good. (The guy he was traded for got us from good to great.)

In a perfect world Lowry and DeRozan would have their jersey's retired in the same ceremony.
They couldn't share a championship together but they could share this.

I like this idea.

[Morris_Shatford]

Lowry first;
But after that by all means.

[PerfectJab]

Definitely not opposed to it but it is understandable why it is being debated given the subsequent success after his departure.

If the criteria is longevity, team records and a symbolic representation of his contributions to the franchise he should without a doubt have his jersey retired. 9 seasons on a team is a long time, especially in today's NBA!

If it is about winning, without a doubt as well.

I don't think the lack of a championship should be held against him and I'd argue that he had a large part to do with the winning culture leading up to the championship.

Nothing wrong with retiring a player with his accomplishments and reciprocating the loyalty he gave by retiring his jersey.

[DIEHARD_005]

If the Memphis Grizzlies retired Zach Randolph and Tony Allen's number's, you bet your arse that Demar's #10 should be hanging from the rafters as well - after Lowry's goes up, of course.

[DIEHARD_005]

If Nick Collison can get his jersey retired then DeRozan should 1000% have his retired as well.

Slightly diferent context. They retired Nick's number because he spent his whole career with the Sonics organization including the move to OKC. IIRC, he is also a native Seattle-ite so I think that was the real reason why his number being retired was symbolic for the franchise as opposed to what he actually did on the floor.

[Hero_Panda]

One of the Goats recognizing another Goat. Big deal.

They're saying the Nets, Lakers and Bulls are superteams now.

[Boselecta]

Vince, Lowry, and DeRozan should all be retired for there franchise records and roles they played in getting the franchise to this level of credibility. It was truly some dark times before being a fan just hoping we could somehow sneak into the playoffs as a low 8th seed or something.

Kawhi I'm on the fence about don't mind if he gets retired or not.

After these 3 or 4 get retired then I think our retirement criteria should be more strict as we are now an established franchise with a championship.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

I'm fine with the fact we retired him, that was good enough.