LeBron # change - Honoring MJ by taking Russell's #?

Brooklyn Zoo · Post #1 » by **Brooklyn Zoo** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:45 pm

LeBron said he will honor MJ by changing his number from 23, and thinks that the entire nba should stop wearing 23 as a sign of respect for what Mike did during his career...so he's going to change his number to 6, the number worn by a man who won 11 chamionships?

Seriously?

Wolves2011 · Post #2 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 4:01 pm

Russell was just kicked in the ****s.

Guess Lebron thinks "wings" are more important than big men. I'll root for Howard to knock the Cav's out every year going forward, if we don't.

MyInsatiableOne · Post #3 » by **MyInsatiableOne** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:05 pm

Well not only did the Cavs get rolled last night, Queen James hurt his wrist...ain't karma a bitch? :lol:

captain green · Post #4 » by **captain green** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:35 pm

#23 to be retired before #6 huh?
Lebron get on your talented knees and suck the egg from a chickens ass.
Grow up and know your history son Michael Jordan never did nothing for others.
Bill Russell is a walking inspiration for african americans and Native americans like me and to white people too.
I never heard oh jordan makes me wanna be a better person, just hes the best baller blah blah blah..
I officially dislike Lebron, Kobe, SHAQ, AI, and the rest of the me first attitudes.
we already have 23 retired so suck it...

JR Hawks · Post #5 » by **JR Hawks** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:55 pm

No number should be retired by the entire league. The campaign to retire #23 needs to stop...it's ridiculous.

theman · Post #6 » by **theman** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:44 pm

What is the end game here or does LaBron just like to here himself speak? Is he trying to endear himself to Chicago who has already retired 23? Is he kissing up to Micheal because he wants to play in Charlotte? That would be kooky.

Or is this a very dubious plan where he will now get to chat with Russel and make a public statement about the greatness of the Celtic legacy, those opening the door to a trade to Boston? Hmmm. 8-)

MyInsatiableOne · Post #7 » by **MyInsatiableOne** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:39 pm

theman wrote:What is the end game here or does LaBron just like to here himself speak? Is he trying to endear himself to Chicago who has already retired 23? Is he kissing up to Micheal because he wants to play in Charlotte? That would be kooky.

Or is this a very dubious plan where he will now get to chat with Russel and make a public statement about the greatness of the Celtic legacy, those opening the door to a trade to Boston? Hmmm.

My guess is it's an out for him to go to Miami, as someone else pointed out here last week...

Wolves2011 · Post #8 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:12 pm

Lebron wants Jordan's "Blessing"!

He wants to be the next Jordan. He can't get Russell's because Russell's already given it to KG. He wants Jordan's "magic", to take him over the hump to win championships.

Thats a round about way of saying.....god knows what.

chakdaddy · Post #9 » by **chakdaddy** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:30 pm

MyInsatiableOne wrote:My guess is it's an out for him to go to Miami, as someone else pointed out here last week...

That really is an interesting conspiracy theory. If he signed, for example, by some bizarre miracle, with Boston, then 23 is retired for Ramsey - so he picks another number, no big deal. If he goes to some team where 23 is open, he keeps it...

But if he went to Miami, there would be a whole fiasco about LeBron needing a new jersey number because some lunatics decided to retire Jordan's number for whatever ridiculous reason, and there would be debate about whether to unretire it or what - but if Lebron already announced that he wanted to change, it's no big deal.

Funny, what if he signed with one of those team who retired #6 for the fans? That's kind of silly, but not as silly as Miami retiring 23.

Anyway, the downside of the theory is, I doubt anyone would care enough about the possible dilemma of 23 being retired in Miami for them to want to make an elaborate announcement like this to pave the way. So, I think it's just a coincidence. But it's a very interesting idea.

Scalamental · Post #10 » by **Scalamental** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:43 pm

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/11/13/lebr ... misplaced/

This is a great article about that. Say what you want bout Stan Van, (I tend to agree with most of the things he says, with some aberrations) but he hits the nail on the head with this one.

Stan Van Gundy wrote:"It's a nice gesture, but he (Jordan) is not Jackie Robinson. Baseball did it because it had historical significance,'' Van Gundy said. "There actually were guys before Michael who could play the game. Then you should retire numbers that (Bill) Russell, Wilt (Chamberlain), and certainly Oscar (Robertson) wore. I understand LeBron didn't grow up watching those guys, but still. ''

FederalePDT · Post #11 » by **FederalePDT** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:46 pm

Lebrons number change is about one thing and one thing only = Money. MJ has nothing to do with it no matter what he says. He is doing it for the same reason that Kobe did it, which is because they each have one of the highest selling jersey's in the NBA and every dumb fan around the world who goes out and buys on of their jerseys, is about to go out and buy another one with the new number on it thus giving Lebron some more proceeds. Lebron has already stated he wants to be the first billionaire athlete and this is jsut another business decision in achieving that goal - nothing more.

Scalamental · Post #12 » by **Scalamental** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:51 pm

FederalePDT wrote:Lebrons number change is about one thing and one thing only = Money. MJ has nothing to do with it no matter what he says. He is doing it for the same reason that Kobe did it, which is because they each have one of the highest selling jersey's in the NBA and every dumb fan around the world who goes out and buys on of their jerseys, is about to go out and buy another one with the new number on it thus giving Lebron some more proceeds. Lebron has already stated he wants to be the first billionaire athlete and this is jsut another business decision in achieving that goal - nothing more.

I don't know, but if I could draw, I'd do a sport/political cartoon with Lebrons hand in Jordan's pocket with Jordan saying "good little bitch"

return2glory · Post #13 » by **return2glory** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:51 pm

Lebron is all about money. He say said that he would want to be the richest man in America one day. Changing his jersey # is aout making more money off his new jersey. He is using "honoring Jordan" as an excuse to sell more of his jersey's.

Celtic Esquire · Post #14 » by **Celtic Esquire** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:57 pm

Jason Whitlock chimes in on the subject. He nails it.

His argument that Jordan's number should be retired across the NBA solely because Jordan is the game's greatest player is a peek at how little depth James has.

Major League Baseball didn't retire Babe Ruth's or Willie Mays' or Hank Aaron's numbers. MLB retired Jackie Robinson's number out of respect for his overall impact on the game and society. Robinson is not the greatest baseball player of all time. He is arguably the most important baseball player of all time.

Jordan is the best basketball player. I'll give him that. And I won't deny his amazing impact on the game. But Jordan's impact hasn't been totally positive.

During his Hall of Fame induction speech -- an address I still defend -- Jordan accidently explained his basketball legacy when he said you can't spell win without the letter "I."

That's Jordan's legacy. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird redefined "team basketball." They took the court trying to orchestrate the perfect game. Michael Jordan took the court trying to be the perfect player.

Give up, LeBron

It amazes me how few people notice that since the end of the Magic-Bird era there hasn't been one player we can say reminds us of Bird and Johnson. Not one.

Every three or four years there's a new Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant has perfected a Jordan imitation. Dwyane Wade does a fine impersonation, too.

You can say that everyone wants to be like Mike. But maybe Johnson and Bird are more difficult to duplicate, maybe they're the true twice-in-a-lifetime players. A million boxers have tried to be the next Muhammad Ali, but none has come close.

How come everyone from Allen Iverson to Carmelo Anthony to Kevin Durant can do five minutes of Michael Jordan?

And here we are 40 years after he retired and Dwight Howard is the first NBA player to give us a glimpse of a Bill Russell impersonation. (OK, Hakeem Olajuwon could do Russell from time to time. But that's two players in 40 years.)

Wow. I know I went a lot of different directions with this Truth. But I had to get that off my chest.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/1039 ... cus-on-NBA

Scalamental · Post #15 » by **Scalamental** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:11 pm

Stan Van nailed it first.

Wolves2011 · Post #16 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:25 pm

return2glory wrote:Lebron is all about money. He say said that he would want to be the richest man in America one day. Changing his jersey # is aout making more money off his new jersey. He is using "honoring Jordan" as an excuse to sell more of his jersey's.

I'm no expert in this area, but I thought Jersey sales went to the "league", not to the player or the team. [It might be jersey sales outside of "home town".]

Could someone who knows please clarify??

MyInsatiableOne · Post #17 » by **MyInsatiableOne** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:47 pm

Whitlock pretty much nailed it, especially with his Bird-Johnson comment...