Standards For Jersey Retirement

We set a real standard for jersey retirements and explain why “they played here” is not enough to hang a number in the rafters. From Diana Taurasi’s Mercury legacy to debates about the Lakers, the Nuggets, and the Wizards, we argue that context, expectations, and winning all matter.  

• Why jersey retirement needs clear standards instead of pure fandom  
• The “good stats on bad efficiency” example and why quality matters  
• Diana Taurasi’s career case as the model for a true rafter moment  
• How franchise history changes the bar from team to team  
• Carmelo Anthony vs Nikola Jokic and the future of Denver’s No. 15  
• Why Lakers expectations make LeBron James and Anthony Davis complicated  
• Why Michael Jordan’s Wizards years should not equal a jersey retirement  
• Honoring impact players like John Wall and Bradley Beal in Washington  
• Sparks examples and why not every solid star belongs in the rafters  
• What Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers still need to earn that honor  
• The question for listeners: what should your standards be across sports  

Please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show  

Transcript

Welcome And Why Jerseys Matter

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're going to talk about Jersey retirements. Because they they do happen every every so often, right? But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. Try to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you wonder why you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate your support. Now, here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen, right? We got to talk about Jersey retirements. Because, well, end of day, I think a lot of people may look at Jersey retirements and think, oh, well, this player played on your team. You got to retire their jersey. And that's not always the case.

The Standard For The Rafters

SPEAKER_00 0:43

When I think Jersey retirements, I think standards, right? Like, imagine if someone's playing in the game of basketball, NBA or WNBA, and they're giving you like 10 points, five rebounds, or four or five, no, no, four rebounds, five assists, right? Those are decent numbers. Okay, those are cool. But imagine if we're talking about them shooting 17% from the field, like 7% from the three-point line, and like 23% from the free throw line to get those numbers, as well as six, eight turnovers a game. Like, there's a standard that should be in place when it comes to professional basketball, right? So why should we not have standards for a lot of things? We're not going to deem someone as a shooter if they're shooting 33% from the three, at least not from the three-point range. Now, maybe they're hitting 52% from the mid-range. Cool, heard you. So we can call them a mid-range specialist, but not a three-point shooter. Like, there are standards all across the game. Whether we're talking about rebounding, defense, getting a bucket, there's always standards. So when we're talking about hanging and retiring your jersey number in the rafters of an organization, there are standards, ladies and gentlemen. This

Diana Taurasi Sets The Bar

SPEAKER_00 2:03

this conversation kind of came up because Diana Tarasby, who some has who some have deemed as the greatest player of all time in WNBA history, got her jersey retired. Okay? And it was monumental to see, right? Remember, we we know who DT is. One of the best scorers in the WNBA's history. Worst case, arguable. Best case, best. Like greatest scorer of all time. And she retired with the most points in WNBA's history. 10,646 points. Played 20 seasons. And keep in mind, too, there were some times where, you know, she could have played a little bit more. I remember in her her Russian team overseas, right, obviously, paid her a million dollars not to play in the WNBA. That's how good DT was. Because they wanted her to win a championship for them. Speaking of championships, she's won three championships with them with the Phoenix Mercury. So when we're when we're retiring her jersey for the Phoenix Mercury, it makes sense, right? Like she's had an MVP career. This is something that's notable. So again, these are standards, ladies and gentlemen. And I'm gonna say this right now: not every organization has the same standards. Like the Phoenix Mercury have three championships. I don't think the Cleveland Sirens or even the Cleveland Rockers have the same standards that the Phoenix Mercury should have. Because again, there's there's there's levels to this now. You gotta win something. So you may have a little bit more grace. Penny Taylor could be, could have her jersey retired in Cleveland. Just saying. Now she's won multiple championships with the Phoenix Mercury. She produced pretty well with the Phoenix Mercury. So have her jersey retired, that works too. But the Cleveland Rockers, they didn't really do anything back then. But she was notable for them. So if they hung up her retirement, if they hung up her jersey, I can understand it. I can. How

Carmelo And Jokic In Denver

SPEAKER_00 4:04

about Carmelo versus Nicola Jokic, right? The number 15. I've talked about this before on my show too, ladies and gentlemen. Carmelo Anthony deserves to have his jersey retired. Let's think about what they did, right? He made the Nuggets a little more relevant. He took them to a Western Conference Finals, which, if it was not for my Lakers, they probably beat the Orlando Magic in 2009 to win a title. So now I'd be curious if Carmelo Anthony wins a title, Nicola Jokic wins a title, what are we talking about legacy-wise between the two on that illustrious number 15 in Denver? Because does Nicola Jokic get to wear number 15? Like both jerseys should be retired for sure. Now, if Mello was, let's say we're comparing Mello to the Lakers roster, right? I don't know if Mello would have deserved his jersey retired in LA. Don't get me wrong, phenomenal player. Hell of a career. But it's a little bit different in LA, I gotta admit. Like if he were on the Knicks like he was and doing what he did, I can understand Melo's jersey being retired there. Keep in mind the Knicks just won their third championship. So it's a little bit different. Going

Should Lakers Retire LeBron And AD

SPEAKER_00 5:23

on to the Lakers, though, let's put it this way expectations factor in a little bit too. So we gotta, before I make my statement, expectations matter. But I I would be a little hard-pressed to even throw up the jerseys in the rafters of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And I hear y'all. Oh, well, they wanted you a championship. I don't respect the bubble year as a whole, ladies and gentlemen. So you gotta, that's an uphill battle, but let's just take out the championship real quick. We missed a lot of times going past the first round. And we were told to, we were told we were going to win multiple championships. Oh, you guys got Anthony Davis and LeBron James, or we traded away a lot of our youth to get these pieces, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so expectations mean that we should see a little more production. And not even just to won the championships, but getting past the second, getting past the first round more often than we did. I want to say we probably did that in the Anthony Davis and LeBron James tenure. What did they play with us about? Six, seven seasons. I think we got past the first round three three times. That don't sound good. That don't sound good. Matter of fact, during Braun's tenure, we even missed the play-in one good time. That don't sound well. And like I get y'all on the braun cake. Oh, well, Braun gave you MVP-ish seasons, right? Oh, Braun still kept the scoring title with the Lakers because it was Kareem's and then bronze. What I said that it was Kareem's and Bronze. That's cool that they were on the Lakers when it happened. But to be clear, that's not a Lakers award. That's an individual player award. So again, it's not us. It's actually the players. Like, it was cool that Kareem had it, but I never said, oh, well, see, we need to hang his jersey up because he did that for us. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was for the game of basketball. That was for Kareem Abdul Jabbar. And I'm looking at the exact same way for Braun. And again, ladies and gentlemen, expectations do matter. Because I've seen Lakers win five championships, three peats, back-to-backs. Again, with the Lakers, with teams like the Lakers, the Celtics, it's a little bit different. I can see Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum's jerseys being retired. But then again, as I think about it, again, we only talk about one championship, but Paul Pierce won one championship as well, too, and got them a championship. So I also could understand, although I wouldn't like it, I can understand if someone thinks that bronze and AD's jerseys should be retired. Because again, there is precedent set with other great organizations like the Celtics. So again, I do hear, I give you my take first. But also on the flip side, too, I don't think every organization should retire someone's jersey. And I know what y'all think, oh, well, Trey, I've heard you before. You're a brawn hater. Cool. Heard you.

Jordan On The Wizards Plus Other Cases

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So then how come when I think the same way about Michael Jordan going to the Wizards? There's no way in the world that the Wizards should retire Jordan's jersey. Not at all. And keep in mind, Jordan put butts in seats. He helped make the Wizards more relevant. But we can say that John Wall was more impactful to the Wizards organization than Michael Jordan was. John Wall actually took his team to the playoffs. And again, we're talking about the Wizards. They have a championship for sure with the Bullets. Got you. That's one championship for the whole organization. So because of that, it's not like they're a perennial winner. I'm going to retire John Wall's jersey. I'm going to retire Brad Bill's jersey. Because the impact that they had to that team, to those moments for the Washington City, to the Washington fans. Things like that do matter, ladies and gentlemen. Candace Parker for my Sparks gets her jersey retired. So does Lisa Leslie. Now, don't get me wrong, Chelsea Gray, NECA, they do as well too. There have been some good players for us, for sure. I don't know if we get their jersey retired. Again, standards matter. Let's even look at Caitlin Clark and Paige Becker's new players, new young guns nowadays, right? Caitlin has to win a championship for me to want to retire her jersey. Paige Beckers has to win a championship for me to want to retire their jersey. Let's think about this, for example, ladies and gentlemen. The Dallas Wings. Before they were the Dallas Wings, they were called the Tulsa Shock and the Detroit Shock. Well, in their tenure, in their history, guess what? They've won championships. The Indiana Fever, guess what? They've won championships. Well, Indiana Fever got a championship. But I still need to see something from Caitlin, something from Paige. And it would be lovely if we could have that something be hardware. Now, if they get MVPs and are notable players, which you know we can expect them to do at some point in time in their career. Okay, that's another discussion. But I would love to see some hardware. But I gotta admit, too, for Paige's situation, it's a little bit more needed based on, again, the history of their team. If you want to say the Dallas Wings specifically, technically, that team has not won anything. But again, I told you the history of this team that used to be called the Detroit Shock, which boasted three championships, ladies and gentlemen. So where I'm looking at players and organizations, organizations do matter. Again, I told y'all Michael Jordan, the greatest player in NBA's history to me and to a lot of folks, should not have his jersey retired by the Washington Wizards. And before I before y'all Braun stands even mention this, I don't care to hear, oh well, see, Braun has multiple jerseys retired. Heard you. Yep, you can retire his jersey in Cleveland. You can retire his jersey with the Heat. With my Lakers, I don't know about that one. I understand someone's logic. Again, I don't know about that one. If he wins a championship in Philly, who knows? Maybe his jersey gets retired there too. But again, ladies and gentlemen, it does mean you have to win. You have to win in order in order to have your jersey retire. You have to be successful in order to have your jersey retire. Again, going back to the vid to be to the beginning of the audio. Standards. So, ladies and gentlemen, again, when we're talking about retirements, one, shout out to DT for recently having her jersey retire and sparking this conversation. But you gotta have standards, ladies and gentlemen. Because if not, then anybody's name can be in the Raptors. And that just don't feel right. Like, no disrespect. Devin Harris on the Mavericks was a quality player. I would not put him in the same breath of a Mavericks player as Jason Terry, as Dirk Nowitzki. Like, it's levels to this, ladies and gentlemen. And that's no shade to Devin Harris. Devin Harris, again, was a great good player, all-star caliber player. Liked him as a player. But we gotta make sure that we have standards. Because if we didn't, then hell anybody could play in the NBA. Because again, we don't care about standards anymore. And each organization's standards are different. It's not one size fit all. Because some organizations have been more successful or less successful than the others.

Your Standards And Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 13:15

So I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, what are your standards for NBA and WNBA players having their jerseys retired? This could even extend to other sports like football, baseball, like soccer. There's there's there's there's standards that need to be in place for all sports. So I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, what are your standards when it comes to retiring jerseys? But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Goodabuck, and I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.