Julius Erving made a valid point and got me thinking after a short conversation with a bunch of us at the Nick Nurse Foundation golf event last week.
The chat got around, as I knew it would, to Bill Russell, who had died a couple of days earlier and who was, of course, a leader among basketball players at so many different levels.
Dr. J made all the points about Russell that so many others had made: Great role model, stud on the court, a beacon in the fight against racism off the court.
Truly one of the greatest of all time in so many ways.
And then he was asked about the suggestion that the league retire Russell’s No. 6 NBA-wide as another tribute.
That was a move I was all for – probably still am – but Erving made this point that at least clouded the issue a wee bit for me.
“Sounds very appropriate,” Erving said. “I’m not sure what the demand was?” Retire it from all teams, never to be used again, never to be worn again?
“I would think Mr. Russell would want somebody to wear No. 6, I think he would be happy about that.
“I know if it were me, I’m happy to see people wear my number, hopefully they’re good, they can represent it well. I had two numbers, 6 and 32, so if I see a 6 or a 32, it resonates with me. I think it’s a compliment.
“You want to make it disappear permanently?” Ah, I’m not too sure about that.”
Now neither am I.
As you all know, I’m not generally in favor of individual franchises retiring numbers because I think there should be other, more innovative ways to honor the very best to ever represent a team or a city.
It’s a conversation we had on the Bob McCown Podcast with Bob and John Shannon that’ll be up later today – you should find it when it’s available, I think it’s one of the best we’ve done – and while I certainly didn’t change my mind about what individual teams should do, I did wonder if Erving’s point about a number worn being a tribute to a past great does have some validity.
But, then again, league-wide honors are different, though, and maybe that’s where Erving and I disagree a little bit.
They are special among the very special and way to truly single out athletes who have done exemplary things that advanced greater causes than just the games they play.
I see Julius’s point, to a point. But I wouldn’t want some relative schlub showing up as a second-round draft pick and saying ‘hey, I’ll take No. 6.’
By not making that possible, by taking it entirely out of commission, that’s probably the ultimate honor.
And if the NBA does that, I think they should steal a page from baseball and have one night where every player on every team wears No. 6 so the education process of fans continues.
Having listened to Erving, there’s certainly room for discussion, isn’t there?
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I’m not entirely sure what’s worse for my already inflated blood pressure.
Our provincially elected representatives shirking their responsibility by disappearing while the province’s health care system goes to hell in a hand basket over the summer or them coming back to work today when I might have to listen to their fabrications, disingenuous statements and avoidance of all legitimate issues .
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Mail call.
You folks did a fine job yesterday so let’s keep it going this week.
Fill ‘er up at [email protected] starting today and I’ll putter around on stuff throughout the week.
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Had a nice night Saturday in Guelph watching the CEBL playoff game that Niagara won easily over the locals – Lucas Nogueira was really a non-factor and kind of uninvolved most of the night – and then caught a bit of Scarborough’s win over Saskatchewan on the telly Sunday afternoon.
The talking point for most Raptors fans would be that Jalen Harris looked quite good for the Shooting Stars, as he has all season and Nick Nurse was quite complimentary talking about him during a courtside interview I saw.
But if you want to make a guess where Harris will end up – if anywhere – when NBA camps open next month, I’m thinking it’ll be unlikely that it’s with the Raptors.
First, the NBA has yet to rule on Harris’s application for reinstatement after his one-year suspension for violating the league and union drug policy so it’s really a moot point at the moment.
Plus, the Raptors, once they get around to announcing the signing of second-round draft pick Christian Koloko (and there’s no reason to think they won’t) they’ll be at the maximum allowable 20 players for training camp.
It’s conceivable, I guess, that they could waive someone before to extend an invitation to Harris once he gets cleared by the NBA, if indeed he does, but that seems unlikely to me.
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Oh yeah, we’ll hit a bit on the CEBL’s championship weekend when we get back here Friday but the semifinals are Scarborough-Niagara and Hamilton-Ottawa on Friday, insuring an Ontario-based champion for the first time.
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