9 ppg, 4apg, 3 rpg and we are freaking retiring his number!?!?!?! Fuck, raise Blake and Damon's Jersey while we are at it with those numbers. I do NOT care if we won a title because of him, you do not retire role players' jerseys. I know this franchise has had little success, but we already have way too many unwarranted jerseys hanging up in the RG rafters. I love how the guys on Courtside are trying to justify this retiring....blah blah blah
Bill Walton and Clyde Drexler are the only two numbers that should be retired. Retiring numbers of players who weren't great cheapens the honour, IMO.
Dumbest post of the week. Role players win Championships, Superstars get the credit. Players with no rings should never have their jerseys retired.
NO Karl Malone or John Stockton? Barkley? Winning a Championship should play NO part on a jersey retirement or being inducted in the Hall of Fame. Shit, JR Rider has a ring!
I think the team got a little too desperate the last few years of the Jail Blazer era for good pub, and just started retiring those jerseys left and right. C'mon... Dave Twardzik? It's like retiring Sergio's number in 20 years. I don't have any problem with Porter, he's my all-time favorite Blazer and possibly the most clutch player ever in our franchise history. But I think also the team felt justified that if they were going to retire Terry's No. 30, they had to do Gross' No. 30 too.. They should have just one banner for the '77 championship team, and have a celebration night every year if they want to always reminicse about it. Just think if this current team wins a championship, we'll be retiring Joel's number, Nicolas' number, Channing's number!
Yeah, those are his career averages, but he did average better during the championship season (especially in the play-offs). And, that's what this is really about. If the Blazers had 17 NBA titles, they wouldn't be retiring jerseys for guys like Bobby Gross, Dave Twardzik, Lloyd Neal, Larry Steele and Lionel Hollins. The problem is, once you start bestowing the honor on the role players from that championship team, you're kind of obligated to do it for all of them. And, if you're just going to base it on being a significant member of that one championship team Gross is more deserving than some of the other guys whose jerseys are hanging from the RG rafters. Gross shot almost 60% from the field and nearly 90% from the line during the 1977 play-offs. He averaged 14.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 4.2 APG during the play-offs that year, and his PER of 18.7 during the play-offs was 3rd on the team, right behind Walton (19.7 and Luke 19.0). By comparison, Larry Steels was absolutely awful during those 1977 play-offs (PER = 8.0, FG% = 0.371, 4.2 PPG, 1.5 RPG and 1.0 APG) and his number 15 has been hanging from the MC and RG rafters for over 27 years. Makes you wonder why it took them so long to getting around to Bobby Gross. BNM
I suppose it could be worse. We could be the Clippers. They have zero championships and zero retired jerseys. Several of the expansion teams also have zero retired jerseys, but the Clippers have been around forever. You think the would at least retire Bob McAdoo's number from their days in Buffalo. The guy is a Hall of Famer, won an MVP award and won three straight scoring titles (averaged over 32 PPG for that three year stretch and nearly 14 RPG). And what's up with the Heat retiring Michael Jordan's number? How retarded is that? I would think actually wearing the team's jersey would be a prerequisite to having them retire your jersey. BNM
I certainly wouldn't. And I wouldn't have retired Clyde's either. That's what the Hall is for. Rafters are for Champions, period.
Several players have their numbers retired by two teams (Clyde, Barkley, Oscar Roberston, Bob Lanier, Kareem, Moses Malone. Dr. J., etc.), but I believe Wilt is the only player to have his number (13) retired by three teams (four - if you count the Globetrotters). New Orleans is a bit weird. They have two retired numbers - Pete Maravich, who played in New Orleans, but not for the Hornets (his number is also rightly retired by the Jazz) and the late Bobby Phills, who was a Hornet, but never played in New Orleans. Phills is one of several players who have had their numbers retired due to an untimely death (Jason Collier, Malik Sealy, Drazen Petrovic, Wendell Ladner, Reggie Lewis). BNM
Dave Twardzik has said he's a little embarrassed to have his number retired by the Blazers. I understand he's had his number retired by his high school and Old Dominion University, and he felt those were real honors. While he's flattered, he knows what he did here, and feels like he didn't deserve it.
But they don't have 17 titles. They have only 1. And it didn't come easy. They had to crawl out of the cellar and make the playoffs for the first time ever for Portland. They had to roll through Jabbar and Co. in LA. They had to duke it out with Dr. J and Chocolate Thunder. And they succeeded. And in doing so, they set the bar. And in 30 years nobody has reached that level in Portland. They deserve to be retired. Clyde and Terry, while playing very well for a number of years, failed each opportunity they had at a title. Retiring their jerseys is cute, and nice for them, but it cheapens the recognition of the true Champions who won before them. There are other ways to honor their less significant contributions to Portland.
The way Sterling mistreated, then discarded his many talented players, I doubt any of them would show up for the ceremony even if he did retire their numbers.
The Blazers have proven that they're suckers for retirement ceremonies. One of these days they're going to retire the number of their trainer, their ball boy, and the janitor who sweeps up the locker room.
No disrespect meant buy you are only 23 years old. So all all you can do is look at some numbers. You weren't here to see him play and you don't know what he really meant to the team that brought our city its only championship. As a fan I am sure you have learned that stats aren't always the true measure of a players contributions to his team. Gross play during the playoffs was phenonmenal....his d on Erving, his backdoor cuts, his outside shooting.
I agree we have retired too many players during our championship era. I know we hold them dearly... and I am all for a night for them, but retiring Jersey should be for only a few. Someone outside of Portland should have some idea who the player was.
