This is Crazy
Today’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is running a piece that debates whether or not the team should retire Glenn Robinson‘s jersey. Yes, that Glenn Robinson. The Bigg Dogg.
In the NBA, only the Celtics, Trail Blazers (10), Suns (nine) and Knicks (eight) have retired more numbers than the seven sent to the rafters by the Bucks: 1 (Oscar Robertson), 2 (Junior Bridgeman), 4 (Sidney Moncrief), 14 (Jon McGlocklin), 16 (Bob Lanier), 32 (Brian Winters) and 33 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
Even so, Glenn Robinson once campaigned to have his No. 13 retired.
But as you may have noticed this season, Bucks point guard Luke Ridnour wears No. 13. Mike James also wore it for 47 games in 2004-’05.If the Bucks, in the time since Robinson left, have been willing to twice issue the number with which their second all-time scorer was synonymous, do they have any intention of retiring it?
Better question:
Does Robinson, who was traded six years ago after being arrested in a high-profile assault case, even deserve to be considered?
Yet beyond the merits and demerits of Robinson’s individual case, there are bigger issues open for discussion regarding Bucks number retirement.
For example, what are the criteria? Should it be based solely on on-court achievement? Does the candidate also have to be a good and productive citizen like McGlocklin? Were McGlocklin and Winters worthy? How about Lanier, who played only 278 of his 959 games for the Bucks? Who’s next, if anyone at all?
The fact that anyone is even talking about putting Robinson’s name up in the rafters next to guys like Oscar, Bob Lanier and Kareem is just absurd. The guy had a nice run of scoring for a few years (check his shootout with MJ in ’98), but his game was painfully one-dimensional, and was truly, truly awful on the defensive end of the floor.
And if we’re discussing Glenn, why not Ray Allen? (The article asks the same question) Or even Sam Cassell?
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December 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
JCARR "K1N6" says:
Milwaukee is irrevelant… they just want some attention. What about Yi (#retired)? He basically made the media of Milwaukee and brought a chinese fan base. Milwaukee Bucks dont do it!!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Caribballin says:
is it april 1st already?
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
rodnets says:
MilWaukee SUCKS, they should retire that jersey, and the rest of the actual team, and move it to Seattle.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
High Release says:
Discussing this issue within our local paper is not asking for attention. Yi was as weak as the above statement, so he is gone. Big Dogg should only be considered because of the precedent set by retiring the numbers of guys like Winters and McGlocklin, who are also not Oscar and Kareem. So you know where you’re at. I liked Big Dogg though–those were good times. 2001 Eastern Conference Finals Conspiracy, oh yes.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Mamba says:
It would be mocking the gentleman who are retired in the Bradley Center to put Big Dog up there,
He was a guy who could score and at times rebound a little, that was about it, it would really look like a lousy pub grab by both Robinson and the Bucks,
Stay away
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
the_don_mega says:
they should retire Vin Baker first… LOL!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
K Dizzle says:
Is this a joke? lol What about Alvin Robertson? 4 time all-star, Defensive Player of the Year. Played on that SICK 84 Olympic squad and led the league in steals 3 times
and (according to wikipedia) STILL owns the record for steal/game in a career 2.71?? Ridik…
Ok, so he did most of his damage as a Spur…..aaaand he’s a convicted woman beater(enter JKidd joke here) but he’s got more credibility than Big Dog to gettin his number raised
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
PALakerFan says:
Terry Cummings?
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Brown says:
Hell no. It takes away the honor of getting your number retired if they’ll give it to any old average ballplayer.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
johnsacrimoni says:
Where you from rodnet? NE Alabama? Milwaukee’s actually a city with a lot of class (not that you’ve actually ever been there) and the Bucks are doing fairly weill right now. So go suck a dick.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
johnsacrimoni says:
Oh, on to the actual question. I don’t think he should have his number retired before Terry Cummings. Ray Allen is more deserving too.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Jay says:
I guess Michael Redd will be in the same situation as Robinson. Just way too one-dimensional and not enough team success to have his number retired, though he was a better scorer than Robinson. Redd has always confused me. In college, he rebounded well, was an athlete with an awkward shot and his biggest weakness was his shooting. He looked like one of those college players who might never it because he can’t shoot, hence, he was drafted in the second round. Then in the pros, against big odds, he worked on his game enough to be a marksman but he stopped anything else. Why couldn’t he have kept rebounding after he learned to shoot?
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Lee says:
Didn’t He hold out on them for a $100 Mil contract BEFORE he even played for them … ummm no would be my answer to retireing his jersey.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Mark says:
Is there a difference with a retired jersey and retired number? Granted my source that lists the retired number may not be accurate, but it shows far beyond 10 retired numbers for Beantown.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Ross says:
He was a big contributor for that team for years. I say he deserves the honor.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Celts Fan says:
if they do it, they better put up the purple one w/ the big deer on the front. worst jersey ever for the worst player that’d ever have his uni retired
and HELL NO
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
MSkittle says:
I say do it. You all forget how nice he was in his first few years in the league.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Justin Carter says:
Hell yeah you guys should retire his number. What the hell ever happened to that guy???