Retired Jerseys

[cypruslakersfan]

hello nbalive fans!! i just wanted to ask what criteria must have a player or a contributor or a coach to have a jersey with his name and/or number retired? OK i understand why the Celtics have so many they are such a storied franchise but why the Lakers have only 7? (plus chick's microphone). Some past Lakers players of the 60s haven't had the same recognision as some of the Celtics players of the 60s. Because they havent win the championship?
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I am a Lakers fan but also i recognise the celtics contribution in the game and the celtics of the 60s as the biggest dynasty ever made. But does anyone recognises the contribution of George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers, the NBA's first dynasty? i think that the Celtics have an unbeleaveable tradition but the lakers haven't made history for just the 2/3 of their history...they are making history for 57 years now.And they are making history having to face some strong inside feuds that decreases their briliance . i just wanted to know what some NBA fans think because i started writing the Lakers history in greek lately and i want some answers...thanx for your thoughts

[Andrew]

It's entirely up to the organisation. A team can retire any jersey number it wishes, so it comes down to the Lakers' choice not to retire any other numbers except those already raised to the rafters.

[John WB]

They probably just retired jerseys from the time they've been in LA.

Sucks Mikan doesn't have his jersey retired anywhere. He definately deserves it.

[cypruslakersfan]

That's what i'm thinking too John WB...but i think there is a banner rafters of the Stables Center which has the names of John Kundla(coach) Mikan, Pollard, Mikkelsen, Martin, Lovellete and Baylor on it. So the jesreys are 7+7 i guess

[cypruslakersfan]

thanx for the help Andrew

[Andrew]

The decision not to retire Mikan's #99 is indeed puzzling, I too hope they'll make that gesture in his memory.

[Anthony15]

Well he played most of his career for the Minneapolis Lakers and the franchise is now the LA Lakers..why should they retire his jersey, he only played couple of seasons for LAL!

[Riot]

Mikan doesn't need his jersey retired. He has a freaking statue.

[cypruslakersfan]

Mikan retired after 1953-54 season and played again some games in 1956...when the Lakers were moved to LA Mikan was already retired!!!...A player like George Mikan MUST have his jersey retired because he was the NBAs first star and he was the league's attraction for the first 6 years after the merge of the NBL with the BAA,a merge that created the NBA. When you talk about dynasties and superstar Centers you have to you have to think not only the Celtics dynasty of the 60s but first of all the Lakers dynast of the late 40s and 50s that made pro basketball what it is today...

[Andrew]

Well he played most of his career for the Minneapolis Lakers and the franchise is now the LA Lakers..why should they retire his jersey, he only played couple of seasons for LAL!

The same reason the Kings recognise Oscar Robertson's retired jersey even though he played for them when they were the Cincinnati Royals. It's still the same franchise, he's recognised as being a part of their history.

[cypruslakersfan]

And something that is not mentioned...Lakers have a banner of the Minneapolis Lakers of the 40s and 50s that has on it the names of the members of the Minneapolis team who had been inducted in the Hall of Fame...That includes John Kundla (Coach) George Mikan-Jimm Pollard-Slater Martin-Vern Mikkelsen and (i think) Elgin Baylor....

[Riot]

I see Mikan everytime I enter Target Center. He was important up here but Minnesota can't retire his jersey and LA will run out of jerseys some day (just like Boston).

[cypruslakersfan]

Mikan was THE NBA and Lakers was THE team back then...if Mikan hadn't played the NBA history would be much differend...However i don't think that would happen anytime soon because Boston ran out of jerseys because they had a jesrsey retired for every single player that played for the 50s and 60s teams even for a year or two and as a result has won a championship (or MANY championships!!). Lakers will have one or two new retired jerseys in seven-eight years when Shaq and Kobe will stop play basketball...Lakers are retiring just the Jerseys of the superstars and i don't like to say that but Boston seems to treat their players better because if anyone don't play unselfishly as a member of a team Red Auerbach will show him the way out of the team...when Red was the coach the manager and the scouter Boston players were THE chosen ones...

[Andrew]

Boston's hardly run out of jersey numbers, just some of the more common ones. In any event, #99 isn't exactly common so I don't see that as being a suitable reason not to retire Mikan's jersey.

[cypruslakersfan]

well the new generation Celtics has not any Hall of Famers so i don't think that they will have any problems in the next fifteen years
About the #99 jersey i couldn't agree more with you Andrew

[Cloudy]

Is there a maximum amount of jerseys being retired?

[cypruslakersfan]

No Cloudy...any NBA team has 101 jerseys from 00,0,1,2,3...to 99...if you consider that every team has 12 active players and a 3 player maximum injury list, every team can retire 101-(12+3)=86 jerseys for their players,coaches and contributors
Boston has 23 at the time...most of them are to honor many players-coaches-contributors from the 60s teams...

[cypruslakersfan]

At last!! I found about the Minneapolis Lakers banners in this site:
http://www.lakerpride4life.com/pages/1/

Retired Jersey Numbers:
- (13) Wilt Chamberlain
- (22) Elgin Baylor
- (25) Gail Goodrich
- (32) Magic Johnson
- (33) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- (42) James Worthy
- (44) Jerry West (The NBA logo is his silhouette)
- Two banners were raised at Staples Center in the 2001-02 season, one representing the Minneapolis Lakers in the Hall of Fame: players George Mikan, Slater Martin, Jim Pollard, Vern Mikkelsen, Clyde Lovellette and coach John Kundla; the other banner in recognition of the five championships they won before the team move west in 1960.

I have a question though...Jerry West came to the NBA into the 1960-61 season...before this season how was the NBA logo look like?

[Doobie]

are the lakers allowed to retire shaq's jersey if they wanted too?i doubt shaq would allow it but is it possible?

[Wade=Jordan]

they can retire SHAQ jersey if they want to
look at wilt chamberlain, he has his jersey retired in three places

[Wade=Jordan]

quote="Cloudy" Is there a maximum amount of jerseys being retired?


no!

[Blue Nugget]

Jerry West sounds familiar... isn't he a coach or GM nowadays?

[Doobie]

yeah for the grizzlies . hes a GM

[Cable]

Man, if you know anything about the NBA, you should know Jerry West. He's one of the 50 best players of all time, one of those great Lakers players of the 60's. And there's that 60 foot shot he swished to send Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks into overtime. The guy was an All-Star every year he played.

Unless you were joking .

[cyanide]

Jerry West sounds familiar... isn't he a coach or GM nowadays?

Other than what The Cable Guy said, he's also the player on the NBA logo.