This is in response to Buddy changing his number to 7. I agree with Jermaine and find it odd that a top 5 Pacer of all time doesn’t have his jersey retired. I guess that brings up the discussion on whether or not one of Paul George’s numbers should be retired as well. Arguably a top 5 Pacer and spent close to the same amount of time here.
by ncorey22
8 Comments
They only retire numbers for people in the hall of fame. It’s a team rule.
I’d be on board with retiring Reggie Miller’s number. Maybe some ABA champion star I’m forgetting about.
Everyone else, nah.
Feel free to put him in some Pacers Hall of Fame inside the arena though.
Teams would run out of numbers quickly if they retired “good” players numbers. Jermaine was a good player.
I mean, JO was a great player and Pacer and by all accounts a great guy, but you don’t retire numbers because guys were just great.
He’s the only All NBA 2nd team player that we ever had…and we’ve never had a 1st team player. That’s the sad state of our legacy of talent here. I’m indifferent to retiring the number but if not his then who the hell else are we ever going to do?
I think the team is hesitant to honor any of the Malice at the Palace participants. Sucks because JO deserves his jersey retired more than most.
😴
You can argue about not retiring his number, but I do think he makes a great point in the organization not doing enough to honor great players who actually enjoyed and are proud of their time here. I know they both left on iffy terms, but why have David West and Roy Hibbert not been honored at the Fieldhouse at all after retiring? Roy constantly gasses us up on social media, so at least he’d be down. Why were we honeydicking Lance with minimum contracts on and off for years, instead of just giving him 2-3 years out of respect for what he’s done here and making him into a Haslem-type? Remember his immediate connection with Domas? We acquired George Hill last year and they blasted socials with his big heartwarming return, he said he’d like to retire here as an end of bench vet, yet he’s not rostered going into next year? We want to make this team/city feel like a valuable destination for players and free agents, yet (from the outside looking in) it feels like we make bare minimum efforts in doing so.