OKC Thunder: Debating whether Nick Collison deserves to have his jersey retired
As Russ would say, why not?
While Nick Collison is not the typical player whose number hangs from the rafters, I can get behind the organization’s decision. The Thunder badly want to establish a culture and tradition. Retiring a jersey is another way to do this.
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Nick Collison was a key founding father of this organization. He reminds me of Samuel Adams. While never being president, he was an important figure in establishing the United States and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Not all of the founding fathers will have their number retired. In fact, there will only be two more members of the original OKC Thunder team who will get this honor. You know who they are. And if there’s any doubt about one of them in particular, drop it. Thirty-five is going to be up there one day. It’s a questions of when, not if. It may take a while, decades even, but it’s going to happen.
Back to Collison, it does set up an interesting standard for jersey retirements going forward. Does any player who spends his entire career in OKC get their jersey retired? Let’s say Steven Adams plays 17 years in the league, all with OKC. Even if the team doesn’t end up winning a title, will he get his jersey retired? Was Collison an exception for being a part of the original team? It’s going to be intriguing to see how the organization deals with this in the future.
Next. Nick Collison: a trip down Mr. Thunder’s memory lane. dark
Even if Collison wasn’t 100 percent deserving, who cares? It’s going to be an awesome moment for those in attendance. One last quick note. Collison is getting his number retired before Kevin Garnett, who has been retired for three years got his jersey retired in Minnesota. Man that relationship with Glen Taylor must have been ugly.