Will Kings Retire Peja's Jersey?

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Oh some of you are just ridiculous....
Stojakovic took over that team in 2004 when Webber went down with an injury. Stojakovic finished second in the nba in ppg and led the league in other areas. Mind you, a time where Shaq, Kobe, T-Mac, AI etc were all in their prime. Pegs also finished 4th...4TH IN MVP voting. That's pretty damn remarkable.

... Which also happened to be one of the weakest seasons in the modern (read: lottery) era. While it is ostensibly true that those players were still in the aggregate of their primes, I feel that it's important to point out that it's also the year that Tim Duncan missed double-digit games for the first time in his career; O'Neal missed fifteen games, Bryant missed eighteen. Iverson missed thirty-four, and was not eligible for the scoring race, or else he would have finished ahead of Stojakovic. Not only was it the third-highest margin between the #1 scorer and the officially recognized #2 scorer in the modern era, but it was also the only season in the lottery era where the #1 scorer was, officially, the only player in the league to average at least 25 points per game. So, while it may be technically true that Stojakovic was second in scoring while all those guys where still in their primes, he never even finished Top Ten in a year where those guys were at their best. Not when all of them were at their best, not when any of them were at their best. And don't get me started about Divac basically single-handedly orchestrated Stojakvoic's "MVP Candidate" season.

He's also THE best pure shooter born outside the United States EVER.

I'm sorry, I didn't know we'd annexed Johannesburg. Did we annex Villanueva de la Serena, too? How about Canberra (FWIW, Wally Szczerbiak, who's career FG% - two and three-point range - is also higher than Stojakovic, was born in Spain)

Top 10 (I personally think top 5) pure shooter the NBA has ever seen.

That's cool; you're entitled to your incorrect opinion.

Some say Drazen was better but that is not true. Like Jordan, Drazen was a pure scorer. His 3 point shot was something he had to work really hard on like Jordan and Kobe did.

And yet, Petrovic's career FG percentage was significantly higher than Stojakovic from both two and three-point range.

I remember as a kid, people at my school all wanted to be Peja. Not Webber, not Bibby, not Vlade nor anyone else from that franchise. We all walked around with #16 on our backs proud and happy.

So... the other kids at your school were wrong, too, is what you're saying?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Stop.

I make some allowances for the young not knowing what they do and lacking perspective. I may have to apply that to the young ownership too, although I suspect this has a more cynical origin than all that. They want to retire a jersey on their own. And they want, in Maloofian fashion, to distract from the lack of exciting oncourt news with what they think will be an exciting event.

Doesn't change the fact Peja was a 2nd tier player, even by Kings terms. He has a good claim on being the best 2nd tier player the Kings have had, but he still clearly was no franchise guy or legend. He was a great great shooter who came up small in the clutch and didn't like the dirty work. He sat out with minor injuries. His production collapsed once he lost BFF Vlade, who probably deserves credit for some proportion of his points. During our closest call of winning it all, he barely played, shot 7-23 in the series, and 0-6 from 3ptland in the deciding Game 7, including famously airballing one late in the game. When you end up retiring the 3rd most important player on a team's number, you damn well better have won at least one title for each of those retired numbers. Peja wasn't a franchise guy, and he kinda quit on us after 03-04. In the end he was a 2nd tier guy who gave us 4 really good seasons.

Let me also just add, when you can't make your argument without resorting to "No True Scotsman" falacies, you don't have a very strong argument.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Well, good thing we're getting a new and bigger arena, as we'll need a lot of space in the rafters for all this.

I'd say given your argument, JWill should get his jersey retired too. He probably brought in more international fans than any King in history, and since we might be in Seattle without that, why not hang his number in the rafters? Likely means Bibby and Doug should go up there too. I don't want to leave out BJax though, the greatest 6th man we've ever had and key piece to that 02 squad. Also, great in the community, lived here and did lots for the area well after retiring from the game. Can't forget the "Michael Jordan" of Turkey either. He brought in a number of Turkish fans and since we're branching out and going global, might as well put Hedo's number up there. All publicity is good publicity and it will help extend our brand internationally.

If we're talking about positive culture brought here, Rick deserves recognition too. Maybe we can hang one of his suit jackets up in the rafters.

We should retire '395' to acknowledge his wins as a Kings coach. At the rate we're retiring jersey numbers, we'll need to go that high by 2020, anyway.

 

[Glenn]

I don't want to pile on, because I think most of us agree. If you can retire Peja's number, then that whole starting 5 and Bjax should be in play.

I'm not big on number retirement to begin with, but what I feel when we retire Peja's number is that the organization is saying that that's as good as we are going to be. I don't like that feeling at all. I want to save jersey retirement for the guy who leads our championship team.

Interesting. Well put.

 

[King Baller]

I'm not going to argue this topic. But I want to post I think Peja deserves to have his jersey retired.

KB

 

[Sac.Kings]

Not sure what to say since everything has been pretty much said already. I loved watching Peja play, still one of my favorite players ever and always will be, but I can see the argument for both sides. If you discount his first 2 inconsistent seasons with us, the man averaged 21 a game for this franchise. Not shabby at all. However, to say that he was the pinnacle and centerpiece of the offense (or team) would be incorrect. He was the beneficiary, and he played his role really well. He has done enough in his career with us, though, that it isn't an embarrassment to have his name hang from the ceiling and for me that's enough. However, I think 2 banners should go up. One honoring the entire team from the golden era, and the second for Adelman. In all of this, the best coach this franchise ever had somehow always seems to be last on the list of honoring. That's where I would leave it. I really want to move on from the early 2000s. I understand what that team meant (it's the reason why I love the game of basketball, I am still searching for that same "magic"), but I would like this to be the last of the retirement ceremonies. It is time to focus on the road ahead, because it's going to be a long and windy one.

 

[Livinthedream]

How the hell do you retire a sixth man. A player who never averaged more than 15ppg in his career and is not named Vlade...
I love BJax but retiring his number is pushing it. I would however put up a 6th man banner of him somewhere in the new building considering he is still with us and loves Sac.
I already gave my explanation of Doug. The only players to put worthy numbers to get their jerseys retired were Webber and Peja from that organization and Vlade was the X factor. I think any organization (including the Lakers if he had stayed there forever) would have retired Vlade's number.

Sounds like you have an inferiority complex. Maybe you should be a Lakers fan and enjoy their illustrious list of retired HOF'er jerseys.
You do realize that the Kings have never won an NBA championship (and probably never will considering how larger market teams are thriving even more in this industry). The closest we ever got in the modern era is with that team. In fact, 2002 should be ours but that goes without being said.

Everything OK? Do you need a hug?

 

[Tetsujin]

Doug is getting excited.

Mateen Cleaves is dusting off his rally towel

 

[Tetsujin]

Don't mean to nitpick Rainmaker, but Bobby still lives here. I just talked to him last week.

Well if living in Sacramento after you've played is a big plus in the "Retire his jersey" column, then Kenny Thomas should be getting his call from Vivek any day now.

 

[VF21]

I love BJax but retiring his number is pushing it. I would however put up a 6th man banner of him somewhere in the new building considering he is still with us and loves Sac.

Bobby Jackson works for the Minnesota Timberwolves as a player development coach.

 

[macadocious]

Bobby Jackson works for the Minnesota Timberwolves as a player development coach.

No he doesn't. He's back, looking for a job. They let him go when addleman retired.

 

[VF21]

I think Slamson has performed at more home games than any individual player since coming here and has been in more community events (blood drives, rallies, school events, etc.) than anyone else associated with the Kings. He has been incredible, and only missed one home game since 1997 from what I have read. He really engages and entertains the crowd, even when the product on the floor was not the best.

When do we hang up the giant "S"?

There have actually been at least two different Slamsons during that time period.

 

[VF21]

I think Slamson has performed at more home games than any individual player since coming here and has been in more community events (blood drives, rallies, school events, etc.) than anyone else associated with the Kings. He has been incredible, and only missed one home game since 1997 from what I have read. He really engages and entertains the crowd, even when the product on the floor was not the best.

When do we hang up the giant "S"?

There have actually been at least two different Slamsons during that time period.

 

[VF21]

No he doesn't. He's back, looking for a job. They let him go when addleman retired.

Fair enough. BUT my point was primarily that Bobby is not "still with us" if you're talking about being with the Kings organization.

 

[Livinthedream]

Sounds like you have an inferiority complex. Maybe you should be a Lakers fan and enjoy their illustrious list of retired HOF'er jerseys.
You do realize that the Kings have never won an NBA championship (and probably never will considering how larger market teams are thriving even more in this industry). The closest we ever got in the modern era is with that team. In fact, 2002 should be ours but that goes without being said.

I wasn't going to respond to any of your points because I didn't want you to post anymore, but I just can't let the personal attack slide.

You do realize I'm disappointed that the organization does not have higher standards for number retirement? That's not an inferiority complex. I actually think we're better than this as an organization. However, you are saying we'll never win a title and then reference the "illustrious" Lakers and their HOF players. You appear to have the complex and your projecting it on me and all over this board.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Fair enough. BUT my point was primarily that Bobby is not "still with us" if you're talking about being with the Kings organization.

Bobby Jackson will always be with us...


Number twenty-four in the box score,

Number One in our hearts.

 

[upinsmoke]

NASTY

this happened too.