Are there any past Jazz player's number would the organization retire?

[Jack Strop]

He was not booking travel during series lol. He had appointment at consulate for visa. Those are booked 3-4 month in advance and even NBA players do not get exceptions.

Nope. I remember it distinctly. It was NOT a viss he needed to stay in the U.S. It was a travel visa. Those are much easier to obtain. He misled the Jazz. I have NEVER heard of any other player taking off on a practice day to take care of vacation matters.

 

[MVP]

Nope. I remember it distinctly. It was NOT a viss he needed to stay in the U.S. It was a travel visa. Those are much easier to obtain

Are you a Russian citizen and know how easy it was for them to obtain travel visas? Point remains - he scheduled appointment for that visa interview way before playoffs even started and did not miss any games because of that. He was excused from practice - big deal, you guys blowing it out of proportion.
I had similar experience back in 2000 when I visited USA first time. I needed to book my interview with consulate 3 month in advance - and if you missed that appointment you needed to reschedule again in 3 month or so. You Americans have no clue how difficult sometimes was to go through visa processes in some countries when you are from former USSR.

 

[MVP]

Boozer deserves to be retired before AK does. He was a far far bigger reason for our success at that time.

Boozer was amazing against Yao and Rockets and in some way vs GSW yet he was super ineffective vs Lakers or Spurs. If anything we can blame him more for playing way below his level in those series than AK.

 

[jom2003]

Come on guys! Rudy is not a candidate! He is for sure the next player. Even if he have to stop his career now, there is no doubt about his Jersey. He won 2 DPOY guys! Not one, but two! And multiple all team nba. By himself alone, he give a identity to the jazz!!!jazz DNA is not just Rudy but begins by him. Few players can have such an impact. After rudy, not sure we will see a jazz player like him before a long time. We won't have a Eaton or Gobert every year or 5 or 10 years in the team. It's so rare, we wait more than 20 years to see it again. We are so fortunate to live in the Gobert - Mitchell era and have them in the team.

Sent from my MI 9 using JazzFanz mobile app

For the record Rudy is already the best center in Jazz's franchise history.

 

[gregbroncs]

There are tons of players who had their numbers retired for being long time with one team. And it is not automatically for just playing long time ( maybe Collison in OKC fits that category as his 5pt, 5 reb stats certainly do not deserve it)... AK though is in top 5 in 5 major stats lists.

To me he didn't do enough. As I said before total stats when he played that long mean little to nothing to me. What was his impact on winning and how far did the team go with that impact. They lucked into the WCF, that's the best they did and he wasn't the best player or even the 3rd best player on that team. When he was the best player or close to it they barely made the playoffs. I liked AK, was my favorite player on the roster for 3-4 years, but he doesn't deserve his number retired.

 

[Jingled]

Boozer deserves to be retired before AK does. He was a far far bigger reason for our success at that time.

I agree 100%. Deron, Boozer and Memo are all more deserving than AK.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Boozer was amazing against Yao and Rockets and in some way vs GSW yet he was super ineffective vs Lakers or Spurs. If anything we can blame him more for playing way below his level in those series than AK.

Yep, he had some struggles at times. Still far bigger factor in those series and more important to our team than AK.

 

[Getting Traded]

It was frustrating to watch him waste the talent. It was frustrating to watch him play hard for his national team but coast and disappear for the Jazz. I really liked AK and he made me a bigger fan of the Jazz and brought back interest for me. In fact it was probably him that caused me to start posting on Jazzfanz. But its silly that people think its sloans fault he dropped off and couldnt live up to his contract or anywhere near it. That was all on AK, he just didnt have the attitude to be a great player.

Ron, I have to disagree with you about AK. While I agree that he kind of gave up with the Jazz, it was in part because they didn't use him properly. I saw the games in FIBA when he won MVP. He was used differently. He was doing lots of backdoor cuts and getting dunks. Who were they running those plays for with the Jazz -- Ronnie Brewer. DWill was freezing him out too and Jerry allowed it. I remember making these comments on the site back then and the DWill crowd that was on here went nuts, some who are still here. In the current NBA, though he couldn't shoot, he would've been a beast on the fast break, fast-paced system.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Ron, I have to disagree with you about AK. While I agree that he kind of gave up with the Jazz, it was in part because they didn't use him properly. I saw the games in FIBA when he won MVP. He was used differently. He was doing lots of backdoor cuts and getting dunks. Who were they running those plays for with the Jazz -- Ronnie Brewer. DWill was freezing him out too and Jerry allowed it. I remember making these comments on the site back then and the DWill crowd that was on here went nuts, some who are still here. In the current NBA, though he couldn't shoot, he would've been a beast on the fast break, fast-paced system.

FIBA is a different game and a different level of competition. Of course he was used differently. Success in FIBA does not mean success in the NBA. AK also tried harder and put more effort in at the FIBA level. He wasnt good enough to have the system be geared towards him. You dont build your system around your 4th best player. Of course AK wasnt the first option for DWill. AK turned the ball over too much and couldnt shoot. He just wasnt very useful in half court offense. He also moved the ball less and less as his career went on. DWill had 3 better options. Keep the ball, pass to Boozer, pass to Okur. If AK ran back cuts hard like Brewer he would have got more of them. He didnt with the Jazz, he pouted.

AK would be the same now as he was then. You dont become a good player when you dont work hard and dont care. Playing today wouldnt suddenly make him more interested in working hard. He might be worse today because there are even more video games and people playing them.

Maybe if AK had played with Hayward they would have been a dynamic duo and great teammates on League of Legends or WOW.

 

[oneye]

I'd include Donovan but apparently he's going to pull a Deron and leave for New York.

Also for all the grief I get for my theory and all the little jabs in these threads I get over this, a lot more I probably don’t even see, there’s plenty of evidence that very much points in my theories direction, he agrees he’d look good in blue/orange...he also follows Knicks Memes on twitter?...... Maybe stop with the constant jabs my suspicions are warranted. He also follows the page that made the Met pic of him which is also just a Knick/NY fanpage as well scrolling through it. Don’t be naive people. Stick to what the threads about, but my point stands and adds more and more evidence to it everyday closer to when it’s going to happen. Now back to players numbers and retiring them.

 

[Gameface]

Short answer...

No

 

[Zombie]

I'm not sure I'd advocate for retiring the jerseys of any of these guys, except maybe Favors. If I had to rank them by how much I think they deserve it I'd do it thusly.

1. Favors- This one comes down to sentimentality more than anything. His tenure was long and he bridged the gap between the WCF contending Deron Williams teams to (hopefully) the current WCF and beyond team we have today. I think we have an affinity for him similar to the Thunder's for Nick Collison, although he's obviously a far superior player. I hope the stars align and there's a way he can retire as a Jazzman some day.

2. Deron Williams- Hands down the best player of the bunch in his time in Utah, and a true "star." Led the team to some really fun playoff runs, and his rise coincided with my renewed fanaticism in the Jazz. His exit and role in Jerry Sloan's retirement cast a pall on his legacy which ended up overshadowing the franchise changing effect he had.

3. Kirilenko- long tenured and just about as unique a talent as you'd find in the NBA, he made the team worth watching during the mid 00's when nearly everyone expected the Jazz to be dog **** awful. With the ascendancy of Deron and the arrival of Boozer and Memo, he just wasn't able (or willing) to contribute meaningfully enough to a powerhouse team that had more potential than it achieved.

4. Mehmet Okur/ Carlos Boozer- Prolific offensive talents, and in Memos case just ahead of his time. Both contributed mightily to truly great Utah teams which ended up coming up short in realizing their potential.

5. John Lucas III. What can be said that hasn't already been said? His time in Utah brought us tears of joviality and despair in equal measure. When things seemed their darkest he brought us a simulcram of joy with his truly stunning point guard play. May we never forget John Lucas the third.