Utah Jazz: 10 Jazzmen whose numbers should at least be considered for retirement
By Ryan Aston
Honorable mention: Rickey Green* (No. 14)
I have to put an asterisk on this one because this number is obviously already retired for Jeff Hornacek, but it probably deserved a spot in the rafters before Horny ever joined the team. And I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t give this player his due.
Before Mike Conley, before Ricky Rubio, before D-Will and even before John Stockton, there was “the fastest of them all,” Rickey Green at point guard for the Jazz.
Depending on how you feel about Pete Maravich positionally, Green was the first great floor general in Jazz history. Without his efforts, the team doesn’t make its first giant leap from the cellar of the Association to playoff appearances, league-wide recognition and viability as a franchise.
Along with Adrian Dantley, “Big-T” Bailey, Darrell Griffith and Mark Eaton, Green helped the Jazz to their first division title and first-ever playoff berth in 1984. He led the NBA in steals that season and earned an All-Star appearance as well.
In the end, Green spent eight years with the Jazz, playing in over 600 games and starting more than 400. Over that span, he averaged 11 points, seven assists and nearly two steals per contest. More than 30 years after he lost donned the purple, green and gold, he still ranks among the team’s career leaders in multiple categories.
He trails only the Statues in assists with more than 4000, is third all-time in steals and eighth all-time in minutes played.
The fact that he kept Stockton, arguably the greatest pure point guard in the history of the game, on the bench for the first three years of his career says all you need to know about what kind of player Green was. It’s too bad he’ll never see his own banner raised.