Looking at sports history and reminiscing about legendary players from different eras is a fun pastime for most sports fans. These great players kindle fond memories. The attraction of the great ones to the fans may come in various avenues; their statistics, what they did in big moments, individual awards, or how they led their team to a title.
We connect to these players on so many levels, but a common thread is to remember them by jersey number. Babe Ruth’s number 3, Wayne Gretzky’s 99, Jordan’s 23, or a Walter Payton 34 jersey are all iconic and fun to remember.
SHN Project: Best Team By Jersey Number
Our Sports History Network team would like to solicit your help in putting a fun twist on your sports memories by kicking off an endeavor to field the best pro basketball teams by jersey number. That team should consist of a Point Guard (PG), Shooting Guard (SG), Center (C ), Small Forward (PF), and Strong Forward (SF).
If a player is listed as playing that position in their career, they become eligible to play it on our team. Additional criteria are that they had to play in the BAA, NBL, NBA, or ABA and wear the jersey number for at least a part of 5 different seasons. Our team of SHN experts will provide some information, personal preferences, and other tidbits about the players of each to help you make an informed decision in the poll we will provide. After the deadline is reached, we will post the results on JerseyDispatch.com.
In this segment, we will start with the players that wore 0 or 00. Okay, they are two different numbers; to reduce confusion, we will count them the same for this exercise. Let’s look at the candidates that meet our qualifying criteria for each position to aid you in making a decision. We will cover each position in the next five days for 0 and 00 and then ask you to vote. Up today will be the players that qualify at Shooting Guard.
Shooting Guard Candidates (Jersey # 0 and 00)
Tony Delk: played the position(s) of PG, and SG on the Charlotte Hornets (97, 98), Golden State Warriors (98, 99), Sacramento Kings (00), Phoenix Suns (01, 02), Atlanta Hawks (05, 06), and Detroit Pistons (06) for five seasons as he scored 4957 points, dished out 1024, assists 1351 and blocked 77 shots.
C.J. Miles: played the position(s) of SF, SG, and PG on the Cleveland Cavaliers (13, 14), Indiana Pacers (15, 16, 17), and Toronto Raptors (18, 19) for five seasons as he scored 8108 points, dished out 914, assists 2011 and blocked 254 shots.
Avery Bradley: played the position(s) of SG and PG on the Boston Celtics (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17) and Memphis Grizzlies (19) for seven seasons as he scored 7058 points, dished out 1078, assists 1797 and blocked 125 shots. Dan Neumann of the fascinating Sports History Network Podcast Hello Old Sports adds this about Mr. Bradley: “Bridged the gap in Boston between the “Big Three” years of Garnett/Pierce/Allen and the Brad Stevens era. Later moved on to the Lakers during their 2019-2020 championship year.”