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It’s Time to talk about retiring Nick Collisons Oklahoma City Thunder jersey

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A Thunder mainstay, Nick Collison will presumably retire following the upcoming season

It’s time we talk about retiring Nick Collison’s jersey at the end of the season. Although his future in the NBA after this coming season is still in question, it certainly seems as though this will be the swan song for the big man. For as long as the Oklahoma City Thunder have been a “thing,” Nick Collison has been a member of Thunder. Hell, he was even a member before they became the Thunder. In fact, now that Durant is gone, he is the last remaining carryover from the Seattle Supersonics, and alongside Russell Westbrook the only remaining player from the Thunder’s inaugural roster. Quite an achievement, to say the least.

Oklahoma City Thunder  v San Antonio Spurs Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images

My on the court love affair with Nick Collison has nothing to do with stats, but about his character. In my opinion, he is, and has always been, the ultimate garbage player. He’s the guy battling mercilessly under the rim to position himself for a rebound. He’s the guy using more than his entire frame to box you out from getting a rebound. He’s the guy busting his ass to get down the court fast enough to get set up to take a hard charge on what looked like a sure-fire fast break score. He’s the guy that will dive head first into the floor to go after a ball…even if the game is no longer in doubt. Dudes got heart. He just goes all out in everything he does on the court. He’s a pest, a nuisance, a pain-in-the-ass, and an all around relentless defender who drives his opponents’ crazy with his non-stop effort.

Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports and Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

But if you don’t want to take my word for it, how about DeAndre Jordans? Check out THIS article on YARDBARKER from earlier this year to hear what he has to say about Nick Collison.


Off the court, it can all be summed by the fact he is still using this photo-shopped image of him I made over 6 years ago as his twitter avatar. I mean seriously, what more is there to say about that? I love it so much that I’ve already mentioned and link to it twice in three articles since returning to the site. How’s that for self-promotion? Anyway, to me that just speaks to his attitude, sense of humor, and what kind of person he is off the court, just an all-around good guy.

Oklahoma City Thunder v Dallas Mavericks Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Yes, his playing time continues to diminish as he gets older, and yes, he barely saw action at all last season, but you know what, he still gave full effort every time he stepped on the court. Obviously, the Thunder see the value in everything he has brought to the organization, the team, and even the City, because they signed him to a final year farewell (at least that is what it looks like) contract when they really didn’t need or have to. In my mind, they definitely signed him to a one-year deal to give him the opportunity to retire as a member of the Thunder. Sure, when asked, Collison did state that he was unsure of his future after this coming season and could very well wind up wearing another uniform to finish out his career. That said, he’ll be 37 when the season starts, and if his playing time declines even more this year, it may be hard to even get the minimum veteran deal with another team.

Oklahoma City Thunder v Dallas Mavericks Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

In short, I may be jumping the gun here, but I’m putting out the rallying cry to theThunder organization itself to let Nick go out with a bang. At the end of this upcoming season they should announce that the team will be retiring Nick’s jersey so he will be the only Thunder player to ever have worn the number four.

Before you make your final voting decision, here are Nick’s career stats...

Totals Table
Season Tm G GS MP FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
2004-05 SEA 82 4 1396 190 354 .537 83 118 .703 156 220 376 32 34 50 62 252 463
2005-06 SEA 66 27 1448 207 394 .525 79 113 .699 143 225 368 74 21 35 77 213 493
2006-07 SEA 82 56 2378 318 636 .500 154 199 .774 229 437 666 82 48 66 123 289 790
2007-08 SEA 78 35 2223 322 641 .502 123 167 .737 254 476 730 113 47 60 118 250 767
2008-09 OKC 71 40 1831 243 428 .568 98 136 .721 181 308 489 66 51 50 73 239 584
2009-10 OKC 75 5 1557 182 309 .589 74 107 .692 152 232 384 38 37 48 63 230 439
2010-11 OKC 71 2 1524 137 242 .566 55 73 .753 119 197 316 69 42 31 55 210 329
2011-12 OKC 63 0 1307 120 201 .597 44 62 .710 119 155 274 82 33 28 61 153 284
2012-13 OKC 81 2 1583 176 296 .595 60 78 .769 123 210 333 121 51 30 69 197 412
2013-14 OKC 81 0 1353 134 241 .556 66 93 .710 116 177 293 104 30 28 71 187 338
2014-15 OKC 66 2 1101 106 253 .419 45 65 .692 90 160 250 90 35 25 45 156 273
2015-16 OKC 59 4 699 50 109 .459 23 33 .697 68 103 171 52 15 16 50 107 123
2016-17 OKC 20 0 128 14 23 .609 5 8 .625 9 22 31 12 2 2 4 17 33
Career 895 177 18528 2199 4127 .533 909 1252 .726 1759 2922 4681 935 446 469 871 2500 5328
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/26/2017.

Here is to you Nick! Whether its your final season or not, we are throwing up our glasses to you sir!

What do you think? Should we retire Collison’s jersey? Or, am I out of my damn mind?

Poll

Should the Thunder Retire Nick Collison’s Jersey

This poll is closed

  • 6%
    Are you serious? Hell No.
    (18 votes)
  • 93%
    Nicks the man, he’s our boy. Hell Ya!
    (253 votes)
271 votes total Vote Now