I have a Kevin Johnson Suns jersey stashed in my closet. Any time I bust it out, I don't get ridiculed. I get admired.
"Oh man. That's a classic. That's awesome."
Why? Because Johnson didn't just represent himself. He represented the purple and orange. The former All-Star point guard will always be thought of as a Phoenix Sun. Always.
Some other unis in my closet get the same reaction. Scottie Pippen. Hakeem Olajuwan. John Stockton.
Those guys were their respective teams. There was a level of respect there, even for the guys like Stockton and Johnson, guys who never won a ring but stuck with their team hoping and working for it to happen.
There are others in my closet too, but they get more bittersweet reactions. A Kevin Garnett T'Wolves jersey. A Jason Kidd Suns jersey. An Orlando Shaq jersey.
These are franchise guys no longer associated with any one franchise. My nostalgia is conflicted, because Garnett's unparalleled ferocity in Minnesota mentally fights with the becoming-washed-up Celtics KG that finally got his ring.
In a funny way, players who stuck with their teams (even the ones who failed) ...
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Article written by Matt Petersen
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