The Portland Trail Blazers recently announced that they planned to retire the number of former guard Lionel Hollins at their last regular-season game this year (April 18 against the Warriors). Hollins will become the sixth member of the Blazers' 1976-77 NBA Championship team to have his number retired, and the franchise's eighth retired number overall. I know that that championship team means a lot to Blazer fans, but the level of number retirement given to them borders on ridiculous. Let's look at the other "immortals" from that team who've had their numbers taken out of circulation:

Dave Twardzik, #13: Played four seasons with the Blazers. Averaged 9.5 points per game, 3.4 assists per game and 2.2 rebounds per game while playing just 24.7 minutes per game during that time. He was a very good shooter for a 6'1" guard, with a .552 field-goal percentage, but other than that his stats aren't anything special.

Larry Steele, #15: Spent all nine seasons of his career with the Blazers. Averaged 8.2 PPG, 2.8 APG, 2.9 RPG while playing 24.2 MPG. He was a good ball thief, averaging 1.79 steals per game, but again, his stats are nothing special overall.

Maurice Lucas, #20: Had a 14-year pro basketball career, spending 4½ of them in Portland. His Blazer averages are 15.6 PPG and 8.7 RPG. He's one of the better players on this list, but I would've expected a player who had his number retired to play with the team longer.

Bill Walton, #32: The only Hall of Famer on this list, Walton had a good career limited by injuries. In four seasons with the Blazers he averaged 17.1 PPG, 13.5 RPG, 4.4 APG and shot .510. This core of players didn't stick together very long, did they?

Lloyd Neal, #36: Spent his entire seven-year career with the Blazers. Averaged 11.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and .92 blocks per game.

As you can see, most of these number retirements are questionable, as not one of these players spent even ten seasons with the team, and some of them were basically role players. Now they're adding another to the mix:

Lionel Hollins, #14: Spent 4½ seasons in Portland. Averaged 13.9 PPG and 4.4 APG during that time. Pretty good, but hardly great.

It's just my opinion, but if you retire a number it should be someone who played with the team a long time and was consistently productive during that time. If you retire the number of someone without those credentials, he should be someone who meant a lot to the franchise. Like I said earlier, I know that the Blazers' lone championship team means a lot to them, but I have to wonder how much each of those guys individually means to the fans and the franchise. Let's look at another player whose number the Blazers have retired:

Clyde Drexler, #22: Spent 11½ seasons with Portland. Averaged 20.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 5.7 APG, and 2.07 steals per game over that period. He never led the team to a championship, but did take them to the NBA Finals twice.

That's the type of player who should have his number retired: a Hall of Famer who was the face of the team for a decade. The Blazers can certainly retire any number they see fit, but if I were running things, most of their retired numbers would still be available.

I'm a Bulls fan, and though my team has won six championships, only two players from that era have had their numbers retired: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen (unless you count B.J. Armstrong's #10, which was retired in honor of Bob Love). In my opinion, the Bulls have got it right. We don't need to retire the number of everyone who played a significant role on one of those teams. Steve Kerr, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman, etc. were all important to our success, but retired numbers should be reserved for the elite players.