Sunday was a big night for Detroit sports fans. One of the city’s all-time great basketball players, Richard Hamilton, had his jersey retired by the Pistons.
Rip's jersey to the rafters! #Yessir pic.twitter.com/8ENVj9W2Tj
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) February 27, 2017
Hamilton joined the Pistons prior to the 2002-03 season and spent nine seasons in the Motor City. In that time, he was one of the league’s most consistently great scorers, as he averaged 18.4 points per game and averaged below 17 a game over the course of an entire season one time.
And of course, Hamilton was one of the leaders of the 2003-04 Pistons squad that won an NBA championship, averaging a team-high 21.4 points a night during Detroit’s 4-1 series win over the Lakers.
The following year, the Pistons made it back and fell to San Antonio in seven games. This happened after a seven game series to determine the Eastern Conference champs against the Heat. Then, in 2006, Miami managed to take down Detroit en route to a championship.
One player on those Heat teams decided to look back on his battles against Hamilton and pay tribute to No. 32. Dwyane Wade quote tweeted the Pistons and said that Rip gave him “a lot of sleepless nights” back in the day.
This guy gave me a lot of sleepless nights. Respect to the great RIP Hamilton. https://t.co/NIQHOCNUIQ
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) February 27, 2017
If you only knew Hamilton during his days as a Bull, you really missed out on one of the craftiest scorers of his generation. Hamilton was awesome as a member of the Pistons, and getting his jersey retired is an honor he absolutely earned. If you disagree, well, just ask Wade his thoughts on Hamilton.
