Rimage
Sixth Man
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http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/13212923.htm
Ferry continues to make the Cavs a classy organization. World should have his jersey retired though.
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World B. Free To Be Recognized
- Thread starter Rimage
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Ferry continues to make the Cavs a classy organization. World should have his jersey retired though.
Former Cav Free plans to return to Cleveland
Monday, November 21, 2005
Branson Wright
Plain Dealer Reporter
Philadelphia- World B. Free spent some of his most memorable times in the NBA while playing for the Cavaliers from the middle of the 1982-83 season to the end of the 1985-86 season.
Free, however, has not been honored or been back to Cleveland to watch a game for at least 15 years.
Until now.
Free is scheduled to attend the Cavs' game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 30 at The Q. It is a homecoming that Free has looked forward to for years.
"I've always wanted to get back to Cleveland, but things happened, and I stayed away," Free said. "When I come out there and get into the middle of floor, and as I wave my hands up, I want the fans to stand up just like I'm going to stand up for them. If they appreciated me, they'll stand up and cheer just like I appreciated them."
Free joined a struggling franchise, and his effort and outstanding scoring ability helped the Cavs make the playoffs during his third season. The Cavs' popularity rose during Free's tenure. The Cavs drew 20,900 to each of their two home playoff games at the Coliseum in 1985.
"When I was traded to Cleveland for Ron Brewer, guys said that it was all over and that I was going to the bottomless pit," Free said. "When I got a ride to the airport, I thought there would be a whole lot of reporters at the airport, and there was only one reporter."
Free's flamboyant playing style was as colorful as the brightly colored suits he now wears as community relations director for the Philadelphia 76ers. Free was an instant scoring machine. He averaged 20.3 points per game over 13 seasons in the NBA. His best season was in 1979-80, when he was an All-Star for the San Diego Clippers and averaged 30.2 points per game.
Free legally changed his name from Lloyd to World because his game was described as "All-World" when he played on the asphalt courts growing up in Brooklyn. That's where he developed his style as one of the best one-on-one players in NBA history. He could jump, shoot with range and draw fouls. Free led the league in free throws attempted in 1978-79 with 865.
Despite his success with the Cavs, Free remains disappointed that his No. 21 jersey isn't hanging in the rafters. He hopes his return will spark more conversation about that possibility.
"My number should be retired because I helped revamp a franchise that was dead," Free said. "If you can do something like that, you deserve your number to be up there. All the emotion and sweat that went along at that time would've made someone else quit.
"But with God's help, I just stayed focused, and we had a lot of good guys come through, and once we got that combination together, it was a great thing."
Plain Dealer
Monday, November 21, 2005
Branson Wright
Plain Dealer Reporter
Philadelphia- World B. Free spent some of his most memorable times in the NBA while playing for the Cavaliers from the middle of the 1982-83 season to the end of the 1985-86 season.
Free, however, has not been honored or been back to Cleveland to watch a game for at least 15 years.
Until now.
Free is scheduled to attend the Cavs' game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 30 at The Q. It is a homecoming that Free has looked forward to for years.
"I've always wanted to get back to Cleveland, but things happened, and I stayed away," Free said. "When I come out there and get into the middle of floor, and as I wave my hands up, I want the fans to stand up just like I'm going to stand up for them. If they appreciated me, they'll stand up and cheer just like I appreciated them."
Free joined a struggling franchise, and his effort and outstanding scoring ability helped the Cavs make the playoffs during his third season. The Cavs' popularity rose during Free's tenure. The Cavs drew 20,900 to each of their two home playoff games at the Coliseum in 1985.
"When I was traded to Cleveland for Ron Brewer, guys said that it was all over and that I was going to the bottomless pit," Free said. "When I got a ride to the airport, I thought there would be a whole lot of reporters at the airport, and there was only one reporter."
Free's flamboyant playing style was as colorful as the brightly colored suits he now wears as community relations director for the Philadelphia 76ers. Free was an instant scoring machine. He averaged 20.3 points per game over 13 seasons in the NBA. His best season was in 1979-80, when he was an All-Star for the San Diego Clippers and averaged 30.2 points per game.
Free legally changed his name from Lloyd to World because his game was described as "All-World" when he played on the asphalt courts growing up in Brooklyn. That's where he developed his style as one of the best one-on-one players in NBA history. He could jump, shoot with range and draw fouls. Free led the league in free throws attempted in 1978-79 with 865.
Despite his success with the Cavs, Free remains disappointed that his No. 21 jersey isn't hanging in the rafters. He hopes his return will spark more conversation about that possibility.
"My number should be retired because I helped revamp a franchise that was dead," Free said. "If you can do something like that, you deserve your number to be up there. All the emotion and sweat that went along at that time would've made someone else quit.
"But with God's help, I just stayed focused, and we had a lot of good guys come through, and once we got that combination together, it was a great thing."
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Revamped our franchise? I'm sorry....but World is rewriting history a bit. He was only here 3 1/2 years. Yeah he averaged 22 points, but he did it on a miserable team. When he got here our win total was in the low 20's, when he left we were probably in the high 20's. Nothing worth retiring a jersey over. We're going to need the room for some other jerseys anyways....
Kypus
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I guess he might even get his jersey retired, World was on WKNR with Kenny Roda Tuesday saying if he goes into the Hall of Fame he would want to go in as a Cavalier. He sounded really happy to be coming back to Cleveland. Roda was absolutely gushing over him too, saying he hopes he gets the jersey retired too. (For Kenny Roda to gush over anything demands *some* attention). He was saying all the right things...he suggested that the Cavs may have left Cleveland if it weren't for his play in that dead era. I wasn't into ball yet at that time, but I heard about him on TV, etc. Maximus said he was good, but not that good enough to warrant retiring his #...I did take note that World's job with the Sixers is PR director (public relations) so I wasn't sure if it was a self-promo job or what.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/freewo01.html (career stats)
As a diehard Cavs fan, it's nice to hear that a "great one" has come from "our" team. His stats say Cleveland was his 4th team out of 6, but I guess he was here almost 4 full seasons. Vets, is he worthy or not of jersey retirement?Maximus said:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/freewo01.html (career stats)
Free was a very good important player for the Cavs at a dark time in franchise history but I don't think deserves to have his number retired.
Retiring numbers should be reserved for only the greatest players in a team's history and who either had a long record of individual success or helped lead a team to either a championship or at the very least championship contender. 3 1/2 years of mostly bad teams and 1 playoff series isn't enough.
The Cavs already have retired numbers of players that they shouldn't have retired. I can go along with Price, Daugherty and maybe Carr but there's no way Bingo Smith and Nate Thurmond should have had theirs retired and Nance is kind of iffy too. The Cavs don't exactly have a storied history filled with hall of fame players. You can't retire the number of every good player who ever played with your time. It should be a rare honor.
Free might have played a role in helping keep the Cavs in Cleveland but not as big as he and others claim. It was the Gunds buying the team and ending the disasterous Stepien ownership that was the major reason.
I believe Wayne Embry was the major reason the Cavs didn't resign Free. He became GM and wanted to go in another direction. Considering Daugherty, Harper and Price came along at that time, I can't really argue against his decision. Free was at the end of his career at that point.
Retiring numbers should be reserved for only the greatest players in a team's history and who either had a long record of individual success or helped lead a team to either a championship or at the very least championship contender. 3 1/2 years of mostly bad teams and 1 playoff series isn't enough.
The Cavs already have retired numbers of players that they shouldn't have retired. I can go along with Price, Daugherty and maybe Carr but there's no way Bingo Smith and Nate Thurmond should have had theirs retired and Nance is kind of iffy too. The Cavs don't exactly have a storied history filled with hall of fame players. You can't retire the number of every good player who ever played with your time. It should be a rare honor.
Free might have played a role in helping keep the Cavs in Cleveland but not as big as he and others claim. It was the Gunds buying the team and ending the disasterous Stepien ownership that was the major reason.
I believe Wayne Embry was the major reason the Cavs didn't resign Free. He became GM and wanted to go in another direction. Considering Daugherty, Harper and Price came along at that time, I can't really argue against his decision. Free was at the end of his career at that point.
Kypus
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NarlCavs said:
Thanks for the perspective Narl. This last part pretty much echoes what he admitted to in the Roda interview. He said Embry came to him and basically said, "we're going in another direction," naming Harper as the reason. He didn't say anything about Price or Daugherty here.
Oh well, I hope World was happy with and got closure from the ceremony, I didn't see it.