Sometimes a team retires a player’s number (like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Zydraunaus Ilgauskas) and you’ll think “seriously??!! Him?
Same holds true when a franchise decides to give a guy who was solid, but nothing spectacular, his own statue. Harold Baines and the Chicago White Sox is a classic example. Kirk Hinrich would be the Chicago Bulls version. He’s gone now, traded to Atlanta, so it’s a good time to take a look at his Bulls career.
The idea that “half of success in life comes simply from showing up” is often credited to Woody Allen. Whether he originated the phrase or not, he’s certainly popularized it and it’s now attributed to him.
I guess you could say Kirk Hinrich would be the Woody Allen of the Chicago Bulls. When you look at his dominating presence in the Bulls franchise record book it’s just unbelievable and undeniable. Especially given the reputation he has with Bulls fans lately. A reputation that’s well earned by his poor play.
First off, Kirk Hinrich is the Bulls all time leader in three point field goals made, and the guy in second place is not even close. Hinrich has well over 300-and-counting 3pt field goals on second place Ben Gordon.
Scottie Pippen is third, and Michael Jordan is fourth.
Next we see that Hinrich is third in Bulls career history in assists, and if he were to play another couple of years, and just be decent, he could surpass Pippen for second place. Jordan is first all time in this category.
Hinrich is ahead of both Pippen and Jordan all time in assists-per-game average. Kirk Hinrich ranks fifth in this statistic with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen right behind him. Ennis Whatley tops this chart.
On the all time steals list, Hinrich is third, Pippen is second and Jordan is first.
In scoring, Hinrich is 8th in Bulls history and, if he can stick around a little while beyond this year, he has a decent chance of surpassing Artis Gilmore.
That’s crazy when you think about it, because Gilmore is probably one of the franchise’s all time best players. Hinrich is also about to surpass Luol Deng (he’s also a lot higher up than you’d ever expect on a lot of these charts too) for fourth place in minutes played. Only Jordan, Pippen and Jerry Sloan are ahead of him.
Hinrich has just surpassed Sloan for third place in games played, trailing of course, only the two greatest Bulls ever in this stat.
In the end, “you are your record” and these numbers add up to…well ,sometimes it’s about service more than it is greatness. A lot of guys get their numbers retired/statues commissioned because they simply were just there for so long. So it may sound crazy, but the idea of Kirk Hinrich getting his jersey retired, but if it happens, the numbers do back it up.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram