Built Ford Tough Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Spurs guard T.J. Ford is retiring, effective immediately, after a series of neck and spine injuries during eight years in the NBA. The 28-year-old Ford announced his decision Monday on Twitter. "Basketball has been great to me & my family for 28yrs," he wrote. "It's official " I Retire from the NBA " as of today." Ford released a statement through the team that referred to the injuries, the most recent a "stinger" he suffered on March 7 in a game against New York. "While this was a tough decision to make, it is what is best for me and my family at this time," Ford said. "Regardless of what the future holds, I will carry the experiences, the friendships and the memories with me forever." Ford joined the Spurs on Dec. 10, and appeared in 14 games, averaging 3.6 points, 3.2 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 13.6 minutes. Coach Gregg Popovich said the team enjoyed having Ford this season. "I congratulate him on all that he has achieved as a player and fully support the difficult decision he was forced to make," he said. Ford, a college star at Texas, was the eighth overall pick by Milwaukee in 2003. Halfway through his rookie season, he suffered a spinal injury and surgery forced him to miss the entire 2004-05 season. He played for the Bucks, Toronto and Indiana before joining the Spurs. For his career, Ford played in 429 games, averaging 11.2 points, 5.8 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.16 steals in 27.7 minutes per game. In two years for the Longhorns, Ford averaged 12.9 points and 8.8 assists per game and was both the Naismith and Wooden Player of the Year Award winner in his sophomore year. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7676569/san-antonio-spurs-tj-ford-retiring-latest-injury-neck Here is a video of him discussing his career, decision to retire and what the future holds for him: http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/120313_tj_ford_season_over Really sad to hear this. For those of you who know the backstory to my username, you know that Ford is not only one of my favourite Raptors, but one of my all-time favourite players. I loved his time in Toronto and how he carved out a successfull career for himself despite the odds being stacked against him of being under 6 feet tall, weighing under 180 pounds, having spinal stenosis, battling back from 2 seperate career threatening injuries (one in Milwuakee and one in Toronto) and still carving out an 8 year NBA career. I'll definitely miss being able to watch him play, even if he was never the same after Horford nearly decapitated him back in 2007. Still, this decision is for the best. He has been playing against doctors orders for a couple years now as they advised him to retire and every time he stepped on the court he was risking permanent injury due to his condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sħãlïq™ Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Damn, already?! :o So it's that bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Check my Stats Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I seriously undervalued TJ in his time here, and it is criminal looking back how I viewed him. He was awesome for us, and was one of the few players who have had the ability to break down an offense from the wings for us. He averaged 14 and 8 for us in less than 30 mins the year we won 47 and was a huge factor for us, our point guard play with him and Jose was awesome. It really is a shame how this all turned out for him. If he doesn't get his neck snapped again who knows where he is now, as well as our franchise. I would kill to have a TJ Ford on this team now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunkinDerozan Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I didn't watch a lot of basketball a few years ago when he played for us, but I know he was a big part of his making the playoffs. Sucks his career had to end so early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NomarFachix Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 BFT, sure you'll appreciate this article: We’d all be standing around the middle of the Raptors locker room after games a bit awkwardly, maybe 10, 20, sometimes 25 beat grunts and camera operators and drop-ins, waiting patiently for whichever Raptor got dressed first so we could get some passable quotes to use in whatever story we were working on. Chris Bosh was always the last – he had to get the earrings in and the tie knotted just so because you can’t do TV while looking slovenly – and the seconds would turn into minutes and the deadlines would be rapidly approaching. And then, without fail, TJ Ford would be done, he’d approach the middle of the room where everyone was gathered and he’d catch someone by eye, stop for a second and say: “Anyone need anything from me.” It didn’t matter if he’d played well or poorly or at all, he’d stand there and answer questions honestly and with candor until the last questioner was gone; didn’t matter if they fled to talk to someone else or what, he’d wait and do whatever he had to do. It was just the kind of guy he was, and is, and of all the Raptors to come down the pike in all the years, the tiny point guard was among the most honest, self-critical and forthcoming of them all. The rest at:http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2012/03/one-of-the-good-guys-hangs-em-up-good-call-for-all.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted March 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Yeah, I read it a couple days ago already. One of the few times I actually enjoyed reading Doug Smith, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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