When should a jersey be retired?

When should you retire a jersey? What are the qualifications for retiring a jersey? Should the guy be a fan favorite? Do they have to be an all time great? Did they need to win a championship? These are all questions that any fan, player, or team must ask themselves if a jersey is to be retired. This came up the other day while I was talking to fellow ClutchJeans writer Bo Churney about Joe Johnson. He believes Johnson's number 2 jersey should be hanging from the rafters one day. I disagreed saying Dominique set a bar that Joe hasn't even come close to achieving. Of course I am not a fan of the Hawks so I can't really give a great view point. I can however give one on the Magic. A team that has never retired a jersey for a player. They have retired the number 6 in honor of the fans being the sixth man. But some people believe that the Magic have players who's numbers should be retired. I will go over each player's case and decide if their number should be retired or not. I will judge them based on many factors but I will point out two key moments of each players career. A notorious moment that hurts them and a great achievement.

Nick Anderson-SG-#25
Most Notorious moment-Missed 4 consecutive free throws in the 95 Finals.
Greatest Achievement-Stole the ball from Michael Jordan in the 95 Eastern Semis
Mr.Magic himself Nick Anderson. This guy has been around since the very start and fans love him. He was the 3rd guy on those great Magic teams in the mid 90's behind Penny and Shaq. Now he works in the Orlando front office. A prime candidate for a retired jersey.
I am one of those who believe Nick should have his jersey retired because of everything he's done for Orlando. He was their first draft pick, he was a huge factor for the team in the 90's, and now he's in the front office. He may as well come full circle and be our first retired jersey.

Penny Hardaway-PG-#1
Most Notorious moment-Led a player coup and got Brian Hill fired
Greatest Achievement-His entire career up to the 95-96 season
Penny Hardaway the posterboy of "what could have been" spent a huge majority of his career dealing with injuries to his ankle. Penny was shot in the ankle by a stray bullet his freshman year of college and many believe this is why he had ankle injuries throughout his career. While with Orlando he regularly averaged over 20 points a game and led them to many winning seasons. He was the right hand man to Shaq and was a national icon. It's sad to think how great he would have been if the injuries hadn't happened.
Penny shouldn't have his jersey retired. As much as I hate to say it he only spent 6 years with Orlando (6 great years) but he did a lot of bad in the coup of Brian Hill and he just wasn't a factor after Shaq left because of the injuries. We can revisit this later but I don't see this changing.

Shaquille O'Neal-C-#32
Most Notorious moment-Left Orlando for LA
Greatest Achievement-Well...this should be enough

Shaq arguably the greatest player to ever play in Orlando. He was the number one overall pick in 1992 and the years he was there he was THE GUY. After they put Penny next to him a championship seemed assured.  At least it was assured till Shaq left for LA and became public enemy number 1 in the eyes of Orlando. With every championship he won and every dominant performance he had Orlando fans got angrier because "that could have been us" they screamed and of course Shaq didn't make it any better burning down every bridge he could.
No Shaq's number should not be required. Yes he's probably the best player who ever played in Orlando and yes he was dominant but when he really made a name for himself when everybody knew he was going to be an all time great was in LA not in Orlando. Sorry Shaq ask again in 5 years and maybe my mind will be changed.

Tracy Mcgrady-#1-SG
Most Notorious moment-Ugh. I could put so much here but this defines it all

Greatest Moment-Can I use the same video twice? No? Okay. Carrying Orlando to the playoffs in 2003
Tracy was amazing. One can only imagine how good those Orlando teams would have been if Grant Hill had been healthy and management had put good players around him. Instead they did things like trade away Mike Miller after he won rookie of the year and sign old washed up veterans such as Shawn Kemp and Patrick Ewing. Tracy did so many amazing things for Orlando on offense and defense with the help of coach Doc Rivers of course. Go look at the rosters Tracy played with from 2000-2004. Look at the numbers he put up and everything he did for the team. He gave everything to Orlando and they gave nothing back.
Unfortunately as much as it pains me to say it I don't think Tracy will ever have his number retired in Orlando. 4 amazing years were spent in Orlando but that's it. Only 4. In that time Tracy put up amazing numbers but at the same time he said things like "It feels good to be in the 2nd round" after going up 3-1 against the top seeded Pistons and then not closing it out. See the video again. Tracy also burned some bridges when he left but time heals all wounds. I just don't see it happening nor can I really support it.

Dwight Howard-C-12
No...just no. Not even gonna bother. Ask me in like 10 years.

So I only said Nick Anderson should have his number retired and he wasn't even the Magic's best player. Well you can make a case for why Nick shouldn't have his number retired for that reason. But as you see the 4 best players to ever play for Orlando Tracy, Shaq, Penny and Dwight. 3 of them burned bridges on their way out (one is burning the whole team as I write this) and the other was injured half the time. So you can see why Orlando has no retired numbers. But what should be the requirements on any team for a retired number? However I think it's safe to say that the star player who leads Orlando to that first illusive championship will have their number retired. This also might open it up for more retired numbers. For now though that number 6 for the fans will remain lonely.