In light of the criticism Lebron's been getting over his decision to change his jersey number, a lot of media members are saying Lebron is full of crap when he says the entire NBA should retire Jordan's number and that's why he's not wearing it anymore next season. They say Lebron's real reason is to claim the top of the jersey list so that he can be the top dog in the NBA and not be behind Kobe Bryant (in terms of jersey sales). By following Kobe's footstep in changing his jersey number, he is effectively guaranteeing himself the #1 spot in jersey sales next season, just like what happened when Kobe changed his jersey number from 8 to 24. The media has called Lebron out on it, but they also cite that when Kobe changed his jersey number, he never gave any other intentions except that he knew it was about jersey sales and popularity.

Well, I seem to remember a different story involving Kobe's jersey change. I remember he gave his reason as wanting to go back to an old jersey number he had worn in high school and wanted to wear in the Pros but couldn't at the time because it was unavailable. Later on, he also wanted 24 to show his 24/7 dedication to the game and what not.

A lot of the media members criticized Kobe for changing his number to 24 because he wanted to be better / greater than Jordan, hence 24 > 23 and said his "personal" reasons were insincere. No one ever really mentioned Kobe doing it for the jersey-selling-money-motive thing. And I find it curious now that LBJ is switching numbers, all of a sudden it's because Kobe did it too for money / popularity reasons.

I always saw the change of number from 8 to 24, as a way for him to "shed" his old image, or at least try to distance himself from his old image. Yes, the #8 was associated to 3 chips and 81, but they were also associated to a lot of downs in his life, being Shaq's "sidekick," Colorado, Round 1 playoffs, etc. It never really crossed my mind he did it for the popularity and money ... I mean, who's to say his image had really changed that much by 2007, 3 years removed from Colorado? His jersey sales for 2006 were at #4. But of course, after 81 pts, Kobe's popularity did re-surge and and after changing his number in 2007, he has been the #1 jersey ... thereby proving he may have done it for money / popularity reasons.

I'm just curious to how a lot of people here view Kobe's jersey number change. So many people, with the exception of Cleveland fans and Lebron fans, are viewing his reasons for the number change as insincere (well, the Jordan # retiring suggestion is insincere) but I thought Kobe's reason for changing numbers (the whole 'it was my high school #)  was not entirely truthful either (though I didn't really hold it against him either, after all, that #8 was a culmination of his youth's success and his indiscretions).

Lebron's changing his number definitely for money and popularity reasons, in order to be "King" he needs to dominate the jersey charts. When Kobe changed his number to distance himself from his old image, inadvertently, his jersey became the most popular jersey for like 3 years straight.

So why did Kobe change his numbers? Was it to honor his old  high school #? Or was it to show his dedication to the game? Or was it to one up Jordan's number? Or did he change his number to tie in with his re-imaging process? Or was it just simply for jersey rankings and money? Or was Kobe just a Nostradamus and changed his numbers for all the above reasons knowing he'd get not only a "new" image, but more money + jersey rales, one uping MJ, honor his old high school #, be called the new Jack Bauer, thereby effectively killing a billion birds with one name change?

It may sound like I'm playing the devil's advocate, but I really do believe that Kobe changed his jersey number simply for image reasons. And of course re-inventing your image is about what the public thinks of you and that correlates to popularity (and jersey sales). Now that's not a bad thing I'm accusing him of, because like I said before, I can't really blame him for wanting to distance himself from his old image, especially when he's in a process of "reinventing" himself, but I do find it irritating that the media that criticized Kobe's # change (or at least the ones that found fault in his # change) are suddenly using it in a different light. And make no mistake, most media members did think Kobe did it to one up himself over Jordan, and not really for the popularity and money reason they're saying he changed his jersey number for now.