Really can't feel that sad for him. He got almost 16000 NBA minutes, only 596 human beings in the entire history of the league got that many and only a small portion of those played nearly as well. He got everything he could have out of that body and made his mark. The real sad stories are the Eddy Currys of the world, who truly wasted his physical gifts and even the guy who was drafted right after Yao, Jason Williams, whose career lasted only 1 season due to the motorcycle crash.
I'm going to miss his funny interviews and introspective quotes. I had a blast watching him represent the city and the Rockets. During his seasons with us I developed an admiration for how he handled the pressures of China , the NBA, and the media. He was a true example to follow and I hope his spirit of team first and hard work lingers on with his teammates. Plus he was really really good. He was such a fun player to root for and watch. A true star inside and out.
http://fileape.com/dl/MuR71zF81GZclIid here is an old video i had on my hard drive its a yao ming video like 30 mins long it has a bootleg version of year of yao at the start and the rest filled with clips from his rookie year up until the dallas series. i didnt make the video and all but it has a good amount of yao only clips in it.
Really gonna miss Yao. He was a great player and person. With that said its time to hang up the 11 jersey and move on.
What a sad but expected piece of news. With all the unfulfilled dreams, but Yao had truly brought us fans, the team, the game everything he had, and some more. Although he didn't win anything, he definitely won lots of hearts among Rockets fans and NBA fans globally. I am going to miss him, miss praising him, miss criticizing him, miss defending him, and miss seeing him in Rockets uniform. All the best, 姚明，I was, am, and will always be a fan.
Damn Didn't think that game against the Fakers in the playoffs would be the last time to see a great Yao. So glad he is retiring a Rocket. Hope he has a long and healthy life. Will always have great respect for the way he approached the game.
Kelly Dwyer's piece: [rQUOTEr]Yao Ming(notes) just wasn't for those of us that enjoy pristine footwork, brilliant touch, versatile low-post maneuvering, and clever on-court cat-and-mouse games with those players who didn't even deserve to stick a forearm in his back. Yao Ming was for … actually, he was for those of us. He was many other things to many other people, but Yao was appreciated best for those that obsessed over his craft. He's going to retire now, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. The feet couldn't handle the man. What pair of feet ever could? ... [/rQUOTEr] http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AsCQg9WgjzvukARWCyAU6es5nYcB?urn=nba-wp6200
Great article. Since Yao has joined the Rockets I've seen Rockets' jersey worn by kids from Minnesota to rural China. His contribution to the popularity of the Rockets and NBA can't be measured.
Anyone have the copy/paste of Hollinger's article? http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=reflectingonyao-110708
Henry Abbott recalls his first meeting with Yao Ming: [rQUOTEr] ... A few years in, I got a big assignment: to join the Houston Rockets on the road, to write a magazine cover story about their rookie sensation, Yao Ming. ... [/rQUOTEr] http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/30896/yao-ming-means-a-lot
I'm going to miss Yao. He did what he could, and injuries prevented him from reaching his potential. I think the organization knew this months before, and now we can officially move on. Time for the "nobody" era.
Hmmm... the Yao Ming retirement news, if nothing else, sure stimulated some very good sports writing. I'll have to give Wojnarowski the Gold Medal, Henry Abbott takes the Silver, the Bronze goes to Kelly Dwyer. Wojnarowski's pice reminds me of the fact that he can be quite good even when not writing character assassination pieces (and I say this as a fan of his character assassination pieces).
here you go Spoiler Yao a giant among oversized centers HollingerBy John Hollinger ESPN.com Yao Ming's retirement seemed inevitable from the moment the Rockets announced he'd be out for the rest of the 2010-11 season. Nonetheless, it brings a tinge of sadness with it because of all the many "what if" questions it brings up. Most obvious among them, of course, is what he might have been if he'd never been hurt -- Yao was the best center in the league in 2006-07, his last fully healthy season, and was only 28 when he saw his last substantial game action in the 2009 playoffs. Beyond that, a flood of other queries come to mind. What if the Chinese basketball authorities had pushed him less and not had him competing in all manner of tournaments -- some major, many minor -- during his summers? I hope the Chinese relished that 77-35 win over South Korea in the 2005 Asian Games semifinals. That tournament, just before training camp, was the beginning of the end -- Yao needed toe surgery in December and suffered his first foot fracture the following April. What might the Rockets' fate have been if he hadn't been injured in March 2008? The Rockets won 22 straight games that spring, 13 of them coming after Yao had been injured, but didn't have enough pop to get out of the first round minus his post scoring. Similarly, in 2009, one wonders what might have happened if he'd been able to complete the second-round series against the Lakers. He was lost after Game 2 with the teams tied 1-1 and heading back to Houston. Or what if he'd grown up being immersed in an American (or Spanish or Greek or Argentine) basketball culture rather than effectively becoming the guinea pig for China? What if he'd joined the NBA at 19 years old instead of 22? Would he have been a more instinctive defender or rebounder, or a more aggressive scorer, or had better training in other ways? Yes, we have a lot of questions to digest when it comes to Yao's career, one in which stands out as much for his character and professionalism as his play on the court. Speaking of which, I'll add one more question: Did you ever hear anyone say anything bad about him? He had a nearly decade-long NBA career as one of the most high-profile players in the world, and pretty much everyone he encountered liked him. The gentle giant had 13 technical fouls his entire career, fewer than Dwight Howard or Kobe Bryant had in 2010-11. I witnessed the first one, in Atlanta in January 2003 -- he screamed after a dunk. That's it. Probably because he'd never done it before. Yet despite the sooner-than-needed end to his career, there are some enduring trends we can take away from Yao's eight NBA seasons: • No oversized player has ever scored this effectively. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 7-foot-2, and so was Artis Gilmore (who at his peak scored at roughly the same rate as Yao). But that's the line -- there has never been a player taller than 7-2 who was this much of an offensive weapon; mostly players of this size were either employed for their defensive skill, such as Manute Bol or Mark Eaton, or in the wishful hope that they'd eventually become that kind of an asset (Chuck Nevitt, Priest Lauderdale, etc.). Even the ones who were offensive forces -- Rik Smits, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Arvydas Sabonis-- were second or third options. Effective? Yes. Dominant? Not so much. Yao was different. At his peak, he was unguardable on the block, a natural post player who could shoot a sweet turnaround jumper to either side. The only 7-3 or taller players in history to average at least 20 points a game are Ralph Sampson and Yao, but Yao trumps even Sampson -- he averaged 25.0 in 2006-07 and had three straight years above 22. Yao's 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons are also the two best seasons in per-minute scoring by a player of this size. • No player over 7 feet has shot free throws this well. The top free throw percentage for any player over 7-foot-1 belongs to Yao Ming, at 83.3 percent. Nobody else is even close -- in fact no other player of that size is over 80. The next closest is Sabonis at 78.6 percent. In terms of individual seasons, the top four free throw seasons by a player of this size belong to Yao Ming, Yao Ming, Yao Ming and Yao Ming. Even compared to smaller players, Yao's shooting is fairly historic -- an amazing feat considering his line-drive delivery. Only one 7-footer, Dirk Nowitzki, has a better free throw percentage. Among players 6-10 or taller with at least 1,500 attempts, Yao is six; set the cutoff at 6-7 and he's still in the top 25. • Oversized players are huge injury risks. I've mentioned this before, but the two factors that are most predictive in determining career length are size and shooting ability. Yao, as the tallest player in the league and also a pretty darned good shooter, figured to have a nice, long run in the NBA based on those factors. However, too much size turns out to be a bad thing. The curve inverts at 6-foot-10; that's the optimal size for a career length, but at greater heights the injury risk outweighs the benefit of increased height. We see this somewhat with 7-footers, but it's players of Yao's size that really drive the point home. Players who are 7-3 or taller just aren't destined to have nice, orderly 15-year careers. Despite the size advantage that these players possess, not one of them has managed to have a 1,000-game NBA career. Eaton, at 875, came the closest. Generally, they have back, knee or ankle problems after a few years, and from there it's a war against their bodies. Smits and Ilgauskas were able to fight their feet to a draw and make a reasonable go of it; Yao, unfortunately, could not. Granted, this isn't a large sample. Twenty players in history were 7-3 or taller, and 10 of them couldn't play dead. But of the other 10, the theme of promise muted by injury rings loudly. Meanwhile, check out all the pedestrian 6-10 guys who were able to play at least 1,000 games -- basically two seasons longer than Smits. Herb Williams, Caldwell Jones, Leroy Ellis,Clifford Robinson, Joe Smith, Sam Lacey and Rick Mahorn, for instance, hung around longer than any of the oversized centers. They weren't great players, but the injuries never got 'em. • The Hall of Fame beckons. Evaluated strictly on his playing career, Yao's credentials are shaky -- yes, he was named to eight All-Star teams, thanks to an enthusiastic fan vote, and he did make a second- or third-team All-NBA squad five times. But he never made first-team All-NBA, never played in the Finals, never had a top-10 MVP finish and only played 468 career games -- a little less than six full seasons. Springfield, however, has never been a fact-driven process. The two key elements in Yao's favor are that 1) he essentially ushered in the game of basketball to a billion Chinese, providing a pillar around which fans in that country could build a broader understanding of the game, and 2) he's an international player. The latter point is important, because the Basketball Hall of Fame has set an almost comically low bar for inducting international players in past votes, and based on those standards Yao will waltz in. Put another way, I don't think it's possible to have a system in which Maciel Pereira and Kresimir Cosic pass muster but Yao Ming doesn't. While the Hall's voting history with internationals will create serious, awkward problems for Springfield when the current generation of NBA-experienced Europeans retires, Yao will be among the first of the bunch up for induction and has one of the best resumes of the bunch. Combined with his fame and his impact on the game in the world's largest country, he's in.
Yao Ming's retirement seemed inevitable from the moment the Rockets announced he'd be out for the rest of the 2010-11 season. Nonetheless, it brings a tinge of sadness with it because of all the many "what if" questions it brings up. Most obvious among them, of course, is what he might have been if he'd never been hurt -- Yao was the best center in the league in 2006-07, his last fully healthy season, and was only 28 when he saw his last substantial game action in the 2009 playoffs. Beyond that, a flood of other queries come to mind. What if the Chinese basketball authorities had pushed him less and not had him competing in all manner of tournaments -- some major, many minor -- during his summers? I hope the Chinese relished that 77-35 win over South Korea in the 2005 Asian Games semifinals. That tournament, just before training camp, was the beginning of the end -- Yao needed toe surgery in December and suffered his first foot fracture the following April. What might the Rockets' fate have been if he hadn't been injured in March 2008? The Rockets won 22 straight games that spring, 13 of them coming after Yao had been injured, but didn't have enough pop to get out of the first round minus his post scoring. Similarly, in 2009, one wonders what might have happened if he'd been able to complete the second-round series against the Lakers. He was lost after Game 2 with the teams tied 1-1 and heading back to Houston. Or what if he'd grown up being immersed in an American (or Spanish or Greek or Argentine) basketball culture rather than effectively becoming the guinea pig for China? What if he'd joined the NBA at 19 years old instead of 22? Would he have been a more instinctive defender or rebounder, or a more aggressive scorer, or had better training in other ways? Yes, we have a lot of questions to digest when it comes to Yao's career, one in which stands out as much for his character and professionalism as his play on the court. Speaking of which, I'll add one more question: Did you ever hear anyone say anything bad about him? He had a nearly decade-long NBA career as one of the most high-profile players in the world, and pretty much everyone he encountered liked him. The gentle giant had 13 technical fouls his entire career, fewer than Dwight Howard or Kobe Bryant had in 2010-11. I witnessed the first one, in Atlanta in January 2003 -- he screamed after a dunk. That's it. Probably because he'd never done it before. Yet despite the sooner-than-needed end to his career, there are some enduring trends we can take away from Yao's eight NBA seasons: • No oversized player has ever scored this effectively. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 7-foot-2, and so was Artis Gilmore (who at his peak scored at roughly the same rate as Yao). But that's the line -- there has never been a player taller than 7-2 who was this much of an offensive weapon; mostly players of this size were either employed for their defensive skill, such as Manute Bol or Mark Eaton, or in the wishful hope that they'd eventually become that kind of an asset (Chuck Nevitt, Priest Lauderdale, etc.). Even the ones who were offensive forces -- Rik Smits, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Arvydas Sabonis -- were second or third options. Effective? Yes. Dominant? Not so much. Yao was different. At his peak, he was unguardable on the block, a natural post player who could shoot a sweet turnaround jumper to either side. The only 7-3 or taller players in history to average at least 20 points a game are Ralph Sampson and Yao, but Yao trumps even Sampson -- he averaged 25.0 in 2006-07 and had three straight years above 22. Yao's 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons are also the two best seasons in per-minute scoring by a player of this size. • No player over 7 feet has shot free throws this well. The top free throw percentage for any player over 7-foot-1 belongs to Yao Ming, at 83.3 percent. Nobody else is even close -- in fact no other player of that size is over 80. The next closest is Sabonis at 78.6 percent. In terms of individual seasons, the top four free throw seasons by a player of this size belong to Yao Ming, Yao Ming, Yao Ming and Yao Ming. Even compared to smaller players, Yao's shooting is fairly historic -- an amazing feat considering his line-drive delivery. Only one 7-footer, Dirk Nowitzki, has a better free throw percentage. Among players 6-10 or taller with at least 1,500 attempts, Yao is six; set the cutoff at 6-7 and he's still in the top 25. • Oversized players are huge injury risks. I've mentioned this before, but the two factors that are most predictive in determining career length are size and shooting ability. Yao, as the tallest player in the league and also a pretty darned good shooter, figured to have a nice, long run in the NBA based on those factors. However, too much size turns out to be a bad thing. The curve inverts at 6-foot-10; that's the optimal size for a career length, but at greater heights the injury risk outweighs the benefit of increased height. We see this somewhat with 7-footers, but it's players of Yao's size that really drive the point home. Players who are 7-3 or taller just aren't destined to have nice, orderly 15-year careers. Despite the size advantage that these players possess, not one of them has managed to have a 1,000-game NBA career. Eaton, at 875, came the closest. Generally, they have back, knee or ankle problems after a few years, and from there it's a war against their bodies. Smits and Ilgauskas were able to fight their feet to a draw and make a reasonable go of it; Yao, unfortunately, could not. Granted, this isn't a large sample. Twenty players in history were 7-3 or taller, and 10 of them couldn't play dead. But of the other 10, the theme of promise muted by injury rings loudly. Meanwhile, check out all the pedestrian 6-10 guys who were able to play at least 1,000 games -- basically two seasons longer than Smits. Herb Williams, Caldwell Jones, Leroy Ellis, Clifford Robinson, Joe Smith, Sam Lacey and Rick Mahorn, for instance, hung around longer than any of the oversized centers. They weren't great players, but the injuries never got 'em. • The Hall of Fame beckons. Evaluated strictly on his playing career, Yao's credentials are shaky -- yes, he was named to eight All-Star teams, thanks to an enthusiastic fan vote, and he did make a second- or third-team All-NBA squad five times. But he never made first-team All-NBA, never played in the Finals, never had a top-10 MVP finish and only played 468 career games -- a little less than six full seasons. Springfield, however, has never been a fact-driven process. The two key elements in Yao's favor are that 1) he essentially ushered in the game of basketball to a billion Chinese, providing a pillar around which fans in that country could build a broader understanding of the game, and 2) he's an international player. The latter point is important, because the Basketball Hall of Fame has set an almost comically low bar for inducting international players in past votes, and based on those standards Yao will waltz in. Put another way, I don't think it's possible to have a system in which Maciel Pereira and Kresimir Cosic pass muster but Yao Ming doesn't. While the Hall's voting history with internationals will create serious, awkward problems for Springfield when the current generation of NBA-experienced Europeans retires, Yao will be among the first of the bunch up for induction and has one of the best resumes of the bunch. Combined with his fame and his impact on the game in the world's largest country, he's in.
