It will be due to the leadership and heart shown by one "Yao Ming" and no one else to have ever worn the number. Sorry for all the Vernon Maxwell defenders, but that's just the truth. Vernon Maxwell was great. He played a role. A superior, extremely important, overly key role in winning Houston's first NBA title. No doubt. I loved Maxwell. I emulated him even (didn't we all?) on the playground court, or at the rec center trying to shoot the three with ice my veins.... But when it all comes down to it, those years Maxwell was in Houston, he was a supporting role to Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon. Just as Kenny Smith was, or Mario Elie, or Otis Thorpe, or anyone else on those rosters. He will forever be remembered as a role player. A very key role player. A fan favorite. A gritty, hard nosed defender that made Michael Jordan look like a chump on numerous occasions... but a role player. When, not if, Yao Ming wins a title or two in Houston, his number will be an automatic retire. Number 11 will be in the rafters with the name "YAO" firmly sewn above the digits. Why? Not only for the fact that he's a solid center, has improving numbers over the course of his career, and the fact he'll be a champion at that point... But also because it will be a no-brainer. Why would the Rockets not retire the number 11 jersey? When the world's best, maybe for many years to come, player from China wins it all in the NBA the franchise that denies retiring his jersey number would be simply stupid in business terms. But we all know Les is not stupid when it comes to business terms... In fact, Les may elect to retire Yao's jersey even if he does not win it all. That may pain some of you out there, I know... Consider that there are already other former Rockets that have had their numbers retired, and they did not win it all. Sure, they set certain records or were life long Rocket legends... but then, so will Yao be as well. Several teams have retired numbers for less achievement and/or playoff success. Yao will remain a Rocket for life. His jersey will hang from the rafters. Count on it. There is nothing modern-day-Rockets-haters clinging to the long gone red and gold glory days can do about it either, so we all might as well embrace it. It is, after all, a Rockets historical fact in the making. So sorry to interrupt your bashing of current rosters, but, search your feelings, those that "get red" no matter what the record or roster says, already know this to be true. Long live the Rockets, from every era!
Yao's rafter will get hung, not only because of his game on the court, but because he brought two cultural identities together, pretty much. That's also why he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
It will be hung due to him leading the Rockets to back to back championships in 2009 and 2010 (maybe back to back to back who knows ).
Common Yao is a very good player borderline star (Not Superstar) but he does not deserve that accolade yet. Now if gets us a couple of championships and knows how to close games with double teams in the 4th qtr then by all means.
Stop feeding the wangksta poseur troll...everybody already knows tinman is Robert Van Winkle from Dallas, instead of Vanilla Ice from Miami...
I agree with you on Yao having his number retired since he is the first of many things and pretty inspirational for Asia too that a kid can come over from Asia. To not bench warm, but as a key player looking from the point of all Asian NBA Players. In the case of Maxwell he did some amazing stuff in Houston it'll never out shine Yao. My vote goes for Yao.
This is why I said "when." Hasn't happened yet, but will. And then, if not... He'll still be raised to the rafters. Count on it. See the current numbers in the roof? Shoot, Miami retired non-players in their arena... You know Yao is gonna be up there. v3.0, what? Yao is a perennial 20-10 for all intents and purposes... and a constant All-Star selection, not only on country origin... Even recently the talking heads on NBA shows have been praising Yao, especially after his head-to-heads versus Dwight Howard... and even his good performances against Shaq have been there... Yao is NOT just a shoe in for the honor based on gimmick alone. He really is (as a poster here had in his sig for years) a "7 and half footer with skills." If he can make his career last as Dream did, he'll get some rings. -Thanks for repping and rating!
eh, just like you said in another thread to the wanksta poseur, you missed the point of my post. No one with a sane objective mind will argue with your thread, it is an obvious point. I'm just saying I don't want 10 more obscure scanned articles from the Houston Post 19 years ago and comical analogies of rappers to deadbeat dads. Stop feeding Robert Van tinman, aka the rapping troll.
i don't know if yao's jersey will be retired, but that one vote for max was sure from tinman. (now have to go watch the lakers-jazz game a little bit...)
I'm sure it will be Yao, but in your heart you know who started clutch city! Yao and Vernon are similar, they are both lovable guys.
Vernon is probably rooting for Yao. Yao wasn't worthy of that number early in his career, now he is playing with a fierce confidence that only a person worthy of #11 should wear.
As long as they don't retire Tmac's number, I don't care. Vernon and Yao are good guys in my book, dudes you would go to Lubys with.
