http://www.theplayerstribune.com/yao-ming-my-rookie-year-rockets-china/ Please click the link for more:
I can honestly say that Yao Ming is my 2nd favorite Rocket ever, after Hakeem. I loved watching Tmac the most, because you never knew when he'd do something special...but Yao man, what a great guy.
Steve is a good guy. It's a shame he fell so hard, otherwise he'd be great to have in the Rockets organization somewhere.
almost gave me a tear. Yao is so humble and caring and I feel bad that his career ended so abruptly. Feel bad for Stevie too on how the NBA just sort of rejected him. Stevie just wanted to win and had passion but unfortunately his ball domination killed team play.
Yao is just a truly great person. What has always stood out to me is his inner sense of time and place... as if he's viewing every situation from the view of a camera hovering above his head watching the scene unfold. I think he's a better person than he was a basketball player, and think that's how he got into the HOF. His non-on-court basketball related contributions to the game. Though certainly in his VERY SHORT peak he was a dominant force. If you watch highlights of those days, where even he was nowhere near as dominant as Hakeem, Shaq, DRob, Ewing as the group of HOF bigs before him, he's still night and day better than the bigs currently. That's how far bigs have fallen from a post game inside out offensive perspective.
Great read. I remember those teams so well. I remember in high school I told everybody Yao would become a good player. Everybody laughed. Especially after he started playing. "Send him back to China" I would hear. After a while, thats how I would judge somebody on how much basketball they knew. If someone said Yao was trash or soft or he sucked, I knew they did not know anything about basketball. I used it as a gauge lol
I'm glad Yao highlighted how considerate the Rockets are. It was a massive move bringing a Chinese home grown product to the states and it's great to hear they made a very considerate effort to ensure Yao was as comfortable as possible. Definitely reflects very well on the organization.
I miss those days. Was a buzz in the city with Yaos arrival. When we beat Shaq and the Lakers in Houston, felt like we won a championship.
OMG... this reminds me of how happy Ming made me. He had that typical Chinese attitude of all for one, one for all. I can't help but think my love of ancient Chinese movies was because of him. He is and will always be The Great Wall with the Shanghai Shake. I hope I'm privileged enough to travel deep into China some day. My time near the border was not nearly enough. Maybe a trip during the New Year would make the experience of life yet that much better!
