Leslie Alexander: Rockets will retire Yao Ming's number

...You...idiot.

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If Yao doesn't deserve to have his number retired by the Rockets, then pretty much retiring numbers is a worthless endeavor by teams. And as a Rockets fan who have watched Yao from his rookie year to him leaving the game against the Lakers in 2009, I can honestly say that he was my favorite Rocket in the past decade. Humble, hard working, ambassador to the game, the face of the franchise, and oh yeah... THE BEST ROCKETS PLAYER IN THE PAST DECADE.

Congrats to Yao. And even knowing the injuries, I am glad the Rockets selected you with the 1st pick in the 2002 NBA draft.

 

the batch of 2012 really amazes me, so much hatred and contempt..just support the rockets damnit!

Anyway, Yao deserves this, he was the face of the franchise for the past decade and kept Houston in the national limelight, sad that he and TMac had the likes of Weslel, Barry, Alston, Mike James, Juwan Howard and Ryan Bowen as the supporting cast. but they made them look like a million bucks..

 

I can't stop dreaming, if Yao can play with 2 high IQ passing guards in Lin and Harden.....

 

I just hope it won't up like Mobley and Francis =)

 

For eight years, Yao was the global face of the franchise. Awesome guy, awesome to watch, and pretty much never did anything you couldn't respect. I don't care if they retire his shorts, I'm down for any excuse that gets him back in town for a couple of days.

 

No way. Francis and High IQ can't be on the same line :grin:

 

By the Suns? :grin:

Now seriously, as much as I love the guy and as much loyalty and pride as he showed to wear Rockets red, he's not worthy of getting his jersey retired. Based on accomplishments, I think it's acceptable to question whether Yao deserves it. Now throw in the fact that Scola was not even the best player on the team for most of the time he was with us...

If anyone since Dream should get his number retired, it's Yao and nobody else.

 

If Michael Jordan can have his number retired by a team that he didn't play for, then Yao freakin' Ming can have his number retired by the freakin' Rockets.

 

People who are against this should just log out and leave this board. How can you not honour a man like Yao who gave it his all on the court and came back several times after serious injuries?? A man who had to overcome all the stereotypes about Asians, had to overcome language barriers, had to take insults (even from his buddy Francis) and much more to be the player he finally was. The guy was dominant and his numbers speak for themselves.

Tinman, you really have maxwell in your heart ? Despite him being a despicable human being after his life outside and after the NBA, I have to admit he's still one of my favorites..

 

retiring yao's number?

lol, just lol.

 

As a player I don't think he deserves it. He only had a couple of good years and while he always had promise because of injuries he never could live up to it. If we are retiring numbers because of promise wiped out by injuries then Ralph Sampson's #50 should be hanging up there.

That said as the Rockets' organization Yao's #11 should be retired. As other posters noted his impact for the organization was far more significant than just what he did on the court.

 

Good. I had always assumed they would. I would love to go to the game when they do it.

 

It was my dream to wear number 11 and play for the Houston Rockets. Now, Yao has crushed that dream. I'm hoping when I'm finally able to crack it into the NBA and play for the Rockets, I could convince Yao to let me wear that number still. I'm only 27, so I've got tons of time to convince him to...

 

Good move! Totally deserved.

 

AWESOME. I miss YAO. Well done for the big fella.

Most of the people hating on Yao for anything he does will probably never acknowledge anything good in their lives. They live to bring down people who win accolades and work their butts off for success.

YAO was the face of China, The Rockets, and the City of Houston for a long time and you won't take that away.

 

nice , well deserved YAO!!!!!!!! :grin:

 

no question, ive been saying yao deserves it.

kept us in the spotlight
kept us relevant during his time here
helped change the game internationally
leading us to round 2 after 12 yrs of not being there
the streak
all star appearances

YES RETIRE YAO's number!

 

Seriously, as a long time Rockets fan you should be ashamed to even begin to think these two players are comparable. Especially in context of being Rockets players.

 

For all those saying he doesn't deserve it, stop being butt-hurt about the Rockets not being able to put a team around him so he could win. And stop saying Dwight got his team to the finals without any T-Mac like players around him. Orlando got to the finals when the only challenge that year was Boston and they were hurt. Chicago was still young, Miami had nothing then, New York was a joke. The east was wide open then. The west has always been much deeper and competitive and when we had good starters, we had no bench, then we had a deep bench with average starters. Yao did everything he could to bring us to the playoffs and get out of the first round too, and once T-Mac quit on us, we got out of the first round and that team could have gone all the way with Artest being a beast for us, but unfortunately we lost 2 of the best centers in the game that post-season. We lost the best scoring center in Yao and the best defensive center in Deke. If Yao wouldn't have got hurt that year and we went all the way, this wouldn't even be debatable so it shouldn't be now. True, Yao didn't bring us a championship, but its not all on him. Jordan never won without Pippen and Phil Jackson so are you going to b**** about his hall of fame place because he didn't do it by himself? Ewing never won a championship, instead he got shown up by Hakeem in '94. Yao deserves his number retired not only for what he did for the Rockets, but should be a first ballot HOFer for what he did for basketball. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to get their own personal emotions out of the equation and look at him objectively and stop crying about the "what if's) about the Rockets. Congrats to Yao and best wishes for him in the future.