You have to admit, Hayes defined the Yao era. Hustle, but no talent on the team. Yao doesn't count as talent because you have to be on the floor to show that.
Do you not know about the infamous Sage Rosenfels leap? My post is pretty self-explanatory, but this should make it clear.
Yao Ming was a great player, but I just don't think he will get his # retired. Championships and team leading stats/ nba leading stats (most blocks, steals, assists, etc.) should be the deciding factor of retiring a jersey #.
I would stop going to games at Toyota Center just so I wouldn't have to see his retired jersey in the rafters. As if it's not insulting enough to hear idiots proclaim our 2 championships invalid because he was retired, we'd have to actually hang his number next to Dream?! Forget that. He's not Jackie Robinson. Maybe Yao. But if you retire Yao you'd have to do the same for Sampson. I don't quite buy the whole "contributions to the game" bit as a good enough reason to retire his jersey or put him into the hall, as much as I like him. But if they did I wouldn't have a problem with it. I'd consider Deke. He had a long career and spent 5 years here, which is as long or longer than any other teams for which he played. He may have been a bench player by the time he came to us, but he was definitely integral to the team's successes those years. Maybe just do it together...Yao and Deke.
Why don't we just retire every player's number. Even proposing Tmac makes me wish I could neg rep. Why don't we retire Pippen's number too. As others have mentioned the only one at this point the Rockets might consider is Yao - but I don't think he did enough as a player.
Yeah... You read correctly. You also read this correctly: T-Mac deserves it as much as Yao, in terms of contributions on the court. If you're a T-Mac hater too damn bad, smd. Without him we'd be a more or less boring 42-40 team for over 7 years.
All these pretentious 12 year olds heckling at people's threads do people seriously lack a life around here? If you don't the thread don't reply, and don't waste your time.
I only agree with Yao. They should have done it already, honestly. I agree that T-Mac was as big a Rocket as Yao and moreover I think he was betrayed and abused by the team. But, teams shouldn't retire numbers of players they don't love. They obviously loved Yao, and didn't love McGrady.
Definitely Yao. His was the face of our franchise for so long, and his contribution to the globalization of the game. Sampson is possible too. Did Hayes get his retired by the Wizards?
JYD, Miami didn't have any good players to retire, there's not true tradition like we have in the Rockets. And your purity as a Rockets fan is beyond praise.
1. Tracy McGrady and whether he will ever see his number raised in any rafters has NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OTHER PLAYER. It doesn't matter if you think Yao has contributed the same amount, it's about legacy. Should they retire Steve Francis's number too cause he contributed just as much as T-mac in playoff series victories? No. Cause Steve Francis has nothing to do with Yao or Tracy. 2. That "T-Mac deserves" is PURE TOF CRAP. He deserves what? He only deserves what he earns. 3. You see those dudes up in the rafters right? Hakeem? Moses? They got up there because of ABSOLUTE EXCELLENCE and DEDICATION to the Rockets. The Rockets tradition of EXCELLENCE included MVPs/NBA FINALS/CHAMPIONSHIPS. You don't go up on the rafters for making the game "less boring". We should retire TURBO based on your analysis.
