He was played too many minutes, partly due to Tracy's injuries, also due to the several national teams he played for. Yao was all class. A great player. Overplayed.
I agree. Yao had such an unique set of skills that you don't see in the league anymore. I truly miss him. It sucks that he had to play basketbal year round and never really got a chance to fully recover.
One thing I really I like Yao, is that he always tried his best, no matter for Rockets, or for Team China. Well that's also the primary reason why he got so many injuries.
Yao Ming is one of my favorite Rockets. Just watching his play... I wished we managed to see a few more years from him. A rare talent and I feel lucky to have seen his entire career with all of you.
My second favorite Rocket...behind Hakeem. Truly a class act - could've easily been one of the greatest of all time had his career not been cut short. Its a shame he was Vastly underrated as a player by most NBA fans.
True giant who probably played much more than a lot of average sized players without rest in so many years, and the inevitable wear and tear caused injuries finally caught up to him... Contribution to the game of basketball(not only NBA) is unmatched in so many ways.
Panda, usually 99% of Rockets news is always posted here at the time of article. This article was in 2011. This dude posted it. However, it's a good article.
Oh yeah I knew it was during 2011, just the whole Grant Hill "whatcouldvebeen" retiring made me a bit nostalgic, all it all it was a nice article. Not sure of the etiquette on throwbacks but thanks for the heads up.
A lot of my memories of Yao are just frustration about how easily he could be taken out of the offense sometimes. As disappointing an era of Rockets basketball as I can remember. Great guy though.
Two indelible memories I have of Yao. One is a game in LA where he scored on Chris Kaman and got all hyped walking back to the bench when the Clips called timeout screaming "You can't stop me motherf*****. I actually don't remember how he scored, must have been a spin move, dunk in Kaman's face to get that kind of reaction from him. Second, when he dribbled down length of the court and was met by SAR at about 1/2 court and did a behind the back dribble, faked SAR out and went all the way and scored with a dunk. HOF for sure despite his brief career because of what could have been on the floor plus his global impact on the game.
It was easier for a team to get dominated by Yao then to take him out the game trust me on that. Ask any player/coach who played against him and they'll say the same I gaurentee it. Yao was a freak on offense. Could do it all better than good and was one of the better defensive bigs because of his size. Wilbon did an article on him when he retired saying had his career gone like other great bigs in terms of yrs and games played he would have been a 20k 10k points rebounder and forsure a top 10 center of all time.
I miss watching Yao play. As everyone has said the guy just broke down from overplaying and never shying away from his obligations. He's not only a great player but an icon in the basketball world because of his international influence. Players like him are so incredibly rare and we were definitely lucky to have him.
I believe this is what you're looking for. Loved the reaction of Dike. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jss1xEzh5b4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Guess my memory has faded a little. He actually said "Try to f**king stop me" and the shot was a less spectacular turn around jump shot against Kaman. Here's the behind back dribble play. He actually catches an outlet pass just before half court and dribbles behind his back to avoid a steal attempt by SAR and then dunks the ball. The big fella had game, Dwight can't do half the stuff Yao did. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hvvAMDrMcO0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He was on the verge of really catapulting himself as a true all around superstar, one that was clutch and could not have been stopped. I'm probably more frustrated about what happened his last two seasons than even he was. He was going to put us on his back and take us to the finals. Damn shame his injury happened in the playoffs that season. That team with yao was going to go on a run that most people didn't see coming. I hope he can still be part of the rockets in some way.. Maybe a coach
Coincidence!!! I was reading this thread and flipping between channels. Year of Yao is just playing on Espn Classic. Right about now, Yao crossed his first 19 point games and Barkley kissed an ass on TNT .... Memories