Leslie Alexander: Rockets will retire Yao Ming's number

Questionable, but nothing but love for the guy so I'm fine with it.

If he deserves it, others did well before him, though...

 

If you take a step back and stop over analyzing his contributions as a player, retiring his number is a no-brainer.

 

awesome.. classy move by the organization..

We are in need of some good PR lately

 

I was looking for the LIKE button

 

If the Rockets can retire Calvin Murphy's number, then they can certainly retire Yao Ming's number.

Yao Ming was an eight time all-star, and made five all-NBA teams. Murphy made one all-star team, and never made an all-NBA team. Murphy did play a lot of minutes, so that counts for something.

 

Yao ming defined a decade of rockets basketball, he 100% deserves to have his jersey retired

 

well deserved

you know they never properly used him when he was on the court, his numbers could have been so much better with pass first players

 

Never been down with retiring Yao's number, but I can't fault him for it, he's a class act all the way. So......... huzzah.

 

For all the pressures he faces being the #1 pick...he far exceeded what most people hoped for him. 19.0 ppg, 9.2rpg, 1.9 blk, career shooting percentage of .524 over a 8 year NBA career...Yao when healthy played well...His injuries were his curse. Such a shame that someone that skilled offensively and such a great ambassador of the game had his career cut short. Yao's # deserves retirement.

 

This is a two year old thread lol.
When are they actually going to retire it?

 

Yao completely deserves it. The guy was a beast. He was the best at his position for years during the NBA. His career is tragic because there is always the question of 'what if'? What if he had been fully healthy? What if the Rockets did a better job limiting his minutes? What if he didn't play a full NBA season as well as all the time in China?

But there is no denying that he was a dominant player. There is no denying that he revolutionized basketball worldwide as well as bringing the Rockets to the forefront of popularity for an entire other country.

Not only that, he poured his heart and soul into this team. He desperately wanted to succeed and win. And, at the time, we were comparing that to our other superstar who always seemed lackadaisical, uncaring, lazy and at times seemed to have phantom injuries.

At the time, we were comparing this:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6jRXhj1PpFU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

To this:



Yao was a great player. He won several awards. He gave everything to our organization and our team. And his impact spread much farther than just the NBA.

For that, I fully think that he deserves to have his number retired.

 

I didn't think he was a HOF or ability wise a player worth retiring. However he was an Houston Icon from China.. He represented the NBA and spread mass appeal.. He was so slouch on the court, he played good and was dominant- always top 3 in his position in the league.

He absolutley deserves his number retired in Houston

 

Yao earned his number retired when he fought to return to a playoff game with a potentially broken foot regardless of the pain.

 

two ways to measure a player's # retirement:

1) when you mention the player, is it synonymous with the city or did they play most of their defining peak years in that city?
2) did the player lead the team to a title?

yao fits #1 easily. he was an international icon who played ONLY for the rockets. his legacy is just like calvin's.

if anything, moses malone isn't necessarily a houston icon - he was a huge star but he also played in his prime in multiple cities. drexler too, for that matter... except for the fact that he's a hometown guy who came back and won a title. that's what puts him in retirement land.

 

How about my guy, J. Lin. Did Les say anything about his number to be retired some day?

 

What about Yi Jinlong?

or the guy on the Mavs? we can definitely bring him in too right? ....

...... ..

 

Dude.. are you seriously saying Chuck Hayes was lackadaisical and uncaring?!

 

I think this is a reach and Yao is one of my favourite Rockets ever.

I think retired numbers should be for all-timers.

Will Yao make the Hall of Fame?

He probably will because he's had that international impact, but I think he shouldn't sniff it on his career. No HOF, No jersey retirement.

 

He tweeted something about turning cheeks

 

Why in the world would anyone retire that fringe rotation player's jersey?
Yao year by year was a star in the league. Constantly in contention for top center after Shaq declined.
Jeremy Lin was a MAYBE a top 15 point guard for two weeks.