This is the last post in a series entitled ‘Yao Ming’.
After eight seasons, Yao Ming has retired from the NBA.
In eight seasons with the Houston Rockets, Yao Ming averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. The 7’6 center shot 52% from the field and a sparkling 83% from the free throw line. The first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, Yao made eight All-Star game appearances and was an All-NBA selection five times. He earned over $93million in salaries over the course of his career.
What’s most striking in reflecting back upon Yao’s career is the good health he enjoyed in his first three seasons: the giant only missed a total of two games in those years at the time assuaging fears that a man his size could not endure the pounding of the NBA game. The rejoicing was premature. Yao went on to play more than 60 games only once in the next six years.
Was Yao Ming’s career a failure? The bar is high for first overall selections and Yao’s Rockets only passed the first round once during his time with the team. Having said that, he will go down as the greatest ‘giant’ in the league’s history, proving far more productive than any other man over 7’4 to have played the sport.
Was Yao the right pick? While he certainly fared better than Duke’s Jay Williams–the man many believed in 2002 should have been the first overall selection–few would argue against Amare Stoudemire’s body of success. While Stoudemire himself has never been considered a true ‘superstar’, the power forward was vastly more productive than Yao over the course of his career.
What’s forgotten are the expectations Yao carried upon entering the league. While taken with the first pick, he was not selected as a ‘franchise savior.’ In those days, the Rockets belonged to Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley and it was believed by many that if the core could remain healthy–Francis had missed the majority of the previous season–the team was already on track for the playoffs without Yao. Yao was picked to simply complement – to stretch the floor for the guards with his soft shooting range. At the time, it was thought that anything more would be gravy. Yao was picked to be, not the cornerstone, but one of many pieces to a developing championship core. (The team at the time had huge hopes for the late Eddie Griffin.)
But Yao turned out to be far better than advertised–showing off an NBA-level postgame–and from there, our expectations became warped. No one thought in ’02 that he’d be virtually unguardable inside against single coverage. When we saw it, we wanted more. We demanded more and he couldn’t deliver.
Yao was a conundrum. He was the league’s single most unstoppable force. When receiving the ball in the paint, it was almost an automatic hoop. Yet at the same time, he was so easily neutralized. Simply putting a 6’8, athletic power forward in front of his body would force the Rockets to completely take Yao out of the game. He would obliterate Dwight Howard head to head, but the likes of Al Harrington and Boris Diaw rendered him useless.
Like former teammate Tracy McGrady, Yao’s career ultimately boils down to a case of ‘too litte, too late.’ By the time Rockets management surrounded him with a capable supporting cast, his body had failed him. In the ’05 and ’07 playoffs, with stars healthy, Houston relied on the likes of Ryan Bowen, David Wesley, and Luther Head to play major roles. Had the team had even one of Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, or Luis Scola–Daryl Morey signature acquisitions–one could see those teams easily advancing to the Finals.
The plan after surgery was to team Yao with a new star and retool the franchise with Yao still as its centerpiece but with a more balanced roster. The team struck out last summer and Yao got hurt once again. He has now announced his retirement.
Questions abound: might Yao have stayed healthy had he not faced the demands of playing basketball year-round? The NBA was taxing enough on his 7’5 frame – we forget that due to his national obligations, his body never got a break. But to that question, and many more, we will never know the answer. What is clear though is that his jersey will likely hang from the rafters at Toyota Center, the #11 never to be worn again. As one of the greatest ambassadors this sport has ever seen, his case for the Hall will be made. Despite not having brought success, Yao will be remembered as this franchise’s third greatest center.
The page is now turned for the Rockets, a divorce from an era. McGrady is gone, and now, so is Yao, with that faintest of hopes for a return completely smothered. They will pick up the pieces, as they have been doing, and continue the quest for a new star and a new block upon which to build. One thing is for certain: whoever he is, whoever our new savior may be, he will not be nearly as unique a figure as was Yao Ming.
