Standing 7
feet 6 inches—the tallest NBA player during his final season in 2011—Yao Ming
is a baller that will never be forgotten. Although his NBA career was
relatively short (nine seasons total from 2002-2011 with the Houston Rockets), Ming
was clearly born to be a basketball player.
Before he
was drafted to the NBA, Ming played in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)
with the Shanghai Sharks for five years (1997-2002). In 2002, before he was
selected by the Rockets as the first overall pick in the NBA Draft, Ming was
the CBA Finals MVP (2002) and CBA Finals Champion (2002). Once drafted to the
NBA in 2002, Ming was an 8× NBA All-Star (2003-2009, 2011), and
he reached the NBA playoffs four times with the Rockets. When Ming won the CBA
Finals in 2002, his
average was 32.4 points, 19 rebounds and 4.8 blocks. By the end of his NBA
career in 2011, Ming tallied 9,247 points (19.0 points per game), 769 assists
(1.6 assists per game) and 4,494 rebounds (9.2 rebounds per game) according to www.basketball-reference.com.
Ming was the
first international player to go above a draft without spending any time at an
American university/college. He played during an age where big men were
prominent, which included players like Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard. Ming
retired in 2011 after having several foot and ankle problems throughout his
career.
Check out
Ming’s Top Ten Plays here.
The thing I really like about Yao was that he was a very modest man and he did play the role of an ambassador for the Chinese. It's very cool to see that he was able to keep his cultural values and at the same time have respect for American culture.
ReplyDeleteI like him a lot because his story goes a little bit beyond the court. In fact, it goes beyond this nation. If any of you readers out there get a chance, you should watch The Year of the Yao.