Yao Ming Retires - Yao Ming has decided to resign from the NBA according to Yahoo! ’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Yao informed the league character the last couple days. Yao is upright 30 years old, but only played in 486 of a possible 656 games in his 8 - year NBA career. ( He played in 244 of 246 games in his first three years. It’s all downhill from there. ) He finished with career averages of 19 points, 9 rebounds and 1. 9 blocks per game.
It seems like just yesterday when Yao looked like the big man that would help Houston return to the NBA Finals. In his first season, the Rockets went from 28 wins to 47-wins and contended for a first-round playoff exit most of the years he played in Houston.
Yao Ming, of the Houston Rockets, has retired from the NBA, according to a number of sources. Obviously, not directly Jazz related news, but we see the continuing death of true, back to the basket big men in the passing of Yao Ming from being an "active" player to retiring from the NBA. He will be missed. Love him or hate him, he was a very nice man who advanced basketball in his nation (China), his continent (Asia), and across the globe. Yes, he got a lot of All-Star votes every year - but you can't hate a guy for being popular. (The under-reported issue is that the majority of Yao Ming votes came from the US, not China...) He finishes his NBA years with career averages of 19.0 ppg (52.4 fg%, 83.3 ft%), 9.2 rpg, and 1.9 bpg. Hall of Famer? He'll get in for sure. Even if he only got out of the 1st round once in his career.
He will be missed.
And yes, Rockets fans, this is the picture I'm using for this post. Don't like it? Use a pic of Yao dunking on AK when Andrei Kirilenko retires.
In the end, Yao will be remembered as an immensely popular (A lock to be voted starting center for the West thanks to overseas ballots), oft-injured, gentle giant.
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