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[QUOTE=sirkeelma]He will remember like Sabonis. Could have been, would have been.[/QUOTE]
Sabonis is the reason they started having pros play for the USA Olympic Team.
saw a shell of him in the NBA but he was destroying euro and intl. competition for years...
Yao Ming was a marketing plan....and it worked..helped NBA enter the Chinese market and sell a lot of merchandise and tv rights..
Not for his play on the court but for what he did for basketball in China? You bet your ass he will.
Great question...
Answer: Of course...
Whenever you are the first star of a powerful, influential nation (China) that was never known to be successful in American Pro sports, much less basketball, it goes without saying...
Yao is indeed a legend beyond what he did or didn't do on the court...
I guess I didn't read the thread title correctly. As far as primes goes, he is a top 15-17 center of all-time. As far as career goes, he is probably top 20-25 of all-time. He was better than guys like Parish, Zo, and many other centers during his prime, but those other centers have much more in their resumes than Yao does. I am not sure how much you guys are using his International accomplishments, but I am just using his NBA accomplishments in this ranking. Dwight Howard has accomplished more than Yao Ming has, but it's arguable that Yao was better in his prime....keyword: arguable. Same goes for the likes of Parish and Mourning.
YAO MING YAO MING YAO MING YAO MING YAO MING!!
Ill MISS YOU YAO!!!
what makes yao ming better than joe barry carrol?
[QUOTE=Joey Zaza]
Yao did noone of those. He was never the best at his position and was not a top 10 player (I say not top 15) anddi not lead his team to any substantial playoff success and missed alrge chunks of half his seasons...what did he do to merit his draft slot and pay?
4 solid seasons?[/QUOTE]
I disagree. I felt the Artest/Yao run had a very legitimate chance to beat the Lakers that year. They really couldn't stop Yao/Mutombo. The moment Yao got injured, there went the Rocket's season.
Why are people saying the NBA is going to lose a ton of Chinese fans? The dude has been injury prone for a while now. He was a great player, wish I followed him more. Hope his legacy lives on.
I remember all the coverage about him when he came here, shame China pushed him so hard.
Yeah, a legend in China.
In China? Definitely.
In the US? Only for people who watched him play or watched the extraordinary media circus when he first came into the NBA. He's not going to come up in an All Time Great's conversation, but if you mention his name I think quite a lot of people will recognise it.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T6M0SPjPfo[/url] china's official tv says he's not?!
I am unashamedly taking this from another forum's poster's post, all credit to him for finding all these videos.
[url]http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=6214185#post6214185[/url]
Yao vs Shawn Bradley
[url]http://youtu.be/wnEAy9WpowA[/url]
Yao and Shaq
[url]http://youtu.be/LaEHa_SXTNs[/url]
[url]http://youtu.be/uCTIVwb-0Ss[/url]
[url]http://youtu.be/FbndYCLz3-Q[/url]
[url]http://youtu.be/1fD7i4A9N40[/url]
Yao and Pau Gasol
[url]http://youtu.be/nwBi5d8K6vc[/url]
Yao and Dwight
[url]http://youtu.be/mFppQfs75Ro[/url]
Yao's behind the back dribble and dunk
[url]http://youtu.be/hvvAMDrMcO0[/url]
Yao's 2nd three pointer of his career
[url]http://youtu.be/me6Wn_-C0pU[/url]
In a sense, Yao's last meaningful game (slightly cheesy)
[url]http://youtu.be/6jRXhj1PpFU[/url]
he will be but he shouldnt.
its only 10 years from now where people would be like "Yao Ming would have been the G.O.A.T. if he would have stayed healthy" and then bring up Yao's 2007 season like some people do with Tmac's 2003 season
[QUOTE=Bigsmoke]he will be but he shouldnt.
its only 10 years from now where people would be like "Yao Ming would have been the G.O.A.T. if he would have stayed healthy" and then bring up Yao's 2007 season like some people do with Tmac's 2003 season[/QUOTE]
Being a legend and a GOAT are two different things....
second best center of his era (guess who's first...) but in a time in the NBA where good centers are scarce, he probably would have made a bigger impact if he continued to play
[QUOTE=themurph]Being a legend and a GOAT are two different things....[/QUOTE]
where did i said they were the same?
i said Yao will be overrated when time goes by
[QUOTE=Sheed]second best center of his era (guess who's first...) but in a time in the NBA where good centers are scarce, he probably would have made a bigger impact if he continued to play[/QUOTE]
Ben Wallace > Yao "decade wise"
[QUOTE=Bigsmoke]where did i said they were the same?
i said Yao will be overrated when time goes by
Ben Wallace > Yao "decade wise"[/QUOTE]
I feel u...
But what I'm saying is Yao being a woulda-been, coulda-been GOAT is moot....
He will go down as a legend simply because of two factors...
1) He was the first successful player from China, arguably the most powerful nation on earth at the moment....
2) No one has ever had the combination of that size, 7'7, weight and ball skill in the history of the league...It's a miracle Yao was able to play three years...
It's a shame, he just kept getting better and better until his injury in the 2006-2007 season and even after that, it seemed like as soon as he'd shown signs, he'd get injured. I don't understand the soft label either, he didn't back down from Shaq and he always outplayed Dwight, he also showed real toughness in the 2009 playoffs.
I think he had the potential to be a borderline top 10 center of all time. Polished footwork, 7'6" with great touch on his almost turnarounds/jump hooks, range comfortably out to 18 feet and he developed some toughness inside, but you couldn't foul him because he was a f[SIZE="2"]u[/SIZE]cking 85% free throw shooter!
Yao was doubled a lot, even without the ball, could pass and he did make an impact defensively and on the boards. I truly believe he was on his way to being a legit MVP-caliber player. Some had him as the leading candidate before his injury in 2006-2007. He was averaging 27/10/2/2, 52 FG%, 86 FT% iirc. And not long before he was injured in 2007-2008, he won player of the month. And once again in 2009 when he gets to the second round and has a 2-1 lead vs the Lakers(not saying he would have beaten them) he goes down with what essentially turned out to be a career ending injury.
The real frustrating thing is that the injury in 2007 was a freak injury where he came down on a player's foot, and playing with China in 2008 when he wasn't fully recovered was really bad, in fact, I don't think a player of his size should have been playing for them at all once he was in the NBA.
Even worse because as far as I can tell, he seems a nice, humble guy.
Damn, sad day....:(
[QUOTE]Yao Ming retires from the NBA[/QUOTE]
Did he even start yet?
No ****in way:roll:
If he wasn't Chinese, he'd be a nobody. What he contributed to the NBA was nothing more than making it more popular in Asia. The dude has limited skills and in no way a legend. Not even a top 50 center
Top 75 center.
about top 20 i think
actually yao hasn't reached his peak,and if he does,he will surpass Dwight
[QUOTE=Eat Like A Bosh]Yeah, a legend in China.[/QUOTE]
agree.
yao is well-known but not as far as legend,or only in china
Damn, this is sad. He would definitely be a top 10 center of all time if he had stayed healthy.
Great player, but most importantly, a great person and a great ambassador for the game.
I really think all the weight he added is what did his feet in. I mean he played 82, 82, and 80 games his first 3 seasons.
[QUOTE=brantonli]
In a sense, Yao's last meaningful game (slightly cheesy)
[url]http://youtu.be/6jRXhj1PpFU[/url][/QUOTE]
:bowdown: He was still able to finish the game. I'll miss this big man.:(
[QUOTE=eliteballer]I really think all the weight he added is what did his feet in. I mean he played 82, 82, and 80 games his first 3 seasons.[/QUOTE]
No, it was playing for the Chinese national team that killed his career.
Dude was forced to play basketball every year with no breaks.
For those of you blaming China for his injuries, you guys do understand that the NBA was a second priority for Yao and that his first priority was playing for his national team right?
it's also a shame cause he was steadily improving every year, it wouldn't be so bad if his skills were stagnating or declining before the injuries.
[QUOTE=KF_hk]about top 20 i think
actually [B]yao hasn't reached his peak,and if he does,[/B]he will surpass Dwight[/QUOTE]
What, if he does? This isn't an OJ Simpson book.
So let me get this straight, according to some people.............
playing 5-8 games every couple years for China "wore down his body", but playing entire seasons in the NBA did nothing..........
Yes, the general level of intelligence in this forum is truly astonishing.
He'll be remembered the same way people remember guys like Ralph Sampson. He was at the peak of his play during his injury, basically a 25-10 guy who could have dominated for years to come. Shit, I always hate to see careers cut short.
Rik Smith's a better center
Obviously the NBA wore down his body. But adding the extra training in the offseason when he is suppose to rest made it a lot worse for his body.
he's one of the guys who shut me up when i said he couldn't do this or couldn't do that, but then he just improved gradually every year and started doing things. i never bought into his hype in the beginning. he had to earn it, but i think he paid a lot of dues in how he made his journey, and i'd say right now that at his very peak, when he finally developed an inside game and started banging around, yao's offense was nearly unstoppable.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IamTZLde8wY[/url]
"Why does Tracys jersey sell better then yours in china?"
"Cause they all have mine already"
Not even close. And I'm tired of all the injury excuses. Even a prime Yao with no injuries didn't take his team anywhere. I won't deny that he was a top 5 Center in the league for a few years... but that isn't saying much these days, and his lack of success insures he'll never be remember as a 'legend'.