Yao Ming retires from the NBA

[Haymaker]

Rik Smith's a better center

[wTFaMonkey]

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.

[DCL]

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.

[Nachooo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IamTZLde8wY

"Why does Tracys jersey sell better then yours in china?"
"Cause they all have mine already"

[bdreason]

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'.

[FourthTenor]

First half of his career; not true.

Second half; true.

I never really saw Yao as a dominant player.

In fact I've always been sort of surprised at how overrated he is by the general public, relative to what I saw from him when I watched him.

Solid player but far from a dominant one. Legend? Only because of things like being the most successful player at his height, being the first chinese all-star etc.

There's no way he's a legend on basketball merit, or even close to it.

[DCL]

15 years ago, if you told me that there will be a chinese guy who would come to the league and drop 25-10 for a whole season, i would had told you to stop doing drugs. yao's achievements weren't "legendary" compared to true legends, but if you look at his background and his journey, it's pretty unbelievable what he did. he's legendary in terms of being a "breakthrough."

[Euroleague]

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.

Most NBA players are supposed to train during that time of the off season.

[Collie]

Yao was certainly dominant during his very short prime. He was about as close to a sure 2 points you could get in this league when he had the ball in the post. The only thing that could stop him was pushing him out of position. The guy was scoring 22+ ppg on 60% TS, that's nearly Shaq-like in efficiency.

[pgm]

Somewhere between 20-25 for centers and a top 150 player of all time. It's a shame about the injuries (and getting robbed of Rookie of the Year).

[Scholar]

Sad to see him go. He had plenty of potential, but those pesky injuries slowed him down. I'm just glad he knew when to throw in the towel.

[bdreason]

Probably in the 25-30 range. There are a lot of Centers in the NBA history that had good numbers and great success. Yao had a few peak years where he was a top 3 Center, but outside of that, his career resume isn't all that impressive. He never made 1st team All-NBA, and half of his All-Star appearances were undeserved.

[Sroek]

Prime?

Top 15, easily.

[Kyle_korver]

Yao was great for the era he was in, but the era was weak.

I think he will be remembered more as an ambassador for the game

What weak era was Yao in ???

[miller-time]

he won't be remembered like penny.