The best Asian NBA player
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Yao Ming is the best-ever Asian basketball player in the NBA. He was also the best tallest player at 7'6, an 8-time all-star, and a hall-of-famer. Yet, despite his height and skills, there were a lot of doubters when Yao was drafted #1 overall in 2002.
Ming started slowly, scoring 0, 2, 8, and 0 points in his first four games. After the fourth game, Charles Barkley infamously bet with fellow analyst Kenny Smith that he would kiss Kenny's ass if Yao scored 19 points. Yao exceeded that amount with twenty points in his eighth game and would average 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in his rookie season. He would exceed twenty points in three seasons, reaching a peak of 25 ppg in 2006-07.
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Quotes
One more thing: Years from now, we will remember "Yao Ming over Jay Williams" the same way we remember "Bowie over Jordan," "Traylor for Nowitzki," "Carroll for McHale and Parish," "Aguirre over Thomas" and every other great draft day blunder in NBA history. I'm not just predicting it, I'm guaranteeing it.
Bill Simmons
My gut feeling watching Ming is not positive. Maybe I'm not being fair, but I see a player who won't have the body strength to endure the kind of physical contact that takes place on the interior. He will face superb athleticism day in and day out in the NBA, especially if he's in the Western Conference. I feel he will be abused inside. Some say Ming can handle the basketball well and shoot 15-foot jumpers. But is that what you really want from a player his size?
Dick Vitale
People forget what kind of pressure he was on when he came over here, not totally comfortable with the language to start off with and being the first pick in the draft,...People hoped he would fail. Some of the then-Rocket players wanted to trade the pick for Lamar Odom. The guy was under enormous pressure. He handled every bit of it with grace and wisdom, and he handled it flawlessly.
Jeff Van Gundy
He say Yao Ming going to get 19 points, if he gets 19 points in a game, I'll kiss his ass right here
Charles Barkley
References
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The Legacy of Yao
Jeff Van Gundy is already concerned. Hours after news leaked of Yao Ming’s retirement from the NBA, Van Gundy predicts Yao’s play on the court might eventually be forgotten, that the original difficult transition Yao made look so easy would be downplayed and that his contribution to the league would be categorized in terms of global dollars and not his influence on the Houston Rockets.
Grantland
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A Lookback At Yao's Career & His Best Moments
To me Yao Ming was more than just a basketball player, he was the reason to watch from 2002-2009. After the frustrating loss in the 1st round to the Lakers in the strike shortened season of 1998-1999 (Cuttino blocked by Shaq to end Game 4 with 2 HOF's wide open), my interest in basketball waned. The isolation stylings of Francis and Mobley just never interested me, I still watched college basketball and the NBA Playoffs, but the Rockets were unwatchable.
SB Nation
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Smith scores against Charles with the kiss
Barkley is expected to pay up on his bet with colleague Kenny Smith -- that Yao Ming wouldn't score 19 points in a game this season -- and kiss Smith's derriere on the show's set in Atlanta. No TV smooch has gotten this much attention since "Ellen."
ESPN
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Yao Ming could be another LaRue Martin
Do I hear the name Yao Ming in Houston's future? Can you see another big man in that Rocket uniform at 7-foot-5? To me, this has the potential to be a pick just like one the Portland Trail Blazers made 30 years ago.
ESPN
