Such a sad career.

Oh what could have been.

Crazy.

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Such a sad career.

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agreed. by all accounts, an excellent person who was fun to watch and looked like he loved playing the game.

as a player, he showed flashes of how awesome he could've been if he'd stayed healthy. he had a great shooting touch and was a very good passer. and how many centers are chosen to shoot his team's technical free throws?

he'll probably always be lumped into conversations with t-mac because neither could stay healthy, which is unfortunate because with yao, there was never any question how badly he wanted to be out there (unlike t-mac).

from a rockets' perspective though, this decision will make it much easier to finally just move on.

Best of luck to him, I interned for the rockets and got to speak to him multiple times. Extremely nice guy who cared A LOT about this team and city.

Just 2 years ago he was one of the top tradeable assets in the league and they got absolutely nothing for it.

just ate as his restaurant for a business lunch yesterday. not bad

He had some fun games against Shaq early in his career. Dude could have been a real force if he could have stayed healthy. It's too bad.

in 2004/2005, how many people wouldve rejected a Yao for Dwight Howard swap.

******* Chinese government.

on the plus side, at least now the all star voting won't be as messed up

welcome to the all star team andrew bynum

He will be missed

who?

Simplebay, I'd say Bynum being in any all star game is pretty messed up.

add him to the list of #1 overall draft pick disappointments

Bynum was close to averaging 12 and 10 last year. Those are almost Emeka Okafor numbers.

Bynum is good, but he is no Rony Seikaly.

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add him to the list of #1 overall draft pick disappointments

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Disagree with that statement, his talent wasn't a disappointment. It was unfortunate his health steadily declined after year three but I don't believe he was a disappointment

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add him to the list of #1 overall draft pick disappointments

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Dude was a relative unknown for a top pick and averaged 19 and 9 for his career. A career in which the first third was basically cannabalized by having to share the ball with Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. 19 and 9 with five All-NBA selections? That stacks up well against the five preceding/following Yao:

Tim Duncan
Michael Olowokandi
Elton Brand
Kenyon Martin
Kwame Brown
Yao
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Andrew Bogut
Andrea Bargnani
Greg Oden


GTFOH.

Yao was one helluva athlete and worked his a** off night in and night out for the Rockets. His body just couldn't hold up, but that doesn't make him a draft bust.

Yao had three good, full seasons -2004, 2005 and 2009. In 2003, he averaged 13 and 8 and played all 82 games as well, which isn't bad, but 13 and 8 isn't anything to write home about either.

He missed 25+ games in every other season. That's a third of the season missed in half his seasons, including one season where he played 5 games.

Just 2 years ago he was one of the top tradeable assets in the league and they got absolutely nothing for it

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Huh? Who wanted to trade for an injury prone max dollar player with 2 years left on his contract 2 years ago who had major foot issues???

Rockets got a LOT of calls. His contract was 80% covered by insurance and he brought all kinds of endorsements to the Rockets because all their games are televised in China. That's why they are the only team with Chinese ads on the court.

You dont think Yao had much trade value during the 2008-09 season? He was still a solid top 10 franchise trade asset. Not a top 10 player. He was always overvalued because of the marketing impact and upside potential if he stayed healthy. He should have been traded.

You guys do remember that in the 2009 offseason they realized he had a potentially career endings foot injury and it was announced that he would definitely have to miss the entire 2009-2010 season and maybe never play again? I understand that with one year left on his contract he was tradeable, but not 2.

He was tradable with 2 years left because his contract was covered by insurance and if you have him on your IR, you instantly have three billion chinese fans and you get scrubs voted onto the All-Star teams.

I wouldn't call him a flat out bust, but I think disappointment is fair.

#1 draft picks are usually guys you expect to build around and be consistent, long-term producers for your franchise. There is no doubt the production and presence Yao brought when he played, but he missed an equivalent of over two full seasons worth of games due to injury in his entire career (486 played out of 656 possible, not counting postseason).

It's really hard for a team to succeed when their "perennial All-Star" is not on the court.

Very disappointing. I like watching him play, and there's no denying what he did for the league internationally.

Obviously I was referring to the 2009 season before the injury occurred in the playoffs. Obviously his value plummeted after the injury, hence the reason I referenced 2 years. He was a perennial top 10 trade asset until that foot injury.

InternetFan, I wasn't attacking your post or anything, I actually agree with what you were saying concerning his trade value. I was more or less responding to this post:

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19 and 9 with five All-NBA selections?

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Eat.Da.Head.

GG Yao

I dont think Yao was a bust. He did what most expect... he got hurt. That's usually what happens when you're 7'6'' and 350lbs.

I've said for years that getting the number one pick that year was the worst thing that could've happened for the Rockets. That was a terrible draft and Yao was clearly the only decent pick. Unfortunately, Yao didn't fit the style of that Rocket team at all and it led to several mediocre and awkward seasons. Then he gets hurt and now its over before they ever had a chance to really build around him. A'mare turned out to be a better long term player but there is no way you could have picked him number one.

Its really good for the Rox that he's retiring. They might've tried to sign him to another deal and ruined several more seasons.

Yao did more for the NBA in other countries than anyone could have ever imagined. The rest of the league owes him BIG TIME!

Yao and Tmac...what a waste

Per ESPY'S:
"...or maybe he said I'm retiling my bathroom".

I laughed

His restaurant is good.

Not a hall of famer.