In soccer, some of the best players are scattered throughout the country. That's not the case with basketball. The NBA provides the best competition, and the league has so much talent that players from all over the country come here. You look at examples such as Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobli and the Gasol brothers, but arguably no one has been more of a pioneer than China's Yao Ming. Ming has created foreign interest in basketball that has been revolutionary to the sport. However, the 7'6" monster's recent injuries have led him to retire at the age of 30. While we've known about his pending retirement for a few weeks, he made it official today with an announcement back in China. Ming has been battling foot and leg injuries for a few years, and he says that is what led him to his early retirement. He played all eight seasons with the Rockets (he was in the league for nine, but missed all of 2009 due to injury) after being drafted 1st overall in the 2002 NBA Draft.
While you could go on and on about how the combination of Ming and Tracy McGrady's injuries never brought the Rockets to their full potential, Ming still had some big accomplishments, many of which paved the way for other international players. He was an All Star in every season he played in, averaging 19 PPG, 9.2 RPG and a shade under 2 BPG over the course of his career. He was also a five-time All-NBA team selection. In 2008-2009, he led Houston to their first postseason series victory since 1997. While his career would have been more successful had he stayed healthy and played longer, you can't take anything away from what he did with the time he had. All of his accomplishments on the court have given hope to other international players trying to fulfill their dreams in the NBA.
I will certainly remember Yao Ming as an NBA player for a long time. Not just because of his talent or because of how injuries kept him from being one of the greatest centers to touch a basketball, but because of the way he globalized the game. We've seen that many more international players have been coming overseas to play in the NBA, and basketball throughout the world is much more prevalent now than it was in previous years. Yao was the first international player ever drafted #1 overall in the NBA Draft who hadn't previously played basketball in the United States, and since then we've had over 40 foreign players drafted in the first round. In addition, Yao was a popular player for NBA fans around the world. Year after year, he would be a top vote getter for the All Star team, whether he was injured or not. While the United States dominated the 2008 Olympics, fans actually followed the home team because the wanted to see Yao Ming. Whether you like him, hate him, or have no feelings whatsoever, Yao's presence in the NBA will definitely be missed.
1 comment:
Jason, your summary and in-depth analysis here adds a different perspective that the average fan barely notices. You look past the surface and recognize the deeper meanings for the events taking place in sports today. The time you put into each article presents itself clearly from the intriguing statistics that you add and the passion you have for sports in general shines throughout each post. Keep up the outstanding work!
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