I'm not famous. My mom thinks I'm cool.

In the words of Boyz II Men: “It’s so hard to say goodbye.”

It has taken me a couple of days to fully be able to accept the fact that Yao Ming’s career is over. I’ve always been one of his staunchest supporters, I would defend him, I would stand by his side when naysayers would attack him for being too weak, too skinny, too soft or ineffective. Now Yao’s basketball playing days are over and many people will consider him a bust. But is it fair to say he was a bust? The man was a good player and a good person. A great ambassador for the sport and the NBA. He pretty much single-handedly opened up the market for the NBA in China. Almost all the Houston Rockets have shoe deals in China. But the truth of the matter is that Yao wasn’t the game-changing-life-altering-7’6”monster that we believed he would be. Yao wasn’t a basketball god, he was a mortal. A international player that didn’t bang in the post so he was labeled soft. A quiet soft-spoken gentle giant so he was labeled weak. A player who never lead his team to the finals so he was labeled ineffective.

Is it fair to view Yao’s career by the things that he didn’t do? Or should we look at the things that he did achieve. The same can be said about Yao’s playing style. Everyone was so quick to look at the things that Yao couldn’t do that they rarely looked at the things that Yao could do.

Yao didn’t grow up in the ego-driven basketball society of the NBA. He was taught team basketball. A type of basketball that prized playing as a team over playing as a stats-driven star. Yao also didn’t take much time off from playing basketball. When his NBA season ended, he would play for the Chinese national team. Why? Because Yao didn’t forget where he was from. He felt like he owed his country. (In the NBA some players pass on playing for the US team in favor of recovering from a grueling season.) Of course Yao was injury prone. He was a 7’6” monster that never stopped playing basketball for 8 years (not including his pre-NBA career). His feet became injury prone because of how much he played the game and a person’s body can only take so much abuse. It was a matter of time before Yao’s body began to break down from all the ball he played. And he wasn’t in the media complaining about it.

Jeff Van Gundy proclaimed that he believes Yao should be a Hall of Famer. Why? Because of all the things that Yao did. Not because of the things he didn’t do. So when I remember Yao’s career I’m not going to focus on the the bad. I’m not going to look at Yao’s career average of 19 points and 9 rebounds and think, “He was just one point and one rebound away from being a 20-10 guy.” I’m going to remember that Yao put up those numbers through hard work and sweat, through being under the microscope he entire career, through constantly being taunted and criticized and through playing a for his national team in his time off. Why? Because Yao had priorities. He’d put others above himself. He’d carry the weight of his teams and take the heat and work hard to be a better player.

So, even though it’s hard to say goodbye to Yao Ming when his career didn’t end up the way we wanted I’m happy he’s thinking of himself for once. And when I look back at Yao’s career I’m going to look at all the things he did do, not the things he didn’t.

Sketch from the Darewolves! Written by Timmy Wood. With yours truly and Matt Lusk!

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“Hey. I tell you what is. Big city, hmm? Live. Work, huh? But. Is not city open? Only peoples. Peoples is peoples. No is buildings. Is tomatoes, huh? Is peoples, is dancing, is music, is potatoes! So, peoples is peoples. Okay?”

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“A life Jimmy. It’s the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come.” – Lester Freamon from “The Wire”

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