Yao Ming retired last week after nine seasons with the Houston Rockets. Yao was a force both on and off the court, revolutionizing the game of basketball, and yet many hall of fame voters are merely on the fence about him getting in.

Yao came into the league as the tallest player ever to grace an NBA court, standing an uncanny 7-foot-6. This alone was going to make opposing teams create a specific game-plan to guard him, but it didn’t stop there.

He influenced an entire country to become fans of such an American-driven sport. Chinese culture had never been strongly tied to basketball, but now we see more and more Chinese players growing up playing, and trying to get into the NBA to follow in Yao’s gigantic footsteps. He is a true ambassador.

Though these two facets of his game indeed made him an incredibly popular player, and very important to the Houston Rockets for having so much economic value, his on the court game was nothing to ignore.

When he first came into the league, he was somewhat feared because of his height, and yet wasn’t expected to be as much of a force as other centers because of his scrawny build. The word soft was thrown around in his presence. But that was 2002, and this is 2011.

Yao was an incredibly intelligent player, knowing how to use his height to the best of his advantages. He had an extremely efficient post game, throwing up unblockable hook shots with both hands whenever he wanted. If somebody let him get position on the block, there wasn’t much they could do to protect the goal (unless you’re Nate Robinson).

He also had a great face-up game for his size. Yao’s mid-range jumper was up there with the best in the game, even out to 20 feet, not to mention the occasional thee point attempt. He also was known to put the ball on the floor from the elbow, and with his unmatched size, one dribble would get him right by a defender and to the rim for an easy bucket. It was never easy to guard Yao.

To be fair, every hall of fame player has to perform well on both sides of the ball. The same reasons that top teams were afraid to take Jimmer Fredette too early were why Yao was often not respected as much as he should have been: defense.

Any player with his height should be able to block shots. No doubt about that, so let’s look at the stats.

As far as blocks per game went over his career, Yao landed at a respectable 1.9. For comparison, one of the greatest centers of all time, Shaquille O’ Neal, had a career average of only 2.3. Granted, Yao had 5 inches on Shaq, but the difference in jumping ability surely made up for that. Maybe people just expected too much, but that doesn’t mean his game lacked a defensive element.

Speaking of Shaq, the two gargantuan centers had countless Western Conference battles that were some of the most watched games of the time. These games were run through both giant men, each of which getting the ball in the post nearly every possession for isolation offense on one another. It will surely be a long time until fans get to see another match-up like those. Yao surely held his own, and though nobody is saying he is as good as “the diesel,” respect should surely be given.

Yao also averaged 9.2 rebounds for his career. Still think he should have grabbed more boards because of his height? Take a look at Shawn Bradley’s career numbers. He was 7-foot-5 and yet only grabbed 6.2 total rebounds per game over his twelve seasons. Too bad we never got to see those giants duke it out.

The points barely need to be talked about, everybody knows that his offensive game is surely hall quality. Even though he landed at an average of 19.0 points per game, when you factor in some of the tragic injuries that plagued him, he surely would have been a career 20-10 guy.

Hey, we also can throw in 1.6 assists per game while we’re looking. His passing was probably the most underrated part of his game.

This might be one of the tougher decisions that the hall of fame committee will have to make in the coming years. In all probability, if he never had to deal with his injuries he should have been a lock to be there, but for that matter we may have been able to say the same thing about Sam Bowie (check out the 1984 draft if you’re not familiar).

Once you throw in his intangibles, and what he meant to the game both on and off the court, this gentle giant deserves to be given his due credit one way or another. It was definitely fun to watch him play.

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It seems to be a growing trend across all of the major sporting leagues in the United States that aging veterans seem to spend the final years of their career doing anything they can to put one more championship ring on their finger.

Players who were once dominant, but that father time may have finally caught up with, often claim in their last years that they are ready to take a diminished role in order to help a team win. This humble attitude rings true when the contract is signed, but often hits a snag once the games begin.

One of the most recent examples of this has been seen with recently retired center Shaquille O’ Neal. In his last four seasons in the NBA he saw stints with Phoenix, Cleveland, and Boston all end in disappointing fashion.

In Shaq’s case, injuries got the best of him, which is both understandable and commonplace for athletes that are in their upper 30′s or even 40′s. Unfortunately some of these chases end in an even uglier fashion.

Let’s take Ricky Henderson for example. He was so sure that he could still play the game and run the bases like he used to, that he spend the last years of his career playing for the Newark Bears in the Independent Atlantic League while desperately trying to prove that he could still contribute to a Major League club. A failed attempt.

There are countless other examples that I could run through. Brett Favre with the Vikings, Karl Malone with the Lakers, and even David Beckham with the L.A. Galaxy are just some off the top of my head that didn’t quite live up to what they once were. This is not to say they weren’t contributing, but it is surely to say that they weren’t doing exactly what they thought they could do for the team.

I admire the fact that these athletes still believe that they can go out and perform to their prime potential even in their later years. To be honest, in the same position I could see myself making a similar decision.

I also respect the fact that these people are used to living a lavish lifestyle, and a multi-million dollar contract is nearly impossible to walk away from no matter how old you may be.

What is tough for me and many other sports fans to see is when these players do one of two things. Sometimes, as sad as it is, they find a way to embarrass themselves, and somewhat tarnish their greatest moments.

As mentioned before, Brett Favre is the most obvious example of this phenomenon. His ridiculous faux retirements and countless comebacks put a terrible taste in most fans mouths. Many Packers fans turned on him, and many Jets and Vikings fans were disappointed when they saw his limited production on the field.

I actually am a big Brett Favre fan when I take in the entire arc of his career. That being said, I, and many other fans I’m sure, wish he would have just hung up the cleats after his days in Green Bay. Having the itch to play is one thing, but his antics were something else altogether.

The second thing I hate to see is when an aging vet still can’t accept a reserve role to help the team. All too often they still believe that they could be the dynamic starters they once were, even when that is clearly no longer the case. The ego gets in the way.

Last season in Germany, 32 year old Miroslav Klose demanded a starting spot on Bayern Munich. He insisted he was in top shape. The sad truth however was that Mario Gomez is a rising star for the team, and at 25 years old, he is the clear choice for the future. As tough as it may be for some former stars to accept that their prime has passed them by, any humble qualities go out the window with an act like this.

It is incredibly difficult to say what should be done in such a situation. As a fan however it is equally difficult to see some athletes make the choices they do and fail in the latter years of their career.

Another key example is about to happen before our eyes in the upcoming NBA season.

Last week the news was broken that former Philadelphia 76′ers guard Allen Iverson wanted to make a return to the NBA to finish his career “the right way.”

I refuse to bash him just yet, because I fully understand why he would want to end his fantastic career in the NBA rather than in the Turkish league, but I am surely not expecting a complete success here.

The sad truth is that so many things can go wrong with this kind of move. Maybe Iverson will be one of the few exceptions to the rule given just how dynamic he once was. Maybe he can accept a diminished role compared to his 40 minute days of years past. Maybe he can finally get that championship he has always been yearning for.

Unfortunately many athletes that make these moves are merely left with what could have been, rather than what actually did. But maybe.
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At his incredible 70,000 square foot mansion in Orlando, Florida on Friday, Shaquille O’ Neal announced his retirement from professional basketball after 19 successful seasons in the league.

Nobody can help but like Shaq. He is one of the most popular players in league history, unarguably the biggest character in professional sports history, and of course was a phenom on the court. He will forever rank among the best players ever to grace a basketball court in the way that he changed the way the game was played in his time in the NBA.

His numbers speak for himself. He has incredible accolades that could be written about for pages and pages, and have been over the past few days, but that is not what this article will be about. Too many people seem to be focusing on what Shaquille did on the court, and it is incredibly deserved, but I want to focus on the person Shaquille O’ Neal, which even transcends the player.

As expected, he was incredibly jovial leading up to the press conference, dancing in the background of the camera shot before the actual conference even began. Always a consummate entertainer, he had a smile on his face the entire time leading up to the big speech, making everyone believe this would be another slew of silly moments out of Shaq for possibly the last time. He has us fooled.

Never have I seen Shaq nervous in front of a camera throughout my entire life of watching him. Today was different. He obviously had a lot invested in today, in his speech, and in his career.

Shaq’s mother Lucille made the introduction for seven-foot son on Shaq’s private basketball court turned podium, an homage to the impact she had on both his career and his life growing up.

She then handed the microphone to Dale Brown, the man that originally recruited and coached Shaq at Louisiana State University. Shaq often refers to brown as one of the biggest helping hands he had in shaping his career, and Brown seemed both sincere and deserving of such praise. He too wanted to focus on what Shaq did off the court, the things that nobody knew or talked about, but should know.

Brown spoke about Shaq’s incredible parenting which goes far too unnoticed. He spoke about his lack of violations or problems off the court throughout his entire career, a sparkling record (even serving as a sherrif at one point in Miami, Florida). Lastly he touched on Shaq’s stress of the importance of education, which came from his parents. Little did everyone know that Shaq is not just a monster athlete, but he led his team in GPA at LSU, and has already obtained a Masters degree, and is now working on his Doctorate in Human Resource Development from Barry University in Miami.

This man works to the best of his abilities, no matter the task, and should be incredibly respected for it.

The diesel finally made his anticipated arrival to the podium and of course, made his first quick joke about being the new GM of the New York Knicks. Of course, everybody laughed. Though he was lighthearted, the tone was serious, incredibly thankful, and appreciative to all of those who had helped him along the way. It was evident that Shaq really wanted to let everybody know how much they really meant to him, giving countless thanks to everyone down to the security guards at the stadiums he played at along the way.

He of course spoke about the fun he had with the media in his time in the NBA en route to officially retiring every one of his many nicknames, and moving on to only one: “The Big AARP.”

He also gave himself his own plug, one fans should be incredibly excited about, in hinting that he will field calls from various television networks should they have interest in putting him in front of a camera, and giving him a career as an analyst, something I, and many other fans would love to see. The more Shaq, the better.

Shaq took a bunch of questions, telling heartfelt stories about his life and career as a basketball player, father, and role model. His emotion was obviously bittewrsweet, but he didn’t cry on camera for effect and he didn’t draw the conference out longer than it needed to be. It was never about him, it was about his fans and the people around him. He wanted to throw a party for everybody else celebrating his illustrious career. “It’s about you guys, I wanted to host you guys and thank you personally,” Shaq said in some of the closing words of the conference.

To me, this day summed up Shaquille O’ Neal in just a few minutes.

Humble, happy, sincere, professional, thankful, the list goes on and on, but one thing is for certain, Shaq is the utmost role model for not only basketball players, but all people, young and old, to look up to. Never have I seen an athlete like him on or off the court, and he will be very missed around the league for a long time.

What will he do now? Rapper, actor, investor, coach, analyst, doctor? He of course has a plethora of options (even later hinting at having a hand in bringing an NFL team to Los Angeles), but I have no doubt that he will have incredibly deserved success in whatever he should choose. Good luck to Shaquille O’ Neal, my favorite athlete of all time.

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