Two years ago, Yao Ming was inducted into the Hall of Fame together with Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson, among others – a fact that many still see as a marketing gag. SPOX looks back on its 38th birthday and explains why this does not do justice to the Chinese giant.
This article was originally published on September 7, 2016.
“Says Yao Ming:’Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-ah-so”, were the first words Shaquille O’Neal addressed to Yao Ming in an interview on FOX Sports Net in January 2003, accompanied by kung fu-like gestures. Many called this action racist, Shaq himself rowed back a little later and apologized publicly.
With Yao himself, that wouldn’t have been necessary. The Chinese guy had no interest in a controversy shortly before his first matchup with the best center in the world and even provided the explanation for Shaq: “I think he meant it as a joke, but many Asians won’t understand this kind of joke,” Yao said. “I think our cultures are just very different.”
The Chinese, in the middle of his first rookie season as the first foreign No.1 pick without college experience in history, wanted to concentrate on the game anyway. And he succeeded: When Yaos Rockets’ game against Shaqs Lakers was only a few minutes old, the Chinese had blocked the reigning (triple) final MVP on his first three rolls.
All stories from the Legend Archive
Shaq had to admit to himself that his 2.29-meter-high opponent was nobody he could push around like the Shawn Bradleys or Todd McCulloughs of this center generation. On Saturday night, both centers will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame together.
Of course Yao has a completely different vita than O’Neal or Allen Iverson, who is also honored. He has no MVP awards, no titles, no scorer crowns, has never reached the Conference Finals. His career points (9,247 points in 486 games) are extremely low for a Hall-of-Famer. Several injuries forced him to a much too short career (9 seasons).
Accordingly, his recording was harshly criticized in many places when the Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 2016 vintage. Former player and ESPN expert Jalen Rose, for example, said that Yao “has no place at all in the Hall of Fame” and spoke from the souls of many others.
Everyone can have opinions – but this statement can only be made by someone who has not understood the meaning of the BASKETBALL (not NBA) Hall of Fame. Because there can be no doubt about Yao’s influence on the game.
Yao had perhaps excluded a greater share of the globalization of the game than anyone else, David Stern and Michael Jordan. For decades the NBA had tried to establish itself in China, but never really succeeded – before Yao came.
“People at the time thought we were only good bookworms and had no chance in sports,” recalled Brian Yang, a Sino-American actor and producer (among others from the documentary “Linsanity”). “When someone like Yao, who looked like us, became a star in the NBA, it cast a spell over us all. Even my mother, who wasn’t really interested in basketball, wanted to watch Rockets games.”
The proof: Rockets matches that were shown in China had an average of 200 million viewers from China alone – higher values than at the last Super Bowl, for example. Although after Yao no other Chinese became NBA stars, the hype has never subsided there: No other sport is written about there more in the social media than the NBA.
The most popular player in China has been Kobe Bryant for years – and the Black Mamba said as early as 2011: “When it comes to who opens the doors here, not only for the professionals, but also for the children who dream of an NBA future or who generally develop interest in the league – it all started with Yao”.
Ming was a perfect ambassador for the sport because, despite all the hype, he remained incredibly down-to-earth and never took himself too seriously – he appeared in commercials, for example, making fun of his own communication problems in the States. Or about prejudices.
“He is a special person in the history of the NBA,” his former coach Jeff Van Gundy recently said: “He opened the sport to China and presented himself every day with dignity and grace, although many people initially wanted to see him fail. He has gradually changed that with his personality and his game.”
Van Gundy is also perhaps Yao’s greatest advocate as a hall-of-famer, even if it’s “just” about the NBA career. Of course, he is also aware of the points of criticism: Only nine years in the NBA, only the first two years with 82 games played, little team success – but he doesn’t care.
“People forget how good he was,” Van Gundy said. “I guarantee none of his critics saw him as I did as a coach. He was the second best center in the league after Shaq for years. And the next big man, Dwight Howard, he regularly made look like a schoolboy.”
Indeed: Between 2003 and 2007, Yao even looked like the best center in the league, despite Shaq and Tim Duncan, although it was officially “Power Forward”. He repeatedly led the centers in the Player Efficiency Rating and even stopped with the ninth-best center PER in history.
He protected the ring, had a surprisingly good touch for his gigantic stature and had several skills that people with his size weren’t supposed to have. If his body had not caused so many problems, which is probably impossible with such a figure, nobody would probably doubt its hall-of-fame-suitability today.
Bill Walton is one comparison that could be used: the center legend never managed an entire season, but won titles in his “fittest” campaigns in 1977 and 1986. In Yao’s prime years, co-star Tracy McGrady was the one who was hurt, and vice versa. It wasn’t meant to be, but that didn’t make Yao or T-Mac bad players.
And as I said: Yao still has one or the other trump card. Perhaps the most revealing illustration of his influence came before the press conference at which this year’s Hall-of-Fame vintage was presented: Shaq greeted Yao with some impeccable Mandarin and called him a “brother”.
Shaquille O’Neal: A mighty child’s head
It’s been a long way for Yao and Shaq since they first met. No’Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-so!’, but only mutual respect. And there may never have been two more different rivals in the league than Shaq and Yao.
For where Shaq never missed an opportunity to point out his own excellence, Yao always remained incredibly modest, although he possessed more radiance worldwide than probably anyone else in his time. “I’m only one of 1.3 billion Chinese,” Yao once said. And he meant it.