Yao Ming has decided to call it a career, ending not like the “Great Center” that many predicted but more like a lamb playing in all of 5 games in the last two seasons due to foot problems. In 9 seasons with the Rockets he averaged 19.0 ppg and 9.2 rpg and he took Houston in to the Playoffs 4 times (3 First Round exits and a Second Round exit). I will admit that I was one of those people who expected him to have a memorable career but that never panned out. I have a feeling people will be saying the same thing about Greg Oden in a few years.
He showed flashes of brilliance over his career but he has not played in 82 games since his second season. His lifetime total consists of 9,247 points and 4,494 rebounds playing 486 regular season games and 28 playoff games but he never won an NBA Championship, Conference Championship, Division Championship, MVP Award (No major awards actually). He was selected to 8 All-Star teams (His final as an honor not a deserved position), 5 All-NBA Teams (2x 2nd Team and 3x 3rd Team), the All-Rookie Team and the Rookie All-Star team.
Ignoring his CBA accomplishments he was just an average NBA center, nothing more. I find it funny that people are already talking about his inclusion on the NBA Hall of Fame ballot in 5 years. Does he really deserve a Hall of Fame nod? Here is a list of players based on a monitor score to see how they stack up against other players (HOF, current and retired players). You will notice that Yao Ming is absent from the list (I tallied his score and he only hit 42) falling well below basketball monsters like Steve Francis, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Charles Oakley.
You can find his autographs and relic cards for under $20 easily and his rookies range from a dollar or two up to $100-200 for his 2002 Topps Finest and Upper Deck SPX cards.
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