The NBA Hall Of Fame List Includes:

The 2016 NBA Hall of Fame inductees were announced today with Shaq leading the list. In addition to Shaquille O’Neal is Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Sheryl Swoopes along with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and the Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. This is a solid group, though I am not completely sold on Yao Ming, and very collectible.

Shaq is the reason I returned to collecting in 1993, his 1992-93 Stadium Club #247 is my wallet card (though he didn’t get many photo ops last year), and his autographs are still highly collectible.

AI is one of my mini PCs, I actually pulled this autograph in 2007, one of my favorite auto pulls. His career didn’t flower like it should have and he definitely has a grating personality but he definitely is worthy of a HOF plaque. As long as there are no practices required Allen Iverson will be there.

When it comes to (recent) women’s professional basketball there are three names held in reverence, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes. Cynthia Cooper was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 2009, Lisa Leslie was inducted in to the Hall of Fame last year so this year it is Sheryl Swoopes turn.

The final player being inducted is Yao Ming. I do not know how I feel about him being included, he had a decent career being an 8-time All-Star and was among the top centers during his career but he spent much of the time injured, never pushed the Rockets to an elite team and many are saying he is being included simply for being a foreign player that opened up the league to China, essentially an ambassador for the sport.

 

End Of The Great Yao Ming Project

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 2^nd Team and 3x 3^rd 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.