HARD IN THE PAINT: SAME DAY, ANOTHER RETIREMENT – YAO MING

History making, oft injured, Chinese big man Yao Ming retirement news has got the internet going nuts. While the folks in Houston don’t know whether to shoot of a furious side-eye, or a gather in a slow clap of admiration and respect. One things for sure, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Yao hasn’t played more than 10 games in the past two season due to an injury he just couldn’t get right.

But all in all, Yao’s one of few players that can be widely credited with breaking the game open on a global scale(including all of China). The 1st pick of the 2002 draft, Yao averaged 19.0 points and 9.3 rebounds a game throughout his career and made the NBA All Star squad every season (even when injured). We had so many high hopes for the 7ft 6in Yao, especially after he successfully fought off the super hood influence of cats like Moochie Norris and Steve Francis.