So ends an era....

Whether or not the NBA tips off at all next season remains to be seen. One thing is for sure though, Yao Ming won't be attempting to get through another season. Most of us Rockets fans assumed that Yao would be retiring this summer. It was still inspiring to see him accompanying the Rockets when I saw them in Philly in late March. I am sure there were many excuses a lot of other players would have come up with to have missed that game completely. Clearly, all Yao has ever wanted to do is be a successful, dominant NBA center. Unfortunately, we were only able to see this potential in very limited stretches throughout his career. Still, those glimpses were some of the more dominant stretches a player 7"3" or taller has ever seen in the league.

It all started almost ten years ago now. I was living off Monroe Avenue on Rutgers Street. This was Houston's first season without Hakeem Olajuwon at Center. Steve Francis missed over a month in that season around the Holidays. Honestly, I did not watch a lot of games that season. I remember looking it as a rebuilding year for Houston. Plus I was heavily involved with all of my Enterprise Hardcore endeavors at the time. The very next season was when I got very excited about NBA basketball again. Yes, this was a year before Lebron, Carmelo, Wade, Bosh, and company entered into the league. I remember watching the 2002 NBA draft lottery in hopes that Houston could somehow land the first pick. I had heard about Yao Ming and I knew this was exactly what I needed to get me excited about the NBA again. A year after we lose The Dream, we get The Dynasty? Yes, I would love to have that happen. Now, they just had to win the lottery. Steve Francis made up for those games he missed earlier in the season, by showing up to the lottery and being the lucky charm the Rockets would need to acquire their future dominant big man. Now anyone who wants to say the last decade as a Rockets fan has been a waste will look back on this moment as the moment that put them here. Imagine if Houston ended up with a later pick and ended up drafting someone else. Ok, that is for another time and place...

Despite a lot of early criticisms, Yao's first three seasons were injury-free and his production increased (slightly) every one of those three seasons. Still, a lot of people called Yao soft and questioned his determination and potential in the playoffs. After Yao's second season, Houston traded Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley for Trach McGrady. At the time, I was excited at the idea of coupling one of the NBA's best scorers with an up and coming dominant center. While I always enjoyed having Steve Francis on the Rockets, this trade seemed to make the Rockets better on paper. Steve Francis saw his career decline rather rapidly after this trade. He is still only 34, so I guess a comeback is still a possibility for the next couple years. I was looking forward to the 2004-05 NBA season more than I had any other season since the Rockets won back to back titles a decade earlier. With a couple years of playing together, the sky seemed to be the potential limit for this team. Unfortunately, this never ended up happening, as Yao and TMAC were on the verge of several injury plagued seasons. Before this could happen though, they got my hopes up against the Dallas Mavericks, only to be blown out in a game 7 that TMAC never showed up for (and I fell asleep during, a tradition I have kept up to this day). That was the only full season Yao and TMAC would team up for. In 2005-06, TMAC started his string of chronic back and knee issues, and Yao started having foot issues. Every year I would get my hopes up, and every year these two would end up on the bench in street clothes. Finally, just as I start thinking to myself that Yao should not be exepcted to play 70 or more games in a season, he played a full season.

In 2008-09, Yao missed only 5 games. This would be TMAC's first time getting out of the first round, although he technically didn't do anything as he was injured. I remember being so excited to finally see my team in the second round of the playoffs again. It was a feeling that would not last very long for me. The Lakers were up next and I did not have very high expectations. The Rockets did win the first game of this series, but then lost the next two. The second loss was especially bad, because this spelled the beginning of the end for Yao Ming. I remember sitting at the bar at Elixir- drunk - wondering why this had to keep happening. Granted, Houston did stretch that series to 7 games. I was still nervous as all hell for the future of the Rockets.

Yao played five more games after this season, none of which were really all that noteworthy. I looked at the Rockets payroll a couple times this season, dreaming of the day when Yao's contract would not be there anymore. Now that the day is here, I am kind of sad. They do have Hasheem Thabeet waiting in the wings, but I doubt he is going to have anywhere near the potential his predecessors in Yao and Hakeem had.