Yao Ming To Be Nominated As ‘Contributor’ For 2012 Basketball Hall Of Fame

Team websites are struggling to entertain fans under the strict NBA lockout rules, but Rockets.com has done a solid job, and its new campaign to get fans to write letters to retired Yao Ming to try to explain what he meant and means to them ... it’s very promising. The Rockets have already compiled some letters from team employees, and have an email address for fans to send theirs as well.

According to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, the CBA and the media in China will nominate Yao for the contributor category in 2012.The necessary paperwork is set to be filed in time before the 2012 ballot is finalized.

This designation has no time period set on it and reads as follows:

Dan Levin wrote about the gaping hole in Chinese basketball Yao leaves for Tuesday’s New York Times.

Yao’s next offering to China may be years down the line, when children Yao inspired during his reign come of age and make the trek to the NBA. Unfortunately, that leaves enough space to kill any momentum Yao’s reign itself created.

Word broke 10 days ago that Yao had filed retirement paperwork with the NBA; since then, it was announced that he’d hold a press conference announcing the decision on July 20 in his hometown of Shanghai. Yao was the Rockets’ No. 1 pick overall in the 2002 NBA Draft, and spent all nine of his seasons in Houston. He only played in eight of those seasons, and has only played 91 minutes in the past two seasons combined due to recurring injuries to his foot.

At 7’6, Yao was at times a dominant center, one of few remaining in the NBA. He was an All-Star starter in every season, thanks no doubt to contributions from Chinese fans with internet connections. But he was also a regular on the All-NBA team, a testament to the fact his power wasn’t just in fame, but also talent and production.

Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle that he thinks Yao belongs in the Hall of Fame without a doubt.

For more on Yao’s retirement, visit The Dream Shake and SB Nation Houston.

Instead, two Rockets players helped him up and walked with him back to the bench. He took one step forward, then another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. On his eighth step, he felt a pain in his foot, and crunched his face up. The Wizards’ feed had cut away by now, but the Rockets one caught a shot of it and freezed the frame for several seconds.

Looking back, it’s eerie. At its most basic level, it’s eerie because nobody knew at the time that Yao Ming would never play NBA basketball again. But it’s also eerie because the whole sequence sums up the odd career Yao Ming had. For the first seven steps of his walk off the court, he was a pillar of stability, able to carry his 7’6” body and, seemingly, so much expectations other people placed on him. It was only on that eighth step where the pain of carrying all that weight came through, and only the few fans watching on the Rockets feed on replay saw it. Even after that, he carried himself like a tower of force, walking off on his own power and not getting the chance to show anyone just how much pain he was in. The symbolism of Yao as a Great Wall had never felt so appropriate and inappropriate at the same time.

John Huizinga, Yao’s primary agent at BDA Sports Management, told Ken Berger of CBS Sports that he wouldn’t address Yao’s reported retirement, citing his client’s privacy. Yao will apparently end his privacy soon, though, because BDA Sports announced today that Yao will have a news conference July 20 in Shanghai according to Berger.

It seems awfully strange that Yao would wait nearly two weeks before addressing the reports of his own retirement, especially considering how great he’s been as a basketball ambassador to China. He’s probably earned that right, however, and it’s hard to blame him for anything since he’s apparently already made up his mind.

But fortune? Fortune as in dollar bills came, sure; Yao made almost $100 million in salary in the NBA, plus major endorsements in the United States with Pepsi, Visa and, of course, Nike. He makes a mint in China, too. But fortune as in good luck, that’s harder to find in the wane of Yao’s NBA career.

Yao will be remembered as a player for his size, skill and heart, but also for that snakebitten fate, for being a disappointment through no fault of his own.

So, this is already one of the saddest non-Gehrig retirements of all time. He’s off to a great start, and he has a chance to really sad this thing up. Here’s what he needs to do:

So pour one out for the 2002 NBA Draft as well.

It was in that series that Yao made himself one of the most sympathetic, easy to root for stars in the league.

The TNT cameras were back there, too.

Houston made Yao the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NBA Draft after the Chinese player wowed team officials in workout sessions and interviews. He made the All-Star team in every season in which he played a game -- including last season, thanks to fan voting determining the starters. But he was also named to an All-NBA team in five out of his eight seasons in which he appeared in a game.

Yao owns a team in the Chinese Basketball Association. It’s unclear whether he intends to attempt a basketball comeback outside of the NBA.