RealGM

Yao is truly a great and humble person. You just can't recognize his accomplishments on the court without seeing his kindness and humbleness off it. I am proud to call Yao my friend.

He opened so many doors. He personally put me in position to have a life after basketball. I'm so lucky to have had a chance to know him, play with him and to work with him. He has a legacy very few have, and he has been and will continue to be a great influence.

It's what he does, it's who he is.

Man, you never really get over his size, a guy who is 7-foot-6 and that big. Even now when we stand next to each other, I can't get over it.

That's why Yao getting into the Hall of Fame is so deserved. His skills for a man his size were just unbelievable. He could do everything. He could post up, score with either hand, shoot a jumper, he had an array of moves. He could block shots. He passed so well and that's so rare for a guy his size.

I'd never played with a big man of his caliber. I didn't know he was that skilled before I came to the Rockets, but then I saw it every day in practice, every day before games, after games. He really put in the work to perfect his craft -- he even took our technical foul shots because he was that great of a free throw shooter.

The joke was supposed to be on Yao. It was 2003, a few months into Yao Ming’s rookie year in Houston. A Rockets staffer found a mouse in the locker room. He stuck it in a shoebox and left it in Yao’s locker. The hope was that the mild-mannered, 7-foot-6 center would jump at the sight of the rodent. He didn’t. Yao opened the box and calmly looked across the room at Moochie Norris, Houston’s 6-1 backup point guard. “Oh,” Yao said. “Moochie’s brother.”