The 7-foot-6 former Houston Rockets center was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., along with Allen Iverson and Shaquille O’Neal.
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Dressed in all-black, the retired National Basketball Association star paused repeatedly throughout his speech to collect himself.
Iverson’s popularity showed up when fans gave a 3-minute standing ovation before he stepped up the stage for his speech.
“To be the man that I am and having no regrets for the man that I am”.
Ming didn’t make the Hall of Fame for his National Basketball Association career alone, but for his influence on the game outside the realms of the best league in the world.
The NBA changed its dress code in part because of him, because his look made too many uncomfortable.
“The first time I played against Yao, he blocked me three times in a row”, O’Neal said. But I was always more interested in Yao the basketball player, the teammate, the private person. It looked like he was glowing. “Fab”, Iverson said. “I wanna thank Biggie Smalls, Redman, Jadakiss, 2 Pac and Michael Jackson for being my theme music for my career”. “Once I started to listen to him and was coached by him, that’s when I became an MVP, I became an All-Star…and I followed his lead all the way”. “Kobe Bryant, a guy who would push me and help me win three titles, but who also helped me get pushed off the team and traded to Miami”. “It was my idol, my hero”.
O’Neal also gave a amusing speech that at times was more like a roast, with his former Los Angles Laker teammate Kobe Bryant among those on the receiving end.
“Me, I wanted to be like Mike”, Iverson said during his speech.
“Alonzo Mourning, arch nemesis turned great friend”, said O’Neal, who also selected Bill Russell, Julius Erving and Isiah Thomas as presenters.
“The gift I get from you, is not only the height but the way you taught me to think, and to make decisions”.
Growing up in the area during the Allen Iverson days was probably the greatest way to become indoctrinated as a Sixers fan.
Iverson said Larry Brown, the 76ers coach with whom he had an often contentious relationship, was responsible for him becoming a Hall of Famer. You know what I’m saying? The respect of my peers and love from the fans are my biggest validation.
“For a small-town guy from the U.P. of MI where we have 11 months of winter and one month of poor sledding”, Izzo said, “tonight, other than the birth of my children, is the proudest and greatest achievement of my life”.
And then there was the fellow big man he presented, seated behind O’Neal during O’Neal’s speech.
Shaq acknowledged that even for himself, one of the biggest centers in the league, Yao’s size still made him a hard matchup. “I don’t know if Shaq agrees with that”. “Why can’t it just be good news?” This weekend, they will enter the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame together.
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Yao had jokes throughout his excellent speech.
