Yao was one of the tallest National Basketball Association players at 7-foot-6 while O’Neal stands 7-foot-1. In a sprawling, emotional address that sounded more like a wedding toast than an acceptance speech, Iverson thanked everyone from his mother to Biggie Smalls, compared his first game against Michael Jordan to a famous Chappelle Show skit and held back tears when talking about his siblings, children and lifelong friends. Iverson was being heavily recruited for both football and basketball, but he lost nearly all offers from colleges after he was involved in a bowling alley brawl. “I’m just playing, Nick”. He became an worldwide basketball icon.
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“When walking in this Hall, for the first time, I feel I’m so small”, Yao said, via Chron. And an incident happened in high school and all that was taken away.
Following this year’s games, 13 National Basketball Association teams will have played 22 games in China since 2004.
Yao said in a statement announcing a youth basketball partnership with NBA China in 2012. I would have liked him to discuss more about what shaped his fearless, nearly reckless playing style.
“He said. ‘Thanks, my brother.’ Three years I never spoke to Yao because I thought there was a language barrier there”.
“Basketball has taught me to laugh and to celebrate in victory”, he said. It’s just one of the many programmes Yao uses to spread his love of basketball to China’s youth, and there will likely be many more to come. I was only going to do it my way.
Yao himself wistfully acknowledged a career that “ended too soon” as he was inducted.
“You’re just the best to me”, he said.
The towering centre was joined in the class of 2016 by the likes of center Shaquille O’Neal and guard Allen Iverson. Whenever he nearly broke down, the Philadelphia fans at Symphony Hall – louder than the fans for any other inductee – stood and hollered once more, giving him some support as well as a little more time to compose himself.
“I’m so fortunate to be your son”.
“The only thing that got me here is my teammates and my coaches”.
He then joked about how his parents had taught his “soft touch on free throw line” before taking a friendly pot shot at O’Neal, who was notoriously inaccurate from the line during his career.
The league MVP in 2001, when he carried the 76ers to the NBA Finals and a four-time league scoring champ, Iverson remains the only player 6-foot or shorter among the NBA’s top 66 all-time scorers.
An eight-times All-Star, he played 486 games over nine years, all with the Houston Rockets, averaging 19 points and 9.2 rebounds before foot and ankle injuries forced his retirement in 2011. (Shaq loves making fun of Iverson’s “practice” rant, but Yao beat him to it when he led off with a wisecrack that Iverson should have made the first speech, because Yao needed more time to practice).
Yao’s was the first inductee of the ceremony, which gave the Chinese star an opportunity to take a friendly dig at Iverson, who he said should have been given the honour.
Iverson’s popularity showed up when fans gave a 3-minute standing ovation before he stepped up the stage for his speech.
Yao also thanked his early mentors in China, former National Basketball Association cCommissioner David Stern for his vision in wanting Yao to play in the league, as well his first teammates on the Houston Rockets.
From making a lovely tribute to his family, to shouting out rappers, to honoring Michael Jordan, to mentioning Rick James and to – of course – saluting Philly, A.I.’s speech was gold.
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“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”.
