.@JalenRose believes that Yao Ming’s selection to the hall of fame is undeserved and “not fair”. pic.twitter.com/KRtzZrzIwx
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) March 31, 2016
ESPN’s Jalen Rose is ready to change the Basketball Hall of Fame’s standards for induction.
Rose, who played in the NBA from 1994 to 2007, said on his ESPN program with Dave Jacoby on Thursday that Yao Ming, who will be inducted to the Hall of Fame later this year, doesn’t actually deserve that accolade.
Here is the full transcription of Rose’s thesis:
He absolutely, positively does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. It’s not even close. I do not like the fact that there’s an international committee that votes for international players and puts them in the same Hall of Fame as the American-born players, but they lower the bar based on their productivity. That’s not fair. I don’t like that.
Rose is right and wrong on this one, right in that he’s allowed to hold a perfectly valid — and possibly common — opinion that the Basketball Hall of Fame should operate more like the baseball one, letting in players for their greatness within the sport and not handling situations with players from foreign countries differently. But making his point through Yao’s induction is the wrong way to do it.
For now, the Hall of Fame’s standards are the same as they’ve always been, and Yao certainly deserves induction for the contributions he’s made in expanding the NBA to China.
That argument can be made without even mentioning his tremendous career, which was cut short at age 30 after chronic foot problems forced him into retirement. Still, Yao finished his nine years in the NBA averaging 19.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. During his short, injury-filled, three-year prime from 2005 to 2008, he averaged 23.0 points, 10.2 rebounds and was arguably the NBA’s best center.
He had one of the prettiest offensive games in the league. He is one of the greatest free-throw-shooting big men of all time. His mere size turned him into a defensive presence.
Slab his résumé onto someone who didn’t contribute to the game off the court like Yao did, and you have what was merely a very good-to-great career which was unfortunately marred by injuries. But add the amount of money he’s made for the NBA, the global expansion for which he’s responsible, the way he’s acted as an ambassador for the league even after his retirement, and Yao deserves a spot in the Hall as much as anyone else.
If you want to change the standards for the Hall of Fame, that’s an easy argument to make. But as of now, those standards are still the same. The Hall can’t just draw an arbitrary line with Yao. He has to get in, and when he officially does later this year, it will be well-deserved.
