Another great NBA center has retired.
Last month, Shaquille O’Neal announced on twitter his retirement after dominating the NBA for 19 years.
Today, the 7″6′ Yao Ming has decided to retire after eight seasons playing for the Houston Rockets where he became literally and figuratively the largest symbol of the NBA’s growing expansion around the world and particularly in Asia.
After dominating the NBA for 19 years, Shaquille O’Neal has announced on twitter his retirement.
“We did it. 19 years baby. I want to thank you very much. That’s why I’m telling you first. I’m about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon.”
In a unanimous vote, Blake Griffin is chosen as the best rookie for the 2010-11 NBA season bagging the Rookie of the Year Award.
Selected as the #1 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, he was sidelined for a year when he broke his left kneecap during the Clippers’ final exhibition game against New Orleans. So technically, he is still a rookie coming into this season.
While no official announcement has yet been made by the NBA, Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls is set to be recognized as its Most Valuable Player for the 2010-11 NBA season.
Various sources say NBA Commissioner David Stern will present it to him before the Game 2 of the Bulls Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Hawks on May 4 at the United Center.
Last year, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard became the first player in NBA history to lead the league in blocked shots and rebounds in the same season twice – and for two seasons in a row.
Today, he was named as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2010-11 season to become the first player to win the award in three straight seasons.
Only Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo has more with four awards each.
Dwight Howard is only 25 years old and will certainly earn more before his career is over barring any injuries.
Howard led the NBA with 66 double-doubles, including six 20-point/20-rebound efforts, while ranking second in rebounds (14.1 rpg) and fourth in blocks (2.38 bpg). He also was the defensive anchor of a team that was ranked fourth in the regular season, giving up 93.7 points per game to opponents.
At Lebron James’ homecoming last December 2, 2010 in Cleveland, there was anticipation if has the guts to do his pregame throwing-up-chalk-in-the-air ritual.
Apparently, he had. He even burned his former team in the 3rd quarter scoring 24 points on a sizzling 10-for-12 shooting to finish with 38 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, despite not playing in the 4th quarter and getting the win 118-90.
In his second homecoming yesterday, Lebron himself expected that fan reception of him will not be as bad as that first one.
