Yao Ming, of the Houston Rockets, has retired from the NBA, according to a number of sources. Obviously, not directly Jazz related news, but we see the continuing death of true, back to the basket big men in the passing of Yao Ming from being an "active" player to retiring from the NBA. He will be missed. Love him or hate him, he was a very nice man who advanced basketball in his nation (China), his continent (Asia), and across the globe. Yes, he got a lot of All-Star votes every year - but you can't hate a guy for being popular. (The under-reported issue is that the majority of Yao Ming votes came from the US, not China...) He finishes his NBA years with career averages of 19.0 ppg (52.4 fg%, 83.3 ft%), 9.2 rpg, and 1.9 bpg. Hall of Famer? He'll get in for sure. Even if he only got out of the 1st round once in his career.

He will be missed.

And yes, Rockets fans, this is the picture I'm using for this post. Don't like it? Use a pic of Yao dunking on AK when Andrei Kirilenko retires.