HOUSTON -- Yao Ming, the first man to become the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft without playing in college, had his Houston Rockets' No. 11 jersey retired on Friday night.
Yao played eight NBA seasons, missing the 2009-10 season to injury. He was named to the All-NBA second team twice and third-team three times and in 2005 broke Michael Jordan's record for All-Star votes with 2,558,278.
"I didn't know what to expect," Yao said of when he was drafted in 2002. "I just wanted to play basketball, the NBA way against the best players in the world.