When looking at the best big men in NBA history, people often cite Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, or Wilt Chamberlain. But one man who deserves some recognition is Yao Ming. The Hall of Famer had several dominant seasons for the Rockets and could have potentially given the city of Houston a few titles had he not dealt with so many injuries.
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Cuttino Mobley remembers the dominance of the Beast from the Far East. He played alongside Yao for several years on the Rockets. Not only that, but Mobley believes that he was a big reason Yao finally started becoming so aggressive in the NBA. At least, that’s what he told Matt Barnes during a recent interview on All The Smoke.
“Yao to me is like Hakeem Olajuwon,” started Mobley, who used The Dream comparison more for Yao’s personality rather than his b-ball skills. “Very still, stoic. Steady. Nothing really rattles. If it does rattle, you don’t know it.” It’s a pretty good insight, as Ming rarely seemed to be a player who lost his temper on or off the court.
However, that would change after Mobley started putting some pressure on his 7’6″ teammate. “Through a course of a period of time just getting to know Yao, he’s not really dominating. Like dunking the ball, things like that. I’m looking at him like, ‘Dog you too big.’ I’m like, ‘Yo you need to be aggressive. You need to break somebody’s neck.’ So I’m cuss him out. Cuss him out. But I loved him because he was a good dude.”
Mobley later called himself a little crazy, and understood in hindsight that busting Yao’s chops was probably not the smartest idea. But that doesn’t mean that it didn’t eventually pay off. In fact, Cuttino recalled the exact moment that Yao Ming went from friendly giant to killer center.
“We playing Atlanta bro. Theo Ratliff…man, he blocked his shot maybe twice. After that? Yao Ming put him in the basket, I don’t know how many times. He was so mad. Maybe he was mad at me. He was probably mad at me,” he said with a smile. “We came back and beat them, and Yao Ming showed me a different version of himself, and from then on, Yao was just like dominant.”
Ming had indeed become the Ming Dynasty. The legend became an eight-time All-Star, and as previously mentioned, eventually was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mobley wanted listeners to understand though that Yao was much better than the stats said. He even compared him to Nikola Jokic.
“And what people don’t understand about Yao, he could pass the ball. Like Joker? He could have done that,” he revealed before explaining that the Rockets offense never ran through Yao the way it runs through Jokic in Denver.
Still, for Mobley to compare Yao to arguably the current best player in the NBA and possibly the most influential big man since Shaq is quite an endorsement. Ming’s run in the NBA really was a capsule in time. Sure, he didn’t have the success that Dream, or the Diesel, or Duncan, or Wilt, or Kareem had. But he did make an impact, not just on the court, but in the league’s popularity in China.
That is the stuff legends are made of. You can tell that Mobley admired getting to play alongside someone as influential as Yao. And what better endorsement than a teammate who becomes a friend?
