Whether the Lin and Howard deals go down or not (although both are looking good right now), we have to give major props to Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming reaching back out of retirement to have a huge impact on the current Rockets organization. Well played by the entire organization to leverage the influence and star power of it's former greats to get talent in the door. This is exactly how you handle the situation in the absence of a superstar player on the active roster. You lean on your own legacy and let them make the pitch for you. How can you not get excited about the prospect of Dwight Howard in a Houston uniform working out with Hakeem (and maybe Carroll Dawson!) on our home turf? Not to mention a whole new wave of Chinese fans and their crazy Babble Fish translations. LOF's, anyone? Thank you Yao and Hakeem. It may or may not work, but I applaud your valuable contributions.
True. Our legacy of stars are showing their appreciation to the organization by helping out. We should show them appreciation as well.
Lin has stated that he talks to Yao after every game and that he considers him a mentor. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=215189
Good on them. It's especially admirable to see how Hakeem really still cares about the Rockets and tries to help them.
It would even be fantastic if n assembly of Moses, Elvin Hayes, Ralph Sampson, Yao and Olajuwon are there as we welcome Dwight. Be hard to turn that down
Not know personally, sure. But imagine if NBA and Rocket legends are there to extend Houston welcome, it would be persuasive as hell!!!
Thank you Yao And Akeem .... The Great Wall and The Dream for still being part of a 46 year Wall of Dreams for the Houston Rockets!!!
Yeah it would be awesome but my point was that to Dwight it might just seem like a bunch of old guys that he's never heard of. He's not the sharpest tool in the drawer after all.
He's not the most decisive of a fella out there, but I'm sure her knows them. Heck, I'm not in the NBA and I know of them. The NBA legends are typically in the All-Star games and some NBA sanctioned events. And looking at someone who are 6'10, 7'4", inductive reasoning would tell you they're not your typical old farts. The idea of welcoming him to be part of the Rockets big man fraternity would be a electric, especially to extend the legacy of dominant Rocket centers. Also Id like to think that if anyone has a tasted the NBA floor, they would know some NBA history. After all they looked up to those stars before getting into the league.
The smartest thing the Rockets can do is to keep the players we have now and try to get Howard via Free Agency next year. Might be a bit too conservative but better than trading a lot of talent(and picks) for one player who might not sign an extension with us. I don't trust Howard at all.So with Scola now and Martin next year off the payroll we have plenty of cap space going into Free Agency 2013. We should not forget that Howard didn't learn one thing from Hakeem and that is called modesty.
You'd like to think players study the game and know the history, but it was Shaq who famously asked Lenny Wilkens, who was coaching him during the '94 All Star Game, "Did you ever play coach?" Of course Wilkens had been inducted into the Hall of Fame in '89, was a 9-time All Star and was (at that time) one of the top 5 all time assist leaders....
A guy on the RealGM boards claims that Stephen A Smith said Yao Ming has been doing some heavy recruiting for Houston on Lin. If true, it shows you the big fella's still bleeding rox red.
Morey and Yao are very close friends so it shouldn't be a surprise that Yao still tries to help out the organization. I wish Hakeem would get an official role with the organization and start working exclusively with ROX players.
