In a few years, when Yao Ming and Eddie Griffin have developed to top dollar players (hopefully),how are we going to keep the Rockets together? And if we do keep our core together, what about the backups. We will lose alot of depth on our team, making us lottery contenders again (hopefully not). My question is, under the salary cap rules, will we be able to keep our top players (Griff, Ming, SF, Mobley) together?
i think so mobley is allready under a cheap contract for 5 yrs, francis will get 7 yrs w/ max money, i doubt yao ming will ask for to much he doesnt seem greedy and i doubt he will want to switch teams often in the nba if at all i think he will get use to the rockets and be very loyal allthough the china govt mgith demand that ming have a huge salary if he pans out, griffin doesnt strike me as greedy either and i think he will like to stay on the team for reseaonable money the only problem is we need to stop overpaying our backups!!
The wild card is Yao and how much additional revenue his following will generate. I believe the NBA shares a certain percentage of sales to the team of the player. If that's the case, I know China has a large boot-legging industry and I hope that a fair percentage of the Yao merchandise bought will be official. Another thing to consider is if these guy will become a powerhouse team. The deeper into the playoffs, the higer the payoff. Plus with a serious contender, the arena should be filled for every game. Man I hope the team will be a contender for years to come. If that's the case, there should be enough money to go around a la Paul Allen and Mark Cuban.
I hope so, just don't over pay Francis. Pay Francis a 7 year 60 million deal or less, if we pay him 90 million+ then we just screwed our team.
absolutely agree here.. I think its astounding that players demand the max when they've never taken thier team to the playoffs.. but I think Francis knows he has a good thing here.. But if we don't start winning.. I could forsee Him complaining alot.
I think if Ming pans (hopefully) out and there's a team willing to pay him the max besides us, the rockets will have to pay him the max or he leaves. The Chinese are big on face and honor. Not giving him what he might think he deserve might be the same as a slap in the face. It's all about respect, think Hakeem. One good thing is that if he really might bounce ship, he wouldn't be vocal about like rashad or khandi, and just let things work themselves, think Wang, so we might be able to get a good trade if salary becomes an issue.
Why not keep the team together, especially if it's winning? Alexander has proven in the past that he's willing to spend money if it means having a good to great team. Also, Mark Cuban brought up an interesting point about the luxury tax. So many owners are worried about it, and are keeping their payrolls lean because of it, that the league is no where close to implementing the tax. That means a team like the Mavs can go out and take on some contracts without fearing the luxury tax due to the actions of the other teams. I don't think the luxury tax is as big a deal as its made out to be.
