Even if Ming is only an average player like.. 13PPG, 10RPG, and 2 Blocks a game....just think of this... The Rockets for the first time in their franchise history will become the talk of EVERY sports station from TV to radio...Rocks will be on NBC, TNT almost every week like the Knicks because the entire country wants to see this freak Ming in action!! Every game would be sold out...players would want to sign on as free agents because of the publicity...and ENTIRE country of 5 BILLION PEOPLE(China) will keep track of Rocket games because of Ming!! We would become a renouned team ACROSS THE WORLD!!! Even if Ming is not the player that deserves to be the 1st pick...the other intangibles are ISANE TO PASS UP!! Personally...I DO NOT LIKE MING...I am not high on him at all..but the intangibles he brings might be worth it!!!
Really? Seems to me they want money and/or championship rings. I don't know of too many who sign on for another person's publicity unless that person is winning championship's. As for the rest you mentioned, all of that is great for Les but since I get no cut of the profits I would prefer that Ming brings ALOT of basketball to the Rockets if they select him. If he does that the rest will follow. If he doesn't, the rest won't last long.
Look at what Ichiro has done for Seattle Ming will be a HUGE draw from an owner standpoint, Ming is the man
5 billion??? There are only 6 billion people on the planet. China has 1.2 billion people. But, your point is noted. It's a wierd dillema... 1. He's supposedly very good. 2. The complications with the Chinese government could be nuts. 3. The worldwide attention probably has the Rockets marketing team peeing their pants. Of those 3, only #3 can be confirmed (well, except the peeing part ). We don't know how good he'll be and we don't know how complex the situation will be with China. Unless they can figure out those two situations, #3 doesn't mean diddly.
My friends..I don't doubt that Ming is a good player and I don't doubt that he can be good. But let's be serious, Ming will never be what Ichiro is to baseball. I mean never!!
Ming is one of China's most promising forays into the modern world. Why is everyone so convinced that they will screw that up with their bureaucracy?
I'd get all those hideous pinstripes you've bought over the years, scratch out the name, etch in Mings name with some whiteout, and sell it in Chinatown... Time to put those hideous uniforms that gathered dust in the closet (cept for Halloween) to good use! Yao Ming won't be a bust if and only if Olawakandi can itch for a 8-10 million dollar a year contract just because he played the last ten games above average... For all his weaknesses, you can't teach 7-5 height. He has more upside, more basketball history, and more untangibles than the former no.1 overall draft pick can ever be. Of course we aren't the Clips, but that year it was up between Bibby and the Kandiman. See any similarities here? The difference of course is that the Kandiman didn't even start playing basketball 7 years ago...
