They have no other option at this point. It's not like there's another free agent that they could go after. They could either make a trade which probably won't make them a contender or take a risk on Yao.
Because Chinese have a non-trade clause? Or it's Yao's fault that he can bring money? I don't quite get it. Or you are saying Rockets wouldn't even have drafted Yao to start with, if he's not Chinese? Then, we would have got Williams instead and counting rings?
They would have drafted if he were not chinese ir not, but my point is after the third surgery, if Yao didnt have the money generating power that he does, ihe would have been gone.This is not an isolated incident, thisd is a trend.
What's wrong with Melo? He's probably the only superstar that is actually attainable. Either way, we need to get Melo to keep this franchise relevant. With Yao healthy, a Yao-Melo combo could be deadly, but without Yao, at least we could start new with Melo as the cornerstone of our franchise. Honestly, if I knew that if aquiring Melo meant CP3 would come here to follow Melo, I would straight up trade Yao for Melo.
After years, you are still arguing with your same old whatifs. But you can't selectively use the result of other people's past events to prove that you WILL HAVE SAME LUCK. You MIGHT have the same luck, or you might not. Big moves of business are always risky, and there is no guarantee either way. The Dream-Barkley-Pippen attempt sounded so promising, but it failed. SF3 looked so promising, but it failed. Yao looked so promising, and then the TMac-Yao combination looked so promising, but it failed. We can't say the Rockets made a stupid move, coz there was no significantly better and rational move at the time. I can't see how logically wrong was to draft SF3, or to draft Yao, or to get TMac. Of course, we could have got Williams instead of Yao, and I guess we wouldn't have been winning either. I like Yao, but I am never against trading Yao. But whom are we supposed to trade him for? This question has been asked to you particularly, at least 100 times. But I don't recall that you have ever given any FEASIBLE answers. You can't say "I told you so", because you didn't tell. If at any point of history, we could have got Kobe, LBJ, or Wade, for Yao, please sign me up. If we could land a super star, or a great young super star, or 2 good stars, or even just a good star plus fillers, after Yao got seriously injured. Please sign me up. But, if someone wants to trade him for serviceable players. Yao is more than serviceable. And I can't think of a reason why any Rockets fan wants to do that. If someone just wants to get rid of Yao for any cost (for whatever "noble" reason, i.e. keeping this great site of YOF free), then I can't see them as Rockets fans. If dumping Yao will get us a Durant, or even just a great chance to get him, I am not against it. But the odds is really low. The Seattle example you pulled worked out great for both Ray and the team. But they were lucky, and you can't plan that. Once again, lots of people are ready to move on without any player, as long as the move helps the team. Getting rid of Yao was never a problem, Les can tell Yao straight away that he's not welcomed. Or as so many posters have suggested - low ball him by offering him 4-5 million plus whatever "incentive". Yao will leave. That part of the equation was never the problem, the problem was whether the return is acceptable to you. A bag of potato chips might work for some people, but certainly not Les, not Morey, not the team, and not for the most of Rockets fans. Who did you suggest once again, the promising young player who's going to help the Rockets team a lot more than Yao could? Can we get "him", I am all for it.
So you are saying Les is cheap and money-oriented only, or you are saying Yao is such a burden for the team to have the money generating power? I don't know Yao personally, but I would imagine - If Les tells Yao that he's only interested in Yao's money generating power, I am pretty sure Yao would have demanded a trade long time ago.
I would do too. But right now, they won't trade, because Yao just came back from this serious surgery. At the end of the season, IF they like what they see how Yao does in this season, and they want the trade, you MIGHT not want the trade any more.
You need some good PR to dupe some team into taking a risk on Yao. Morey is doing his job correctly, but I'm puzzled at why he made this announcement public. Also making it public that they are going hard for Dampier or Fesenko may make some teams and GMs wonder if the Rockets have faith in Yao coming back healthy. I wonder who leaked that info? Was it Morey's camp? Dampier's agent? Fesenko's agent trying to play hardball with the Jazz into getting more money?
About half the franchises would take him for the economics of the situation (some are big enough to not need him, eg LA and Boston, some wouldn't need him because they're pets of multi billionaires).
None of those players are unattainable by any means. Any team will trade almost any player under the right circumstances and offer. Not many people thought we would be able to land Mcgrady back in the day (And he was regarded on the same level as Melo currently is), and we ended up doing so. Nobody saw the Kevin Martin trade occurring, or the addition of Amare had we waived the physical. Never say never.
I'm not ready to move past the Yao Saga. Find me a replacement or developing and promising rookie before we talk about getting rid of a legit size center. Unless you think Jordan Hill is the future... We probably need to draft a promising center (since centers are hard to come by), and groom him to replace Yao in the future. Until then, Yao is here to stay.
I don't agree with the OP one bit. However aren't you laying it on a bit thick? What do you mean he kept the team relevant? He was DNP-IR the entire year
IMHO it doesn't affect Yao's value one bit. The team doesn't plan on trading him before the start of the season and by mid-season everyone will have an idea on what Yao's condition really is, Dampier signing or not.
So what do we do after the Yao era? Who do we go for that will make us contenders? Whats the plan? All I keep hearing from you is trade Yao, trade Yao. So whats the plan?
If you trade him, you will get something in return. Let him go, thats 17 million off the books. Losing or trading him is not the the disaster YOF's are trying to make it out to be
The problem is trading him now when his stock is at an all-time low wouldn't be a good trade. However if you let him play it out and he performs well then its better to sign him after the season than trade him. At 10 mill and below even with his injury history Yao Ming would be a good signing. However if someone is actually insane enough to offer him the max then you let him go. Unless you get a superstar in return or blue chip rookies though trading Yao would definitely be a bad idea.
I am with you on that one. Yao is a great player, great person, but you can't build around a guy who is injured every year and barely plays. And even this season, your main player, go to guy, MVP will only play 24 minutes a game. I have been ready to move past this era for a long time. I know rebuilding hurts but we are not winning a title with Yao and this group.
LOL. You are giving too much credibility to your own logical sense. Please remind me once again, why "YOF" would insist that Yao plays in Houston? What's their benefit? Maybe because those so-called YOF like this team better than you do?
