Max is overrated by fans since every team can have 2 or more "max" players. Based on fans' definition, only 3 teams can have max players.
Well, why should Yao do that? Suppose Yao volunteerly takes the 50 mil for 5 years contract instead of 75 mil for 5 years contract, what would happen? sure, the fans will thank him, the organization will say good words about him, he will be the most beloved player in H-town. And 10 years passes quickly, when Yao is 35 and has somehow unfortunately spent most of his money and doesn't have enough to pay for his car insurance and property tax. The organization are only willing to pay him 1.5 mil a year to have him resigned; Yao beg for 1 mil more a year, what would be fans' reaction? they would call him "old, fat, dumb, unworthy, greedy ..." , he will very likely become one of the most disrespected at that time.
Sometimes I can't believe what I read on these boards. Teams pay a premium for height. It's a good thing for the Rockets that the league installed this ceiling on player salaries, 'cause otherwise we'd be paying a HELL of a lot more than what the league allows us to offer him.
Well, if he is injured BEFORE he signs a contract and the injury is a serious threat to his career, he is no longer worth the max. That is just reality. But, if he signs the deal and THEN is injured, the Rockets have to pay him. All NBA contracts are guaranteed.
The Rocks will offer Yao the max, and Yao will happily sign on the dotted line. All they need is to make sure any minor details are ironed out, and there is a short quiet period in league news, so that it'll get the coverage it deserves. It ain't Rocket science.
What if Yao agrees to take a 20 million less deal but has a career-ending injury right before signing the contract? Our hypocritic fans would say: "dont give him more than a penny. He doesn't worth it. It's business".
is just not how well yao plays but also how much money he's making for the team, look at jersey sell, here and china, shoes sell, tickets, television market, the list goes on, the rockets are worth 350+ millions now is because of yao and tmac..yao defintely deserves the max, no doubt
Of course Yao is worth the max. I don't know when it will happen, but I'm convinced that in the next few years, the Rockets will set up a cable deal for Rox games in China. At that point Les will have more money than he knows what to do with, and (hopefully) start running the team like the Yankees. Full MLE deals to decent role players every year, getting three deep at every position.
I am more interested in the timing of the extension, not whehter it is max or not. I think it should be a max contract, no question asked. The question is: can we delay the extension, use all the capspace we get next summer to bring in a legit star, and then hand the extension to Yao and push our payroll to $75 mil?
The money made from jersey sells outside of Toyota Center are split evenly throughout the NBA. Yao does deserves the max.
The difference is that Shaq, Walker, and Finley all have been through their max contracts already. If you're due 50M from Dallas already, you're not going to be worried about money as much as being a contendor. Shaq has been making 30M per season for the last 5-6 seasons, I don't think he's worried about making 25M for the next 5. Yao will get the max, period. Any player in their right mind would take it. Yao doesn't have to take less to be with a contender, he is already on a contending team and the Rockets have to do what they can to keep him on it.
Not get the max? Hell, the Rockets would buy Yao his own harem if that's what he asked for. No way they're letting him get away.
Yao deserves the max no doubt. We should add a clause that prevent Yao play in unnecessary games during the summer.
Yao will get the max, no doubt. But he shouldn't get the max unless he gives the max to the Rockets. He should not play for China, except for the Olympics... period, end of story. His summertime schedule takes away from what he can give to the Rockets over a whole season. If he cannot give the max to the Rockets he should not get the max, even though he will.
Just get it done CD and Les, we need to just hope that they get it done and get it done right. 6 years MAX... he deserves it, and we need to pay him.
You guys are forgetting one very important thing. Yao will be a RESTRICTED free agent next summer. That means we can match any offer. And, since we have had him for 3 years already, we get bird rights on him. So, we should just wait until next summer because then we'll have cap space. We can use this cap space and get a quality free agent, then we bust the bank with yao. Yao would be stupid to sign with anyone else because no one else can offer him more than we can. So, if he signs with someone else for that lesser money, then we'll just match it. Therefore, we have no reason to fret. Just go about business as usual and sign a solid role player next season, then sign yao.
Even without Yao signing, he will count towards the cap and as such, even if we renounce every free agent, we will not have cap space. Repeat after me: We will be over the cap for years to come and there isn't much we can do about it.
And what if that "lesser offer" is a one year deal? Should we just rent Yao for one more year and let him bolt for nothing? There will not be cap space next year. Yao will count (capologists can correct me if I am wrong) two or three times his current salary until he is signed or renounced and our other contracts will push us over the cap. The only thing we will have while Yao and TMac are here is the MLE every year and the LLE every other year. Lock Yao up to a max extension ASAP!!!!
