Alright guys this is another thread on the Free Agency after next season, which has already been discussed here numerous times. Since this particular discussion has a slightly different twist to it than the others i decided to make a new thread. AUTHOR'S WARNING: Ok i know MANY of you will not appreciate or agree with what is about to be said - but before the flaming begins - PLEASE attempt to see this from a what-is-best-for-the-Houston-Rocket-franchise point of view and not just looking down to barrel of your favourite player. (it's changed now but my signature previously stated that Tracy McGrady is my favourite player - so you'll notice that i'm objectively looking at the situation too) Also, apologies for the length. Many have already suggested to dump McGrady's contract sometime this season to either get something in return or use it as one gigantic expiring for the Free Agency bonanza. That's $21 or so million coming off the books and that will do wonders in luring a prize free agent here or two to help solidify the roster. Resigning Von Wafer is a must in my eyes and i'm not as knowledgeable as others on this board so i won't claim to know a price tag as to what he should receive in a contract. All i know is this guy has the stroke, the penetrating ability i would say all of has have craved for a long time and he has the ability to come through in the clutch and hit the big shot as we've seen a few times this season. I personally think Rick Adelman is not utilising him to his true potential and i'll discuss that later. I an not embarrassed to admit i have a man crush on Artest because i absolutely love the passion and fire he displays. He is known to make the boneheaded play now and again (like the charge in todays game near the end) and deviate from the offensive scheme but overall i believe he's been more of a positive effect than a negative one - and he definitely hasn't harmed our chemisty and it seems he has built his own raport with the current group. Maybe that is half of McGrady's contract gone in topping up Artest for $8-9 mil a season (would that be sufficient?) and offering Wafer around a $4-5 mil (again i'm not too sure as to whether this is too high or low) Also, i would make it a priority to get Lowry's, Landry's and Scola's signatures too. Keeping the main core reserves i believe is extremely beneficial. Keeping the other $8-11 million (roughly) for the 2010 free agency. [SIDE NOTE: no doubt this team is competing better without McGrady - so it's safe to say that this team would be on track for the same amount - if not more - of wins next season if the roster stays the same] After next season however this is where the flaming begins. I wouldn't resign Yao Ming. It is not a fact that Ming isn't good enough; it's not boiling down to the point i'm a '***' because i'm really not; and it sure ain't as hell a personal vendetta i have against Yao. The reasoning is simple. He just does not get any respect from the refs - and it hurts. He is no doubt one of the superstars of the league, and a truely dominant player when the game is officiated correctly. In all honesty though, how many times does Yao Ming get the benefit of the doubt from officials? There in lies the problem and the reasoning for my -some would say 'crazy' rational. He has been in the league long enough to earn the respect from the officials but it just isn't happening. I feel for him and the Houston Rockets organisation because he's in the era with the likes of LeBron, Wade, Kobe - Stern's darlings - and that is who the (non die-hard everyday) nba 'fans' want to see. Without having to resign Ming we once again have his whole contract to play with as well as the left overs from T-Mac's. That is around the $25-30 mil range? (please correct me if i'm wrong) Obviously, we're not going to throw this money and LeBron or Dwyane. But sharing it around can definitely net us a couple of players who could help form a dangerous group with the rest of the Rockets. For a guard i'd be throwing everything i could at Joe Johnson. I believe he's a solid player who could help solidify the wing and he can also handle the point on occasions (that does sound familiar). I know he'd be getting up there in age too - but so is Ming. And as terrible as it sounds - i'd feel safer knowing that as Yao gets up there in age - we wouldn't have to worry about his body breaking down faster than normal. I'm not convinced Johnson leaves Atlanta but there are other entertaining ideas out on the table. Michael Redd for instance, Richard Jefferson are just a couple. Nice players who are solid. I know there aren't a lot on this board who 'feel' the move but i would go strongly after Amare to be our C. He might not be ideal and some may claim his natural position is the 4 spot - but looking around the league what top C are there? Ming, Howard. Also he'd be aware he'd be our main focus in the post and without Ming we are allowed to push it non stop (about the only good thing Marc Jackson commented on during the game today was how much better the Rockets are when they push the ball because their offense isn't so predictable) and Aaron Brooks/Kyle Lowry are more than capable - and Amare and Brooks could develop a nice and deadly pick and roll. Why does Stoudemire leave Phoenix? Is Steve Nash really going to stay? I see him bolting for New York depending on how things play out for the Suns next season. I'm not a fan of Chris Bosh but if need be an offer could also be made to him. I would put feelers out for those 2 and if nothing happens than i'd resign Yao. Of course you don't admit you're looking publicly because it could rub Yao the wrong way and he refuses to sign. However, that is how i would play it. The last point i wanted to mention was Rick Adelman. It confuses me to no end his substitution patterns and i scream at the tv wondering why in the world Von Wafer has been put on the bench in the 4th quarter after he has cut the deficit down by being the only Rocket scoring - and when he goes out the lead for the other team balloons again (this happened the game before the Lakers game and it happened today when Lowry and Von brought the deficit down to 1 - next thing i know is it's back to 9 with both players on the bench and Brooks turning the ball over from a shot clock violation. I want a new coach and i'm embarrassed knowing that the other team has a distinct advantage from the start - and it's not even a player on the court. This isn't just a knee jerk rant after todays loss from the Lakers - Adelman has been getting on my nerves for some time now. Once again sorry for the insane post, and i'm sure it's inevitable but please keep the flaming to a minimum... this is by no way a hate-yao thread in disguise.
Hate the idea of getting rid of Yao best big man in the game don't come around often however one day soon he will have the can't get out of the first round stigma as Mcgrady but worst because he is the biggest player in the league. However I would Yao and not resign him only if it guaranteed Wade or Lebron which isn't going to happen and yeah you let Mcgrady contract expire and you sign Amare and pair him with Wade and I'm pretty sure we would finally be out of the first round. If you get Lebron he can get out of the first round with eleven girl scouts lol.
IF we landed Amare that would be the vision. What is the Rockets vision now? I've read a couple of other threads and many seem to think that Yao only has a few years left playing at his peak. The Rockets have been in 'win now' mode for 2 seasons now and we haven't won anything. The only thing we're planning for our future this season is the success of Aaron Brooks as a starting PG. Apart from that i don't see what this current Rockets team is trying to do in the future. (this stems from the point however that Yao gets no calls. Because if Ming was officiated correctly hell - both T-Mac and Ming would be second round expertise by now at least) Did Portland have any idea for their future apart from the fact they wanted to change their image when they shed Rasheed, Bonzi? Now look at them. I would say 27 teams in the league are envious of them.
I'd say that's a major gamble. I really wanted to stop reading once you used, as your reasoning to not resigning Yao. That's a ridiculous reason, especially how often he gets to the line now. There are definitely games that make you wonder, but for the most part he does get to the line fairly often. Do you really think we'd win more games with Amare and Joe Johnson? I agree we need to push it more, but how much success does Dallas and Pheonix have in the playoffs? All the champions have one thing in commom: DEFENSE.
Yes, you're going to get flamed for this. But I can appreciate your objective, think-outside-the-box perspective. Still, this is never going to happen for 2 reasons: 1. The Rockets make far too much money from Yao Ming. He's a global cash cow. They wouldn't trade him for anybody, even if he was getting 5 points and 3 rebounds every night and turning the ball over 10 times. 2. He's an efficient scorer, makes his free throws, and gets 20/10. Take a look around the league and see how many 20/10 guys there are. Not many. Marketing considerations aside, Yao is easily worth the money. I agree that the way he is officiated is unfair, and he could potentially be posting monster numbers. But as it is, he's still an exceptional player.
Don't worry guys, Dwade is coming 2010. Magically, Yao will soon get all the calls. Wade will put his touch on him and we will dominate.
Yao is not going to win a championship as a #1 option. So we better find a better one soon or we will just keep on losing..
I am with the OP to an extent. I don't think Yao is a bad player or even overrated really outside of these boards. Generally speaking the league and press tend to agree that Howard is the better big man both now and especially moving forward, at the very least it is debatable. On here he is a god, an untouchable. Short of Yao demanding a trade, which I really don't think he would, we will never trade him and Les will do everything he can to resign him. But the bottom line is Yao is going to be asking for a max contract and while we would probably give it to him I think that would be a bad idea. He is a decent value at his current price tag but anything more would just be falling into the trap that so many other teams have (Marion, JOneal, etc). And yes I realize that at worst he is the second best traditional center in the league...so what. He has trouble with smaller faster guys and 75% of the league has smaller faster guys playing the center. People of his size, their bodies break down faster. It is inevitable. Do we really want to offer max dollars for 5-7 years to a guy who might only have 2-3 more "2nd best center in the league" years?? Yes he has a unique ability to shoot and pass for a man of his size, but he is an average defender and rebounder, can't catch anything but a perfect pass, he isn't going to be more aggressive and he IS NOT a leader. He just isn't. He has shown us that for whatever reason he is not capable of single handedly taking over the game with any more consistency than say...JR Smith. (please don't accuse me of saying Yao is the same as JR Smith, its just not true) My problem is I have absolutely no confidence that Yao can and will close out a game, especially in crunch time, on both ends of the court. Because of this I don't think he can be the number 1 guy on a championship team, and because of that I do not think he is worth max contract, and because of that I don't want him to resign. ...flame on
I am standing with you in terms of not resigning YAO at this point. But your thread made me scratch my head because you sound like there are a lot of players, who signed with max contract, capable of closing the game out. however, I can count those players on one hand. so what do you expect from Morey? Landing Lebron, kobe, or wade at Houston? Do not say what your take is the best center in your head.
I don't want to give Yao the max when he becomes a FA but we need another big man if he leaves Houston. I still feel getting a tall/athletic tough minded 5/4 to spell Yao and also give Luis or Landry a break is necessary.(In this scenario,one of the two PF's will have to go unfortunately). This seems to me the only way to help Yao in the frontcourt. I also feel getting a better PG to replace Brooks and or Lowry is necessary. Getting the best possible FA or player combo for Tracy seems to be the only realistic solution. Wafer is nice but not worth more than 2.5-3M. Luis might have to be traded if money becomes a problem in re-signing him(Hate to see that happen). Overpaying Ron is something that management should not do.Combining Ron plus Luis might yield a 2nd tier star but that is somewhat unlikely along with the additional risk of losing toughness on the team. Morey has a difficult job ahead of him.
I'm not saying there are a bunch of other players worth max contracts, in fact I said I didn't want us to fall into that trap like other teams had. My point is if the guy cannot consistently carry a team like Kobe, Bron, Paul Pierce, CP3, etc. then they are not worth the max contract. I'd probably be ok with signing D-How to a max contract but thats because I have no doubts about his health or the fact that he is only getting better, and could turn into the next shaq, and I can't say that about Yao.
Why does everyone think he is the number one option? He is my favorite player bar none but yet I prefer the in and out system only to get back for more threes. Only to take advantage of him.
I would consider Ron a second tier star, and Luis has the potential who would you consider in this bracket? I don't think Luis contract reqs are going to be that huge because he isn't a young budding star.
Yao is also a second tier star. So if we compare ron with yao, do you think they are on the same tier? If not, I would say ron is second lower tier star. And IMO yao is second upper tier star. just break it down in more detail
People are forgetting the salary cap will actually fall this year, and likely fall again in 2010. The contracts players will get the next few yrs will be good, but nothign like the crazy spending of the past 3-4 yrs. Also, while Yao should make as much money as he can, he has always been a team-first player, and very smart person. I can see an agreement where he doesn't make 15+mil a year but has a few extra years on the deal or something.
