I dont agree with that at all. Lebron has openly said he wants to be the first billionaire sports figure. Obviously his motivator is money first and loyalty second. Cleveland can offer him the most salary, but he can get larger endorsements in NY or any bigger market. He has not said he is going to stay in Cleveland, which doesnt make any sense, unless he is planning on leaving. If he was staying, he would say it now, so the team could focus on manuevering to make the team better around him without having to worry about contingency plans. The dude is a merc and will bolt next off season, guaranteed. Yao on the other hand is not money driven, he is an extremely loyal person and will undoubtedly spend his entire career here. Saying he will go to Cleveland because they have Chinese ownership is about as ridiculous as saying Lebron will come here because we have American ownership.
JK - how does a Cavs team built wit overpaying to try to keep LBJ happy find the cap room to add anyone without an SnT or 'just' the MLE???
I'm beginning to agree with those who said a bad year for Lebron could cause him to leave Cleveland. If Yao wants to join Lebron in the future,that's his choice.We can start rebuilding without him and McGrady. I don't want Yao to leave,but it's not going to be the worst thing in the world. I think he is married to the Rockets right now. I feel that's going to be good enough till the end of his contract.
I wish he leaves though. Yao has been working hard on our team for 7 years and we will always remember his contributions to our team, inside and outside the United States of America Yao has earned our team great reputation and a huge fan base. Yao is a good player but I can't find any spot in his body that makes him a greater player than Gasol, who has never won a single game in the post season as a team leader until getting stolen to Lakers. Yao would be an ideal #2 guy like Gasol and more than enough to help a real superstar like Kobe winning the championship. The combo of Yao and James would give any team the biggest leverage to win the title regardless of what kind of role players it has, with Yao and a bunch of other decent role players on our team it won't be a tuogh job for Morey to land Lebron in one year, only ONE year.
Yao and LeBron will never play on the same team. Well maybe in a pick-up game or possible All-Star game but there's no chance of LeBron coming to Houston so as Yao going to Cleveland. Let me give you two simple reasons: - Mr. Les Alexander will never give up on Yao, he's simply one of the main factors why Rockets aren't in deep financial crisis. He's a cash cow. - LeBron James requires a lot of money, his contract will be HUGE! I don't know which team is willing to pay him big money just to left his supporting cast on low level. It reminds me of KG in TWolves. Other stuff is daydreaming, I mean this article is pure propaganda by Chinese media, sure we all want to see two great players on one team but that isn't happening.
Seriously sir, do you think the Cavs will be able to retain Lebron next summer? Only tougher contests can be expected in the east next season, D Howard will still be a big obstacle in front of Lebron's way and the Celtics will also give the Cavs tons of challenges with a healthy KG. Even with Stern's favor, the Cavs are still not guaranteed to win the conference title next season, not to mention the Lakers are even more unremovable than Celtics and Magic. If the Cavs cannot win the title next season, will you still believe Lebron will continue his loyality to the Cavs? New York's big market will be an facinating bait but the bad squad of that team may remind Lebron of the Cavs and shut down his intension to join N.Y. Other than N.Y, there are also many other teams out there for Lebron to choose from and Houston is fortunately included. Despite the tremendous fan base oversea, Houston also has a big amount of fans in board and will offer Lebron an equal huge market. The players and coaches of our team are also far above those of Knicks. More importantly, we will have more than enough salary space to land Lebron as T-Mac's 23m runs off our book.
I think we have a better chance than any other NBA teams, not Cavs, to land Lebron. If Lebron's goal is ultimately winning a championship and also become a billionaire. Houston has obiously both ingrentients for it. Name me any other team that has the ability to land lebron without losing a core piece of their team? Name me a team that has the ability to play along lebron and be an immediate contender? Name me a team that has a strong inside and outside, plus great defense with Lebron. not to mention a Hall of fame Coach. Name me a team that has the ability to make you an instance billionaire overnight with fansbase numbered in billions? If Yao joins Lebron in Cavs, they wouldn't be able to do any of those above because they are missing a genius GM like Morey.
Come on, folks, we're talkin 'bout <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ysmLA5TqbIY&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ysmLA5TqbIY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> here. Those Chinese owners just got screwed. Lebron's not staying there after next year.
That is the precise reason why any team can afford Yao and another superstar. Yao brings the market and money, which will offset any financial burden that a team has to face to sign players like both Lebron and Yao. In addition, Lebron himself is a money maker. So ANY team will be tremendously profitable will both players on board. The luxury tax is nothing compared to what they can bring to the team! The possibility is real that Yao and Lebron will play together in 2010, in Cavs or in other big market team.
In a lot of ways though if you look at it, if you're any superstar in the NBA you have to look at what the Rockets did without any superstar last year in the playoffs... They did it off passion, team continuity and hard work. Now for a person like James or Wade, crap, even Kobe... why would they not consider being the guy to put us over the edge and win many championships with us. (Kobe with us, 2 championships... Lebron endless amount... wade depends.)
U don't know Yao. He is better than you. He is like the eagle of the world and we are his bugs. If he be wants to go to cleveland , He will demand to go there and people must obey him command. He will then make love with Lebron on court of basketball and score many goals of champion.
Exactly! Apart from the high cost, Clevelands' supporting cast is no better than a bunch of craps. My crystal ball says Lebron come and join us.
Yao going to the Cavs or Lebron going to the Rockets or both ending up in the same team would all be fantasy scenarios and chances of these becoming a reality are very slim. Lebron has other suitors ( teams ) that have more to offer then the Rockets. Yao moving to another team would also be very unlikely. UNLESS, when both players are at their mid to late 30's and decide to just team up.
Pure speculation and fantasy ... all because of a change in ownership at the Cavs. Gees. Reading some of the lineups, people really believe in getting superstars without losing anything in return.
Yup - I can see Morey extracting a King's ransom for Yao if he goes, specially if he goes to Cleveland.
I can imagine some very creative multi-team S&T which would set up the Rockets in future years with tons of draft picks that could be parlayed into other - Morey is excellent valuing draft picks (and more importantly, using game theory and other type stuff and figuring out how others over- and undervalue them) which is how he manages to end up moving up (or down) in the draft every year by basically using spit and chewing gum.
They actually will have a lot of cap space even after they re-sign LeBron, now if they give Anderson Varejao ridiculous money this off-season, that may change things some. But they would still have some money, according to this. Link.
