Chron: Shanghai surprise? Yao Ming speaks, says nothing

Please delete this thread if already posted elsewhere.

http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2009/06/shanghai_surprise_yao_ming_spe.html#comments

Forget the draft and free agency. Ignore trades and Tracy McGrady rehabilitation.

It's not summer until Yao Ming goes home and we get our annual collection of non-story Yao Ming stories out of China.

We will not top the off-season champion for non stories, the one that reported Yao came home for traditional Chinese treatments.

That was the off-season when he was bored out of his mind waiting to step up his rehab so his wife, then fiancé, and Keith Jones suggested he get out of town for a few weeks. When I asked him if he really went all the way to China for some tea, he laughed that silent, full body laugh of his.

This one, however, is pretty good.

Asked about the rumors that the Cleveland Cavaliers new Chinese minority owners want Yao to come to Cleveland as a free agent, Yao said, well I don't know what he said. He offered up a few words that basically did not say anything.

"This is all an unknown," Yao said.

"I've already been with Houston for such a long time, I still have much affection for this team. Moreover, this past season we were very successful, and that let me see some hope."

Whatever. Does that actually tell us anything other than nothing has changed?

Yao is under contract through 2010-11, but will wisely opt out next summer, when many teams have salary cap room and the NBA operates under the current CBA. He will not sign an extension with the Rockets because that will cost him roughly $35 million to $45 million, depending on that season's salary cap.

The Cavaliers could be among many teams pursuing him, and they did not need to have an owner from China to consider Yao a coveted free agent. For that matter, teams with owners from other countries will likely pursue him, too.

If Yao believes the Rockets are contenders, he will sign with the Rockets. If he believes they cannot win a championship, it will be very tough. The Cavs would then be a good option, but one of a great many.

None of that is new.

It does, however, raise a question.

Is LeBron James more likely to sign with the Rockets because their owner is from the United States?