I think some of overly keeping Yao has to do with Yao the PERSON himself. They've watched him grow from a humble shy young kid into good respectful guy into family man and worldwide favorite. And he's appreciative of the chances he's been given and SINCERELY doing his hardest to return on the investment. Kinda hard to then say "Okay fella, deadline, you're out for Samuel Dalembert, Beno Udrih & a 2nd round pick, thanks". Basically Yao the person is making it a little tougher. If Yao has his same talent but with the personality of Wang Zhizhi, he'd be on the market quicker. I thought his injury was unrelated to the foot issues, just a freak thing. Still, at the very least it looks like its time to turn the page on Yao as franchise player, or as player even in the franchise to begin with.
Somebody has got to want a $17 million expiring contract. Trade him and if Les can't let go, resign him in the off-season or do what the Cavs did with Big Z last year (resigning him after trading when he was bought out or whatever).
Based on the games Yao played in during the calendar year of 09, which was the 2nd half of the 08-09 season... MIN TREB A STL BLK TO PF PTS 34 10 2 0 2 3 3 19 1. these stats are good, but not amazing 2. even still i say theres little chance he ever gets back to a near 20/10 guy.
And yao haters here are delusional into thinking that yao is done! How can you honestly look in the mirror and say that he is done? Last time I checked he is still 7 foot 6 and last time I checked he is not dead or over 35. To put things in perspective hakeem was like 32 /33 in his prime, jordan the same (over 30 for prime), magic johnson and so on and so forth. Until the recent influx of younger players like garnett and mcgrady breaking down after all the young mileage, the peak has been at 30-33.Yao is 30. If yao was in tip top condition today do you really think we would go undefeated the rest of the year? No of course not, even with strong yao we would still lose some games. So how many more wins would we have playing yao going forward today vs. how many wins do we need to make the playoffs? I think that even with a healthy yao today we are still behind the 8 ball and I think someone said we need to win like 60-70% of our games going forward. So why are we going to give him the bargaining chip of being(and the showcase)of being healthy, if we aren't going to make the playoffs? Knowing that there will be an integration period and knowing how many games are left I think the rockets are playing the longer term strategy. In other words why would we showcase yao now when we really don't have much of a chance of making the playoffs anyway at this number of losses? So why not let the team try to string some wins together and let yao sit? It's to our strategic advantage to have him sit at this point. You have to remember to look at where we are right now. as much as anything else. So the play is if we can get within striking distance we then put in yao and try to go for it and make that charge.Even run yao to the ground if it means we are in the playoffs. That's if we are within strinking distance or in. In the meantime no need to play yao as we go through teams like who we are playing now. Can we really leapfrog portland or phoenix the way things are going?What about golden state? They are also going to be in the hunt for spot 8. So if we can't make it to the playoffs this year we know that: -a players prime is around 30-33, -we know yao is about to enter that age, -we already spent 17 mill a year anyway so why lose out on our investment at the very end? That's like buying high and selling low -he is 7 foot 6 -a melo rental for half year probably still would be tough to make the playoffs this year, then poof, he's gone -loyalty. Ming owes us this if anything -ilgauskas had the same surgery looks productive (oh yeah ming is a tad better than z) - melo or the kings roster worth it in a trade? - his trade value ain't jack In the airline business they talk about revenue management and control price to maximize profit/revenue. It's about past bookings and (history), current bookings today, and projected future bookings based on the other 2. So really its 2 things projecting the 3rd. The indians talk about karma. It's not just the karma in this life , but the karma in your past life and then the karma in your future life. We have to think of all 3 ..it cant be about blowing up the team that's not how smart businessmen work. looking at the past present and future you have to know that yao is NOT done yet and even if there is a glimpse of a possibility that is better than melo for a half year ( when we aint gonna make it anyway) or the kings roster? I thought we got martin away from that roster? No one is going to trade for yao and we have already out A LOT of money into this investment. We are riding this puppy all the way and right or wrong it's the best decision that at this point. TODAY, not 3 years ago or 4 years from now but TODAY. TODAY it makes sense to not play him, and today it makes sense to NOT trade him. The next question will about next year and what is his market value. I would hope/assume he will give us at least a 2 -3 million a year discount. So that means if he is getting jason terry /tayshaun prince money minus our discount that's like about 6 -8 a year. Would you do a 3 year deal for 6 first year 6 second year and 5 the third? I might when you consider biedrins makes 9, TJ ford makes 8 million,JR smith makes 6 milllion etc. Yeah I can find examples like beasley making 5 but the going rate for ming I think would still be about 6-8 million a year. Diaw makes 9 too! Boris Diaw.. Say that name 10 times. Are you getting scared? no because he is not that big of a force. And ming doesnt have to be at 6-8. Which is 1 better than diaw. Would you pay the same for ming as villanueva or Nazr Mohammend, Nene etc? I would.. and would rather have ming than nene or mohammed..not sure what you think.. and again I think he will get us a discount over any other projected offer from other teams as well. From what I saw when he did play this year he is still able to dominate and the zadrunis ilguauskas factor (yeah I did that one without looking the spellng up) I'm not saying I am the greatest prognosticator or businessman but you have to look at the whole big picture... and I am not even talking about the chinese marketing push.. I am just talking about the road to a championship and playing it soundly. We can't be anxious that's what losers do.
1. I'm not a Yao hater because I think he's going to be injury-plagued. I really like Yao. He wears Rocket Red, 2. Comparing Yao to Hakeem or Jordan is ridiculous. Here's why. Yao is 7'6". Before we drafted him, we knew how guys playing at that size held up -- that is to say, not well. Not well at all. Their careers were entirely defined by injury...by extremely limited minutes. We knew his career would be short...we had discussions about it here, in fact, around the time he was drafted. And truth be told, his minutes over his career are overwhelmingly more than anyone who has played at a height near his. He has spent the last 5 years missing about as many games as he's played. I don't see that getting BETTER with age. Not with that body type. I have zero reason to expect this is going to get better for him...because there's nothing to suggest it. I think, at the very least, the risk of what I'm saying happening is so great that it's too much to have around. It's enough already. I'm ready for them to move past this era and figure out a direction...because right now, I feel like there's no direction with this franchise. It's "cross your fingers and hope someone wants to trade you a game-changer." 3. A team looking to make noise in the offseason may find value in an expiring contract. I'd listen.
Yeah but the best thing we can get is the kings roster (when we already have the better king in martin ayway) or melo for a half year? If I dont want 10 players to equal to yao's contract what good does a bunch of scrubs do for us? It just seems like the trade route is empty. I get what you are saying about him breaking down so you wouldn't pay yao 6.8 next year which is what nazr mohammed makes? You'd rather have anthony for a half year when even then it's likely we won't make the playoffs?
I was talking about when a player enters his prime. Based on the hall of greats many of them were in their prime from 30-33.That applies to both big and tall and short. How old was malone in his prime? how old was stockton? how old was jesus? about 33. (yes I just compared yao to jesus) :grin:
You can't compare Yao to anyone...he was a special player, but unfortunately, his size is his main detrement...I'd love to see him back but i'd rather him be healthy above anything else...
IBTL 1.as has been said you CANNOT compare Yao to the players that you did. None were the same size. None played the minutes year round like yao has for as long as he has. prime isn't just based on how many candles are based on how many candles are on your bday cake. 2. are you actually suggesting we are being 'safe' with bringing back yao so as to prevent him from showing that he still is a 20-10 guy and deserves to be paid as such so that we can get him to resign for less??? 3. i wouldn't pay yao a dime until he showed he can play at a high level for more than 2 weeks at a time. and even then I would be willing to pay him based on his ACTUAL production potential. If he can only play 60 games @ 24 mpg and puts up an average of 14 and 10 in those games. If you want to compare him to other player salaries fine, but keep in mind those guys have not missed over HALF the games they were paid for. 4. if we COULD get something that helped us over the next 2+ years then I would be all for it, and I think other teams will definitely be interested because of his expiring, i think its more likely though that Yao's value to the BUSINESS makes him untouchable unfortunately.
Even when he does come back its gonna be complicated with the minute cap he has ( like it was earlier in the season, seemed like the team had trouble getting into a flow and adjusting when he was on the court or coming off the court). Hate to be the constant pessimist... but forget this season because were not winning a championship anyways, not in the west, not in the NBA stacked with the talent it currently has. The real thing with Yao will be what happens with his contract next year. Thats what has me scared as a Rockets fan if anything. Yao brings in lots of income no doubt, but the NBA does have a shared income type deal for NBA stuff(jerseys and products with NBA on it) although I think we get most of the Asian money from ads if im not mistaken...not entirely sure, maybe someone smarter then myself can clarify that for me. But the fact is he shoudnt be getting paid more then MLE going forward with his injury history( and this if he dosent decide to retire or not) so ya, signing him to a long term high money deal scares the living **** out of me(even more then when YAO falls down during a NBA game) but we will see, surely YAO realizes this much. either rate, situation sucks balls.
so you want to get rid of him? so you are saying you would take a nazr mohammed or a diaw next year over yao? Unless yao can play for 2 weeks? I'm not saying all those things to hold as fact going forward.. just things and reasons to consider that we keep yao, or sit yao and note the extra dynamics besides just 'he sucks'. People are quick to say he sucks or trade him I am just pointing out the markers such as mohammed and diaw in terms of what his value price will be. Down the line ,If I knew yao could come in and kill it down the stretch and into the playoffs, then I think he is more valuable then a mohammed or a diaw. Wouldn't you agree? I am just trying to point out what we are REALLY going to get and what is REALLY going to happen by not having yao or trading him. Do you think we are good enough to win it all this year if we can trade melo for yao? Is melo enough to get us into the playoffs this year? How much more likely it is that we make the playoffs with melo this year and this record vs. sitting yao now and bringing him in for the stretch (after FEB)?Probably not much more likely. And we all know Htown aint big enough for melo. He wants to be in NY/NJ/MIA/BOS/LAKERS. That's the list.We are not on it. Advantage:keep ming
wait...hold on. who in here said yao sucks? maybe one jackass here or there?? i didn't say it...and the guy who's message you replied to with this post didn't say it. that's not what the conversation has been about...not that yao isn't a good player...but that he has injury issues...that he's fragile. that his body can't be counted on. there's no shame in that. it's certainly not his fault.
okay fine he doesnt suck but you want to get rid of him? Would you rather have a nasr mohammed or a diaw instead of yao next year and pay that same amount to mohammed or diaw over yao because they can play all year? what is the max you would pay yao next year? nothing? You would take melo for half year even if it meant losing yao? and you still think we could make the playoffs this year with melo?What would be the point of trading for yao for melo if we cant even make the playoffs? you dont care about how ilgauskas is playing after the same injury? I am not saying you are an idiot or a bad guy either, I am just pointing out the 'what is the true alternative' vs. keeping yao? in one breath we can trade him and he is worth something in that regard and in the next breath he is finished and worth 0? We can't just go in with no plan and just feel it all out and dump him just because we are losing patience. Even if get close enough and can make the playoffs what's the harm with saving yao now and keeping him ready for the stretch after FEB?
