does Yao worth the Max contract if...

18 ppg may not sound like a whole lot when compared with some, but that was all Yao needed to be our leading scorer last season, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Rockets was a low-scoring, balanced team. Our 1st option had 14.5 shots
while the 5th option had 10.2.

 

This is not debatable.

Ask Les Alexander or Carrol Dawson.

Unless he is seriously injured he will be offered the max by the Rockets. End of story.

Yao Ming is the future of the Rockets. His stats will be ok this year. And the only question about the future of this team is when is TMac going to sign an extention.

 

You forgot to mention his assists, his general intimidation, injury free career and of course his stupendous height and now strength. Also we hope his loyalty. Yao is probably worth the maximum already without even taking into account marketability.

 

The posts in this thread so far are kinda one-sided that Yao deserves the max even though there are 20 persons who think otherwise according to the poll results. I hope at least one of them will come out and make a case about it.

 

There are two factors in determining a franchise max player. 1st and foremost is the play on the court. 2nd is the revenue that is produced by that player. If anyone were to look purely at the numbers, there's a case to be made for Yao making max since other max players in the same salary range excluding Tim Duncan, Yao's numbers are comparable. Jermaine Oneal got the max. Elton Brand is maxxed. KG and Shaq have some crazy salaries that do not even enter the range to which the current CBA allows for players getting contracts now. Yao's production on the court compares favorably with the 2nd tier of max players (1st tier is TD, KG, and Shaq).

When Larry Bird had the conversation in the roundtable, he said the NBA needs a great white player because white players are more easily accepted and embraced by a majority of the ticket-buying public. It's arguable whether or not Yao's presence on the Rockets factors greatly into attendance at all since the Toyota Center in its inaugural season still had sparse crowds against the lesser teams. It's arguable that putting Yao in a market that has large Asian population would make him the Asian Larry Bird.

Who knows what Yao exactly makes for Les in terms of revenue directly related to him being on the team? I do know there's no way in that Toyota would have wanted to pay money to have their name on the arena without Yao. Toyota knows it is Chevy/Ford country in Houston. Then there's the deal with the Chinese beer maker. I believe it's for $1 million a year or something. If Les Alexander thinks he's not making enough money to warrant giving Yao a max contract, he can easily trade him to the Lakers, Warriors, or the Clippers in a Herschel Walker-like trade. I've gotta think that only Kobe would be off limits.

On a sidenote, this is why I think Beltran will not be resigned by the Astros. Drayton McLane is a smart businessman in terms of modeling his team to attract a majority of the ticket-buying public in Houston. Beltran does not compute in the formula.

 

Who actually believes that the money is that important to Yao? If he were to believe that if he sacrificed some money, the team could be improved in other ways, do you think he'd do it?

On the other hand, he may take it as an insult if not offered the max.

 

Yao is definately a MAX player. Even if he does only put up those numbers next year, its not all about stats. His presence in the paint makes other teams usual "slashers" think before they drive. Plus, with how young he is, he won't hit his prime for another 3-4 years, and by that time Shaq will be well into his decline, and nobody will be able to stop him. Although his numbers dont show drastic improvement, watching him you know that he is picking up the pace of American basketball. He is slowly getting more and more physical every year, and if we let him walk I guarantee every person in the Houston organization will regret it later. Give him the max, keep him happy, Yao and T-Mac could easily make Houston a dynasty for the next decade. Plus, whatever happened to loyalty? What has Yao ever done negative towards us, keep him here until he wants to leave, and to make him not want to leave, keep him happy. All we need to do is keep Yao and T-Mac happy and the rest of the pieces will fall into place. Look at the Lakers. In 2 years, we will be a top 3 team in the league, and in 10, (assuming we keep those two) people will be talking about the Ming/T-Mac dynasty.

 

I think the same way, he fills seats and brings money in to Houston even if he doent peek yet he will get the max..

 

i did the same, and now there are 33

 

This is one of the dumber threads I've read in here. No disrespect to the original poster, I just think the answer is blindingly obvious. Again, no disrespect...

 

I believe almost everyone would take it as an insult if he's not offered max...

if he has already signed a KG type of contract, it might be possible for him to renegotiate the contract and lower the salary a bit, just for the team getting better players. but I don't see Yao selling himself short...

 

i don't see yao even excepting the max.. it will definetly be offered, but i think yao and team yao will sit down and come up with a figure that yao agree with that still allows the rockets to have room for other impact players. team yao and yao know that he'll be filthy rich no matter what type of contract he signs with the rockets.... this is the same guy that turned down 15+ million dollars endorsements because he wanted to..... i don't think money is that much of a factor with yao... its about keeping him happy.....

BUT CD and Les can't take his kindness for weakness, THE MAX still has to be offered. like someone said earlier, he might get offended..

 

I thought the Nike deal he turned down is 150 million? something like Lebron James + 3/4 Kobe Bryant?


talking about filthy rich...