Don't forget: The NBA is a business and it's all about money

The draft is in four weeks. If the dude cannot make it over here, or our doctors over there, for an exam before then, I'm a little nervous, too. All you guys know that I'm a huge draft-Yao booster. But, I'll tell you that unless the Rockets get to give him a physical it makes it tough to risk a #1 pick on him from a purely basketball perspective.

I am not concerned about the Rockets getting to work him out. I know they've been scouting the guy ever since the 2000 Olympics and have watched tons of film and even sent guys overseas to check him out. So, from that perspective, I'm OK.

All that being said, I think the Rockets and the NBA know that they have a "golden" opportunity in Ming that is just too good to pass up. Imagine:

1. All your games are televised in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Singapore, etc... etc... Not just one or two games a year, but EVERY GAME.
2. Ming, at least for one to two years, becomes the Michael Jordan of Asia in terms of endorsements, etc... and he is wearing a Rockets jersey in all those ads. That's exposure to a few hundred million extra people.
3. You sell roughly 2 - 3 million Yao Ming jerseys before the season even starts. After that, you sell another 25 million.

Now, I have no illusions about the NBA. It is a business first, a game second. People are in it to make money. Why do you think there is a Game 7 in the WCF this year? Do you think the Lakers actually won that game with all those silly foul calls at the end? The league needs that Sunday Prime Time game to make their money for the network contracts. It's that simple.

Why do you think the league is trying so hard to draft the international players? The league wants to dominate the world and rake in billions more dollars.

So, there's not much that is going to keep the Rockets from drafting him. Les is a business man and understands that if Ming can play 30 minutes a night and average over 10 points and 8 boards a game, he's already exceeding Kelvin Cato and the return on his investment is unbelievably huge. If Ming is a bust, he'll still make a ton of money off him until everyone figures it out (at least two seasons).