How much is a championship worth vs. how much Yao is worth to Les

2 bad seasons can make you a contender.

Look at the Celtics.

 

Lol. There are only 30 teams in the league. You need to work on your math skills.

As I've argued in the previous Trade Yao thread, I don't think he's worth that much to the team because of the ways teams make money. And, I feel quite certain that a championship would pay bigger dividends than Yao would going forward. Given the money Les spends on the roster (even if Morey pulls a deadline-trade to get under the luxury tax threshold), he's not playing to maximize profits from Yao, he's playing to win.

But, I think Yao's injuries are keeping everybody cautious. Teams won't pay much for the privilege of wearing Yao's risks. So trading him won't make us a contender. We have to do that some other way. Shedding some or all of Yao's salary burden may be a prerequisite. We'll see come this offseason.

 

I don't see the logic in getting rid of Yao, via trade or whatever, so the Rockets can win a championship. That is the tautology of the arguments in this thread and it doesn't make sense.

Without Yao the Rockets will be in rebuild mode. The last time the Rockets were in this mode was from the last championship until practically today. Is that what you folks want, another decades of champioship drought?

Granting that Yao is often injured and is practically useless at this point, and that the sooner he is gone the better so that the rebuilding can start asap. Well, that is a good point if you can't wait to start, but I am still hoping that Yao will give the Rockets at least one more run or two and see what happens. I am not ready yet for another round of years of agonizingly watching the team rebuild.

 

So you are saying that it's either Yao or Championship? So we trade Yao and instantly we can get a ring? Just FYI, we have more possibilities in winning a championship with Yao than without.

 

lol wut?

 

right?

so the last time we were in this mode was when we were in this mode from 1995 through right now, when we are in this mode.

is that what you want? more of exactly like it is right now? or do you want to delay the inevitable and start having it be exactly like it is right now?

 

just FYI, i'm still waiting for this to seem even remotely true. so far i've seen one playoff series win with Tenderfoot.

I think i'll take what's behind Door Number 2.

 

Maybe when Yao is done playing, Les can make Yao our new mascot.

Can Yao climb a super tall ladder, or ride a segway.

 

Trading Yao would more than likely be a step backwards for a couple reasons:

1. We will more than likely not get a player in return that would vault us to contender status.

2. We will be taking on extra salary to put us in a deeper hole instead of letting Yao's contract expire.



Morey said he is making moves (or not making moves) that would help lead to us to contender status in the future. The smartest move is looking like they should just let Yao's $17mil contract expire.

We are in position now to be very well prepared for the new CBA next year. Morey is not going to risk this position by making short-term moves.

The only star available that would instantly make us contenders is Carmelo. Since we don't have a very appealing package to them, we would probably have to take on a bad contract to get Melo. I don't want to be stuck with Chris Andersen or Al Harrington!

If we could a Melo rental with Nene ($11m expires after next season) by giving up some of our pieces then I'm sure that might intrigue DM.

 

Les will prefer to win a championship....WITH Yao.

But Les, after getting a taste of the championship in his 1st two years of ownership, i'm sure he wants to taste it again. I have a hard time believing that its all about the money for Les because he does have other business other than the Rockets.

There's a reason why he's said time and time again that he doesn't have a problem paying the Luxury Tax if it means we're a contender. Morey puts a price tag on what players are worth, and he wont over pay to get them like CD did (See Moochie Norris, Mo Taylor, Kelvin Cato signings)

But with the current roster, we're a 2nd round exit at best IMO - and that's not worth paying luxury tax for.

 

Having an injured mascot is unacceptable... mascot's gotta bring it all year. Yao has shown time and time again that he cannot be relied on to do this!

 

OH and we already have the best mascot in the world...

 

There is no guarantee that tanking or sucking will reap better rewards.

The whole "We are stuck in this mode" has multiple ways out, but none of them are guaranteed to work.

And I think the Rockets could go any direction....personally, I would go for the draft....I think Morey's time at Boston has left him thinking that a trade is a better option.

I guess, we as fans, are just going to have to wait and see if he can do it....no other choice, really.

DD

 

The premise is wrong - getting rid of Yao won't make us immediate contender.

If Yao is done, he won't get us quality back. The current team with or without Yao won't contend. If Yao was at his peak and being a cash cow at the same time, he's certainly not going to stop you contending. It's really not about Yao, but rather how much Les wants to win.

Look what Yao and Tmac used to have, when they were healthy and capable. If we had quality like Scola, Landry, Shane, AB, Ron, KM, Lowry, any 2 of them, we would have kicked Dallas' rear end long time ago.

 

I would only trade Yao if i can get a squad that could contend with the Lakers for the next couple of years(Is that even possible?). If not, i would rather tank instead to get a couple early first rd picks and hopefully land us a Durant/Westbrook or Griffin/Gordon combo like the Thunder and Clips.

 

I have a feeling that right now is just prep time for the big splash. A front office can't win a championship; All they can do is build a team that can compete for one. Right now, we have essentially no chance. A few tweaks here and there won't fix anything. We need a complete makeover. We all know that. Morey knows that. Mr. Alexander knows that.

Last season, our team was just a remnant of our previous contending team. A team built around Tmac and Yao, both in their primes, was a legitimate championship contender, but it just didn't work out. We're all familiar as to why.

Les and Morey have done well to quickly transform our roster of old, tired players who failed to win a championship into young, tradeable, promising assets playing on a pretty good team. After Yao's contract expires or is traded away, we will be in prime position to cash in our chips, so to speak.

I don't know who is going to be on this team next year, and frankly, I don't really care. Trade Yao. Resign him to smaller contract. Trade Kmart. Trade Brooks. Trade Lowry. Trade Hill and Bud. Whatever. I love everyone on the team, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to build a team that has a chance to compete.

We're going to make a splash, either at the deadline this year or after the season is over. I'm confident of this. And when it happens, this city is going to be electric again. Get'r done, Morey.

Until then, Go Rox!

 

Rockets are a playoff contender, not a championship contender. It has nothing with Yao in the team or not. The team that we had Yao and Tmac could be a contender, but we did not have Scola,Shane, and Lowry.

 

I understand you are playing hypotheticals but 'yaos worth' and 'championship' are 2 mutually exclusive things.

You are talking about the mix of players and the chess move of it all, but the truth is we really cant say fairly that we will 'win because we don't have yao'

that's pretty goofy logic from the outset.

I think we have to keep yao and we are in it with him til he retires. I just hope that if he continues to be injured that he will take a reduction in salary to make up for the free years where he didnt play jack here.

So I just wonder what yao is going to think he is worth when his contract ends? Is he going to try to go big? because there is always that stupid team that will still be able to overpay him. Once that happens then he gets hurt again ,gets bought out and signs with the heat or celts for the min and rattles off 3 or 4 championships in a row. I think that would make me sick like seeing an ex girlfriend making out in front of me..

So we cant let him walk because the sting of him winning somewhere if he does, is too hard for me and the city of houston to stomach. We are with him all the way just hope he will come correct when the next contract comes. Hope he can take less ,give a hometown discount, and maybe we can also sign some key free agents. I still think yao has up to 4 years in the tank (yeah *very shaky* I know)

Can you imagine him in a heat or lakers uniform killing it like we know he can then winning it all? I think I would rather eat a glass sandwich then see that. I would rather get donkey punched by a team of lesbians then see yao wearing celtic green or hugging garnett hoisting the trophy.

call me spiteful , but if we cant have 7 foot 6 then no, you can't either. he's ours. He was made in a lab in china to play basketball and the BB gods gave us our new center after olajuwon. This is simply the path to salvation.It can never be easy folks.

Do you want joey crawford gifting you in the 4th like last years finals or do you want kiss of death erotica and coming back from the depths of 3-1? Nothing like winning after adversity! I prefer looking over the edge then coming back and rising above anyway.That has ALWAYS been the rockets way. Opportunity out of defeat and the guilty pleasure of finally breaking through! That was how it felt in 93 and 94 after all the trials and tribulations.

We are a center rich heritage with championship 'come back from adversity' pedigree. Yao fits that and we just have to hope the BB gods allow us to fulfill the destiny. What is the alternative really? unless you can find me the next coming to replace yao and our center rich heritage? marc gasol? umm favors/cousins?are those guys even centers? they just don't have the ring that hayes malone sampson olajuwon or ming do/did.

I say let it ride.. yao is a rocket for life.

 

Yao has maybe 3 years left at most, but keeping him will likely mean Yao and much of China's support when he's an old man...so really, a few years where you accept you can't be a contender for a guaranteed indefinite cash flow, there's not much choice