<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/23lEhypXIVw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/23lEhypXIVw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> ^^^it can be like this! :grin:
Still remember how TMAC ended up in Houston years ago? TMAC himself specificly said he wanted to play with yao, so Orlando has no choice but to work something out. It's mostly yao's influence, although all the people who contributed drafting yao should get credit also. Now that yao's not what he used to be, he's still the deciding factor. That's why Rockets leaked yao's good progress and Les intentionally expressed 'confidence' in his progress yesterday. Yao's china connection and yao as a player if healthy is what makes houston unique right now. To be frank, Houston is not the biggest market, Les is not the most generous owner, Morey's not a concensus championship level GM yet, Martin/AB are not top 10 level talent. What makes houston unique is yao. So I'm afraid you have to give credit to not only Morey himeself even if the deal goes down.
Don't know who this Lawrence Person person is, but he makes a compelling argument. My apologies if this link was posted already (credit to OP if applicable). 7 Reasons LeBron James Could Join the Houston Rockets http://www.lawrenceperson.com/?p=1409 lock it if repeated
This sounds about right, any sign and trade for Lebron starts with Yao and Kevin Martin. . .and taking back a horrible contract, probably Antawn Jamison.
I'm getting giddy just thinking about the possibilities!! That's a ridiculous POWER HOUSE! Although, Miami wouldn't be a bad place for him either since they seem to have the most cap space to actually sign Wade, Lebron, and Bosh... if that were to happen, forget about a championship coming to Houston anytime soon...
wasn't there an ESPN or Sportcenter special about how Lebron's main goal right now is to infiltrate the chinese market? not that he obviously couldn't do it w/o yao, but that sure as hell would help. let's be serious, there's about a 2% chance of it happening, but both sides would be stupid not to at least consider it. assuming a healthy yao, there isn't a single option out there that can provide lebron not only a legitimate championship caliber team, but a direct entry into the chinese market.
What puzzles me is that it's taken so long for media outlets like ESPN to actually mention LeBron moving via sign-and-trade. All anyone seems to be talking about is teams with cap space for Wade/James/Bosh, but never with sign-and-trade. Bosh is really the only one because he's indicated he's willing to work with Toronto to get it done. Why wouldn't the others? Since they're speculating already, they may as well speculate that as a possibility too, especially since top-tier (max contract) free agents typically leave via sign-and-trade anyway. They just never do and that puzzles me.
[The Dream Shake]: Source: Rockets 'Trying Hard' To Acquire LeBron James take from this what you will (it's a text message from "someone who is familiar with the Rockets' interests") but i usually trust tom martin, he seems like a reliable, realistic, and pragmatic guy. kind of states the obvious, but i like the "really trying" part of the quote, indicates that morey is really gonna go after all major options. http://www.thedreamshake.com/2010/6/26/1538967/source-rockets-trying-hard-to
