Ming and Gooden enter draft pool; Woods coming prepared (article)

What makes you so sure about that? I remember hearing about McGrady when he was in middle school - that is how good he always was...maybe I am just older now and am not plugged in, but I hadn't heard of Woods until last year. He definitely seems like a player, though.

Interesting that Ming's club left it so open like that...no threats or reserved "allowance." Just that he will go to the NBA and they hope some kind of cooperation can be formed. Sounds good.

 

So in order to draft Ming we are also going to have to trade for him?

Rockets trade - Cato, Norris, Rice, Collier, and the rights to Maloney for Ming.

 

I actually find all of China's 'requests' rather intimidating. Do they expect 'replacement players,' if you will, from the team that drafts him? How in the world could the league ensure that legally? You can't just 'trade' a player to the Shanghai Sharks; the only thing I could see is 'encouraging' a player/players to go play there. Who would that be with the Rockets? Kevin Willis? Walt Williams? Tierre Brown? I don't see how China will be content with players normally cut from teams that go there anyway. Maybe Willis or Walt would be good there.

I guess the bit about the training base isn't that big a deal. This could actually work to the Rockets' advantage since Houston has Westside Tennis Club. I've never been there; is it big enough to serve as a Chinese training base and a Rockets facility simultaneously? I presume it should.

 

<b>"The club hopes to get some good American players if Yao goes away. And it will be better if the team which chooses Yao will help us to set up a training base in America, so we can send our coaches and players there every year. We also hope some the NBA teams like to play matches in Shanghai," added Li Yaomin. </b>

I'm sorry, these demands are ridiculous and stupid. I guess that's just China.

 

I think the Rockets will get their three man if they draft Woods. He is going to be the real deal.

 

DC
How did China's hopes become demands? Why would helping them improve their coaching and playing be stupid? They could become a better resource for the NBA. We sent teams to Japan, why not China? It's becoming a global game. Ride the tide.

 

Langhi and Collier seem like two perfect candidates.

My understanding is the Rocks use Westside because the Compaq Center management doesn't allow them enough practice time or training facilities. The new arena will have weight rooms and such plus they can practice more often. So that would leave Westside open for the Chinese.

 

It's hard to tell what the heck they mean by that statement. I assume the basketball association in China is run by the government and they don't seem to realize the we have a FREE MARKET in the United States.

All the Chinese league has to do is offer a competitive salary and the players will go there. The players that don't get drafted and want to continue playing know they have potential jobs in Europe, Turkey, Israel, Mexico, etc. It would seem pretty easy to add China to that list.

Players aren't traded like slaves. They are paid.

 

I don't think they expect to trade him tho the Rockets, or any drafting team. I think they are saying that they will be losing their best player and they will have a hole to fill. Perhaps they will go to the deepest well, the American players, and try to fill their hole. European teams do this all of the time.

Another reason to go to the American market is some name recognition. The big guy will bring some notice of Chinese Basketball to America, maybe some nba fans will take a look at the Chinese league, and if they see familure names, they may stay to watch a game on ESPN2 at midnight or something.

All of that being said, I stay away. To me Yao Ming has bust written all over him. Won't be the first time I have been wrong, but I wouldn't spend a number one on him. Four, five, six fine - those positions bust all of the time. One two three, (Bibby and Olawakandi aside) can be real pieces of the puzzel.

 

The 'demands' by Shark officials seem reasonable to me. I can only imagine what a cash cow Ming is for them, and the loss they're going to incur by letting him go.

Fringe NBA players are loath to choose China as their playing destination. It's no real fault of the Chinese though; they're inherently at a disadvantage.

Assuming that pay is comparable among competing countries, American players are more likely to choose proximity (South America) or a more attractive cultural experience (Europe) over what China has to offer.

Pretty smart move on their part, asking the higher ups of the league to give a persuasive 'nudge' to some of the NBDL types deliberating on where to play abroad.

 

China's demands aren't stupid at all. They're gonna haggle a bit, yes, but they have the right. Yao Ming in the NBA can only be seen as a great thing. All of a sudden the NBA gets some real TV rights over there and BAM! more cash flow for the league. So the Chinese should somehow get something.

Sometimes the Chinese "requests" might come across a little strange, or too strong, or whatever, but there are major cultural differences. The Chinese government and the NBA each work by different rules and blueprints, so it'll be interesting to see what middle ground they find.

 

it keeps annoying me that if david stern had presented similar "demands" for sending nba scrubs somewhere else, it would be a market move... and not only a market move but an ingenious "free market" move in a "pure capitalist" society that was dictated by the "invisible hand" from above ... oh god bless america.. freedom etc blah blah blah

whereas china wants to learn and get some play from the nba to improve their own standards... after sending the first asian player to the nba who will have a dramatic impact... and its "oppressive communist government" making "unreasonable demands" with the godsend image of Mao above their heads.

get with it, go to china some day. talk to some people there. it might change your attitude... but you have to at least try to understand first

 

thanks crossover I didn't want to touch this one.

 

I'm kinda put off by Woods saying he never worked out before. What kind of work ethic is he going to bring in, is he going to be hurt after 40 games because he's never pressed himself very hard before. Or am I just blowing this out of proportion.

 

Well, this article doesn't really go into a lot of the things I find disturbing, so I probably shouldn't have used their "requests" in this article like they were the main reason for my comment. For that, I apologize.

I just think it is weird how the <b>Chinese Government</b> can step in and hold hostage someone like Zhizhi or Ming from entering the NBA against their will. I don't think I need to travel to China to figure out something like that is ridiculous and wrong. I wouldn't even be surprised if they could <b>force</b> Ming to go into the NBA if they thought it would help their own country in some way.

Plus, in the past their have been comments made that they want him to play on a big-market team with a large Asian population and they want him to play on a good team that can win the championship in the three years. It almost seemed like if they didn't like the team he went to, they would simply change their mind and not allow him to make the move. And after what they did with Zhizhi, who's to say they wouldn't do it again? I wouldn't be surprised if the team that drafts Ming gets screwed by the Chinese Government, whether it be additional demands or just delaying his coming over for a year or two.

And I don't see how your "but if David Stern did it" argument really holds much water. First of all, David Stern has not made similar demands. Second, in China the GOVERNMENT is getting involved, not just the Chinese Basketball League. Why is the Government getting involved at all? Its basketball. But like I said, I guess that's just China.

 

When I read the hopes of the chines gov. I thought they were asking for players to start going to china to play ball, not the NBA sending over a bunch of players in return for Ming.

Ming would help players in America relize that good ball is being played in China and that could be a place for them to go and play. Instead of Europe or Russia. That would improve the level of ball being played in China and advance the game in the country. thats how I saw it, I could be wrong though, they may be after Odom and keon Clark for Ming. . . . .

 

It's a damn shame that China is dominated by a socialist slave culture that treats the individual as the property of the collective. I can't wait for Ming to come over here and taste the freedom of our open society, in which a tall, bulky, reasonably athletic, sulky, lazy-assed misanthrope can get paid $42 million because "that's the going rate." Let's all salute the rationality of capitalism.

 

LOL Will. I wanted to respond to DCKid, but decided I wasn't able to adequately make my point. Oh well. Hey DCKid, I see where you're coming from, and that's cool, but if you get the chance to go abroad sometime, you should consider it. It's easy to take for granted the way we look at things when everyone around us does too. Plus it's just a lot of fun to go someplace completely different. Sorry, this is completely off-topic.