It is imperative that we find a serviceable center before the season starts. Somebody who will just protect the paint by getting rebounds, blocks. On offense, he would need to set some screens, and the occasional putbacks. The Rockets have plenty of scoring, so we really don't need an offensive-minded player. If Yao is able to play at the start of the season, great. Otherwise, the above described center would be in the starting lineup, using Jordan Hill as the backup. I think this is the Rockets' plan as evidenced by the front office's disclosure yesterday that Hill is being groomed as a center. What cannot happen is to have Hayes as the starting C again. We can ill afford to spot games in such a crazily competitive western conference. Any way we can pry Gortart from Orlando? I know they would love to have Lowry.
Maybe they are still negotiating. These kind of agreements usually only happen right before a deadline (i.e. like a deadline to opt out), so talks are no doubt heating up. On the deadline, they will know whether they have a deal on an extension or not, and thus the announcement will be then. Maybe the new deal will get the Rockets under the luxury tax threshold for 2010-11, and the Rockets will pass the projected savings to Yao in the form of extra years on the deal.
They still wouldn't be able to sign another free agent because they'd still be over the cap unless they renounce Scola and Lowry.
I'm pretty sure they still have the MLE and the Biannual exception, even if they resign Scola and Lowry. That's because Scola and Lowry are their own free agents.
Rockets were over the cap when they signed Ariza. How does being over the cap stop them from using salary cap exceptions to sign players?
Maybe this will be one of those win win scenario's where Yao will give the Rockets a price brake on his salary in exchange for more years years on his contract. Yao will be due large a very large pay increase next summer as an unrestricted free agent if his foot heals and he has a monster year with no injuries. However if Yao only plays 50 games this year you could see a dramatic drop in salary with a very limited number of years on his next contract. Perhaps the discussion is that the Rockets are willing to go ahead and give Yao max years and gamble on his health if Yao is willing to give the Rockets a price break. Yao is scheduled to make 17.7 million dollars this season. Perhaps he would be willing to drop down to 12 million and year for the Rockets to guaranty an additional 7 years. A deal like that could position the Rockets to drop below the luxury tax threshold by the trade deadline.
While we're all doing the silly daydream of moving on without Yao, remember Yao and the Chinese advertising dollars he brings are the financial backbone of Les's openness to go into the luxury tax to sign Scola and Lowry. Les knows he's still going to be in black and has the Al Davis philosophy, Just Win Baby!!! I'm too lazy to go into the trade machine and make the numbers work, but there should be a scenario where we can move an asset or two to the Hornets for Emeka Okafor as a salary eating move. New Orleans will save some long term money and we can bring Yao off the bench, that's one hell of a 6th man Thats my "Mr. Impossible Trade Suggester" moment for this off season, carry on as you were.
I think it's silly to think we can't move away from Yao. DM mentioned he is still the number 1 player being asked for in a trade. Rockets have plenty of chances to move him, if they really want....
Its stupid to think about moving on without Yao. Though he is hurt a 50% Yao is still a top 5 center in this league. The people who want to move on without Yao must have short term memory. A healthy Yao solves 75% of our problems. And if you are a rocket fan, I dont need to explain "why," because you should already know if you watch Rocket games.
That would be amazing if Yao offered to come back for less in order to clear up cap space, but I don't see that happening. I bet his 'announcement' is that he doesn't plan to opt out, nothing more.
I don't think it's cap space. Even if Yao offers to take a HUGE pay cut (like playing for the MLE), they won't have any meaningful cap room unless they simply let Scola and Lowry go and dump other guys for nothing. Besides, I don't think Yao is going to take that kind of pay cut because it makes no sense for him. The Rockets are also not just gonna dumping their other guys because cap room for them is pretty meaningless at this point. The trick is to get a FA to want to come to the city, after that, a S&T can be worked out. Cap room ain't changing Chris Bosh's mind. If they do anything, it's more of a matter of finances for both side. For Yao, he's heading into the last year of the contract at more than $17 mil-- great money, but no guarantee of future income after that-- and if he gets injured or if the Collective Bargaining Agreement gets amended in certain ways, his future income may be a lot less than current level, may even be $0 if the injury is career ending. So, there is some figure out there at which it makes sense for him to sign a new contract for which he makes less next year but has more years and total dollars guaranteed. I am thinking something like a 4 year, $50 mil would make sense. It would essentially mean something like a 3 year extension from his current deal at about $10 million a year, which sounds like a fair figure considering his talent, injury risk, and possible future CBA numbers. For the Rockets, yes, you take the risk of locking up an injury prone player for 3 more years, but if healthy, he can way overperform his salary figure. Also, next season they expect to get into tax territory in most reasonable scenario. So, every $1 reduction on Yao's salary next season could be $2 mor even more for them. If Yao takes, say, a $6 million pay cut for next season in the extension scenario described above, this could mean $12 million or more for the team.
for those who said Yao wont get a max somewhere else...go check team's cap room.....teams will overpay players this summer, and if you are paying a player with max that could get ur team more international exposure, business opportunity, and shoe deals for other players or even the coaches, then u r getting a good deal.. if Yao opts out, he'll get a max deal for 3-4 years
Well, he's been playing basketball year round since 2000. That's bound to take a toll on a man of his size. With the Chinese National Team in the past and the fact he will have had a full year and half basketball free, I think he can still produce max salary statistics and be injury free for 3 or maybe 4 years. If I were Morey, I'd be willing to take the gamble no doubt. I'm hoping he does in fact sign for less than the max, say 5 years at $40 million incentive laden galore.
I agree 100%! If the Rockets sign Yao to a multi-year deal before the season they will have condemned themselves to "basketball hell" for many years to come. Yao has not proven he can survive a season in the NBA. In over a year, he hasn't proven that he can even play! If this happens it is ALL LES, because Morey is too smart to do this. The prudent thing to do is wait and see, then decide.
