Lol a true Rocket fan would cheer for any player wearing a Rocker Jersey. You guys are hybrids who want to play fantasy league because you can't find the perfect player, so you get upset things aren't perfect. Lol "we root for the Houston Rockets except....Yao" last time I remember he is a Houston Rocket.....
Next year's Rockets will be quite talented so Yao can take on a lesser role as he gets back to 100% from this slow healing injury. Somewhere around 20-30mins depending on how fast the foot heals. Hopefully come next year's playoff time Yao will be ready to dominate the game. Similar to how KG is currently doing for Boston, because Playoffs is what matters and as you can see You never need a best record going to post season. -Jin
******* it, leeb, I know I've had this discussion with you on how there is utterly no point in trading Yao especially right now. We won't get good value out of trading him especially in a year when we're going for broke for a ring so he has to be eased in over time. I highly doubt we're having him sit on the bench the entire year.
root for things that make the rockets a worse team? 17mil being thrown down the drain for a number of years? You think I should root for events that hurt my team? I love Yao as much as the next guy but you guys keep living in denial. If it hasn't happened yet...what are you counting on? Good thing morey isn't this dumb. Basketball is about winning games, not how much you like a player
WTF? Did you not see Yao in the playoffs about this exact time last year? Can I borrow your time machine?
agreed. His value is at its lowest, nobody wants to throw 17 mil away just like with tmac. SHould use his expiring as leverage.
marc gasol would be a ridiculous steal. Marc is almost as good as his bro, just needs more NBA experience. Doesn't have as deadly a jumper, but he's pretty damn crafty.
we could treat yao the way popovich treats duncan during the season. rest him for as many games as we can until the playoffs and play him as much as he is able.
Lol fully of contradiction. He'll why should you root for any player than because you can always say "why should I root for a 6'6 center" "why should I root for KM who has played less games than Yao in the last 3 years" "why should I root for Scola because he can't guard LaMarcus A." "why should I root for Shane, even though we all know a it would be nice if he can score besides his corner 3 pointer" "why should I root for Ariza, when he is asked to score in the 1st half" "why should I root for Lowey because he has no jump shot" "why should I root for AB because other than Scoring he can't do much else" "why should I root for ...." I tell you why because they all wear Rockets Jersey and some of them pour blood and sweat to the team and many of them help the Houston community. I dont cry about 17 million dollars on the bench because I know DM won't have the Balls to trade him, so I live with it and figure out how we can use him besides crying about it....... If bringing him off the bench will insure we make it to the playoffs so be it. Instead you guys are so focused on the he makes 17 million dollars and he has a glass foot. DM nor Les is trading him, unless he demands a trade or suffers a career injury. Do I like it? No but I don't take the chance to praise every negative Yao post........
Please explain. Do you think the lakers got good value out of trading shaq? Maybe someone sees the cash cow as a cash cow and values that more than winning. They could get good value for yao right now if they wanted too. If tracy and microfracture,disgruntled as can bring back martin,hill(lotto pick) and 2 protected lotto picks, what do you think we could get for Yao? I would say alot more than what we got for tracy especially if a 3rd team is involved.
You don't trade him when his stock is low. McGrady's stock wasn't going to rise if he played extended minutes. So we showed he was still breathing and then shipped him off. We only got that haul because NY was desperate to get the cap space. Without that circumstance we would have gotten pennies on the dollar, like we would with Yao if we traded him. The smart decision is to go into next season hoping Yao is able to make a return. Whether that means starting him off by coming off teh bench or holding him out the first month, whatever. Just try to get him back. If it becomes apparent that he can't make a comeback, then you use his expiring and try to get something. Or just let him expire for the cap space flexibility. If, on the other hand, he comes back and is able to play healthy the entire season and all exams point to a clean bill of health, then you can resign him for a reduced contract at the end of the year. Fact is, when he is healthy he's a top 2 center in this league. We just have to make sure we don't lock in a huge portion of our cap into him in case something else comes up. Regardless, just trading him now would be a collosaly stupid mistake. As for the bench idea, you can reduce somebodies minutes and keep them in the starting lineup. I'd be more worried about the matchups for our starters if he's not there. Opening day is a long way away though. Who knows.
Even injured or on the comeback, Yao could bring back some good talent from alot of teams. Not only is he a "cash cow", but he is a center with 1 yr of max money. There might be some teams willing to gamble he comes back and want to get rid of some young talent. It doesn't even have to be great talent, just good talent with upside and some picks.
You endlessly whine on how Yao is worthless and has no value, and now you think teams will pony up things for him? The frank result is that if we trade Yao, trading Yao at the trade deadline would be far better than it would be right now. Even if the absolute worst case scenario happens and Yao never plays an entire game for this season, he would still have more value as an massive expiring. This team isn't that interested in good talent with upside, it's interested in winning the whole thing this very year - and we will not get back anyone remotely as good as a healthy Yao if we trade the guy. A few differences: 1. 2010 Free Agency. Really, pretty damn obvious. Tracy was the only way for NY to get their dreams realized, and everyone knew it. Yao? Not so much, as the free agent class isn't as big. 2. We traded McGrady in February, when the pressure was tightest. There is no flipping way we could have gotten the haul we did if we had traded in August, persay, though I've seen you argue that stupid idea.
I have no problem with Yao off the bench. Hell, having him not have to jump at the beginning of the season at the start of every game, should help his recovery. As for the "Trade Yao because of injury" movement that seems to have taken over this thread, it saddens (but doesn't surprise me) that so many Rockets fans are now blaming the guy injuries that were all freak accidents. The man when healthy produces at an elite level, that few centers these days are able to, while we know at the start of next season, he won't be 100%, but if anything, the past year or so should show people he is still valuable and paired with the current squad could push us to our goal of a championship. All this talk about trading him for scraps and being better for it is foolish, mainly because QUALITY big men that remain HEALTHY and SCORE are not flipping easy to find. You want Yao gone, pray for a quality guy in the draft, stop the fantasy talk about us being able to get anything for him because no team would give up a healthy starter that could help this or any team for Yao straight up and more importantly, the salaries would have to match.
