All I care about is giving a HUGE standing ovation when Yao's name is called during the intros for our season opener. Man, I really have a good feeling about this coming season... And don't tell me you won't do the same!
if Yao Ming has a great injury free year we are likely in the finals. its that much of an impact to warrant taking a chance of him getting hurt. our season rests on his shoulders. we trade him now we are in the lottery again.
From a business stand point, Yao's generated market income is what's allowing Alexander to push the luxury threshold anyway (the guy's wealthy, but he's no Prokhorov, a multibillionaire with a toy).
Absolutely silly. Mr. Alexander is not going to throw away the China tv contracts for anything. He doesn't want Yao to ever appear on another NBA team, regardless of how broken down he is. Right now, the Rockets are China's team, and they will be as long as Yao is on the roster...quite possibly after wards too. If we trade him, all those viewers start following the other team, not the Rockets. Staying loyal to Yao is winning the loyalty of a billion Chinese viewers. So if Yao recovers well, we resign him to a max or near max 3 year deal. If it's a mixed bag then he gets a lesser deal. If he retires, theoritically we could trade him as an expiring contract, but I wouldn't do this unless you can get Yao to publicly state that he seems himself as a Rocket or something like that. You don't want anyone thinking we did Yao wrong. I doubt we will though, because it seems there will be less teams doing deals purely for economics and Les will want that cap relief himself this time around. Safe move is to just have him retire as a Rocket... and retire his jersey.
There are a lot of great players, but few real difference-makers in the game. If the Rockets think there's a chance they can get a couple of good/healthy years out of him, it would be stupid to trade him, because a couple of good/healthy years out of this unique kind of player gives you a shot at a championship. Besides, with his marketability, the idea of trading him is downright ludicrous.
I see you don't understand that the chineese tv money is shared between all the nba teams. I laos see you think anyone cares about being loyal to viewers. How many of those viewers helped the rockets beat the knicks in 94 or the magic in 95? Thats what i thought.
There are a few posters who have voiced similar opinion that Yao could possibly return to his old self (or close to his old self), including some 99ers clutchfans. But you decided to pick on an easy target with 'Yao' in his screen name which helps to make your YOF name calling more convincing. Why don't you man up to call out a 99er? And it's not the first time I saw you do something like this. Are you going to lie that you only read the YOFs' posts but not the others. ROFL. You, Spiegel, are such a chicken.
Thats not gonna happen. The owner has more money because of Yao. Thats always the bottom line. Better stack the deck if you insist on having him then stack the roster and go over the luxury tax every year. Thats what it takes to win with a 25 minutes a night guy who probably will insist on being a max player next year again.
I see you don't understand that Yao Ming didn't come to the Rockets till several years later, so his following would not have been watching our Championship teams! Besides that I don't believe there was an NBA /China Basketball TV contract in place.
