Rockets to Make Unprecedented Announcement

*this is some kind of editorial i guess from Rocket Guy, not that it has any substance at all but it is a article so I posted it for......*

http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_199.shtml

Rockets to Make Unprecedented Announcement
- by The Rocket Guy - for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jun 13, 2002, 11:00am


They've done everything but cross the t's and dot the i's. The Houston Rockets' away team returns home on Thursday, having completed nearly a week of successful talks with the various representatives of China's Yao Ming. The Shanghai Sharks have agreed to release Ming without any of the strange compensation requests that have been rumored about. The Rockets will not have to send Steve Francis (or even Jason Collier) to China as compensation, Les Alexander will not have to build Shanghai a new arena, and Yao Ming will be available for 82 games plus as many playoff games as the Rockets can qualify for. Too good to be true? Maybe.

It seems too easy. After all of the strange talks about how difficult it would be to negotiate with the Chinese, it seems like we're missing something now that it's all said and done. Sure, the Chinese stand to gain a LOT of money in this deal, and they will end up with a better player, one who is trained in the NBA game. Still, something doesn't feel right. What's the catch?

The Rockets have chosen a strange time to depart from their long-time policy of drafting the best available without regard for position. Naturally, a choice consistent with that policy would have Duke's Jay Williams coming to Houston, if temporarily, on June 26th. Williams is by far the premier college player in the draft, and the phones have been ringing off the hook in the Houston front office ever since Steve Francis brought home the first pick in the draft. Players like Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas, Wally Szczerbiak, Terrell Brandon, Damon Stoudamire, Derek Anderson, Shane Battier, Lamar Odom, Michael Olowokandi, Larry Hughes, and Adonal Foyle have been offered in exchange for the rights to Jay Williams, not to mention other draft picks as high as #3, which would have been part of a player-for-pick deal. What is it about Yao Ming that makes him worth passing up all of those players and picks?

In a pool that is considered to be one of the worst draft pools of all time, Yao Ming is the only center that has the potential to be a star. 7'5" 295 lb. (or 255 lb., depending on which reports you read) with the shooting ability of Kevin Garnett and the shot-blocking ability of Hakeem Olajuwon? Sounds intriguing, to say the least. The big hang-up was the seemingly-complicated task of wresting Ming away from his Chinese home team. The Rockets had originally hoped to trade the #1 pick for a player like Battier and then pick up Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus with the 4th pick. When Marcus decided to return to college for another year, that made Ming the only real option for the Rockets as they try to improve their only real weakness.

So is it a done deal? The Rockets wait only for the actual signed documents guaranteeing their unconditional rights to Yao Ming. Unfortunately, this does not solve all of their problems. Assuming that Yao Ming will be the starting center next season, what happens to Kelvin Cato? The Rockets were very high on the improvement he showed last season, but he will not be a happy player if he is sent back to the bench. Not that Cato is an ideal starter, averaging fewer rebounds per game than our All-Star point guard, but he turns into a cancer when he has to come off the bench. Does bringing in Yao Ming signal that the Rockets have found a taker for Cato?

This will be our next focus . . .

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