I think Yao's play next season will determine what the rockets will pay him. I think yao can be a 16ppg 8 reb guy in 30 mins of action for about the next 4 yrs. Too me, that's a 10m player for the next 4 yrs and at the tail end you get what you get. At the same time, the rockets need to continue to build the team with high quality players. I'm in the minority, but I think iggy and dalembert would have a bigger impact on this team winning going forward than scola and lowry. Thats just my opionion, but I think having a versitile player like Iggy and a backup center like dalembert would do wonders for yao,landry and brooks. Dalembert gives the team felxibility to match the frontline like Lakers which is going to be the gold standard. The ability to hold them down to a lower fg% is vital toward beating them. Having brooks as a mismatch player against La have shwon to be a great asset. Dlembert also allows landry to be covered up when Yao goes out and gives the team to be multiple because anderson is also a guy who can benefit and match the size of la. Iggy is a guy la would have to defend and not sag off. He's also a good enough defender that he can play good one on one defense against kobe. Another thing is trevor has shown he can defend kobe also as good as anyone.
I realize that giving any player a guaranteed contract for multiple years at $20M per year comes with inherent risks. I also realize that Yao is very unique...he is the only player in the whole world who literally holds the key to tapping into China's growing mega-middle class. For financial reasons, I firmly believe Les will give him the extension and make sure he retires in a Rockets uniform. I started this thread because I think the Rockets have a unique opportunity to completely rebuild, without ever bottoming out, that very few teams ever have, and I would hate to see them pass it by without acquiring the one piece any team truly needs to win big...the centerpiece. Usually that player is drafted, which requires said team to become terrible and hope to win a lottery. Or they become available because of money....the player's original team knows it cannot sign him AND field a competitive, economically-viable team, so they are forced to let him go. This second scenario is one I feel the Rockets could be in a unique position to capitalize upon. Chris Paul is a prime example. The Hornets are in financial trouble, yet they have the best PG in basketball just entering his prime. If they sign him, the team around him will be woefully under-talented, and so he rots in anonymity like KG all those years in Minnesota. Their best chance at making money, unfortunately, is to move Paul before he can leave and get cheaper, less-talented parts to build a team that can win and make a profit with a lower payroll. That's where the Rockets come in. A package centered around Aaron Brooks and Yao/Shane's expiring contract(s) gives them a cheaper, talented replacement for Paul AND saves them a ton of money.....a win-win for the Hornets. But...if the Rockets lock in long-term on Bosh and Yao, when that window of opportunity for Paul (or Melo or any other top-10 player) opens, their hands will be tied because Yao has already taken all of the cap space that would be better spent on Paul. Through Morey's impeccable drafting and shrewd FA signings (Ariza notwithstanding), the Rockets are loaded with young, cheap, ascending assets (Landry, Brooks, Lowry, Budinger). Through his own salary-cap planning, they also have all of their big-money veterans (Tmac, Yao, Shane, Scola) set to expire within the same 2-year window. Those 2 factors create the perfect storm of a team with the money (Les' willingness to spend and cap space), flexibility (expiring deals and no big long-term committments), and attractive trading chips (young, cheap talent) that can maximize all of its assets to find that elusive centerpiece. Of course many factors (availability, desire to come to Houston, etc...) could make the acquisition of such a player impossible, but I would hate to see the Rockets lock themselves into a team, long-term, based on the false assumption that a healthy Yao is a worthy centerpiece. If the Rockets believe Bosh is that guy (which I do not), and that's their plan, and Yao is a separate issue, then I am fine with that. Morey has proved me wrong on Landry and Brooks, so I have retired from the business of second-guessing him on personnel evaluation. But I see no other players mentioned as a legit possibility that could realistically become that centerpiece. I just hope in 2 years we are not just counting down the days until Yao's deal expires so this team can finally move past mediocrity. I have been doing that the past couple of years with the Astros, and it really sucks.
