Lets see Rookie with no Nba experience the word "jell" and "grow" come to mind? Versus 2 time All star veteran which any team would love to have. A marketable player that sells tickets, Yeah right in a heartbeat? Rockets trade Steve for a top 3 pick we will surely not be a contender. Steve is here to stay.
I would trade Yao Ming for Darko plus another pick or a player. Yao will not fully develop under the current arrangement. He will have no time for summer-training as he has to report to the NT team within 10 days after the season ends. If Rox does not trade Yao fast, trust me, after 2 years, everybody will realize it is just NOT going to work out for Yao and any teams to have Yao play basketball all-year round.
Another trade is to trade Yao for Curry and Crawford. I am not sure if Chicago will take this trade. It is a good trade for the Rox because Rox can replace Yao with Curry and use Crawford for the PG and Steve for the SG. It is too much risk to keep Yao because he has to play all-year long and is subject to injury outside of NBA.
Don't trade Yao. He is what is gonna make us a "name brand" franchise as much for his on court talents and his uniqueness. And I wouldn't call Bosh powerful.
I agree that this is a rather weak draft. Considering there's a massive drop-off after the top four (Lebron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh), this is as good a year as any to not have a first-rounder. The only prospect that intrigues me past those four is Sofoklis Schortsianitis. Every time I hear someone say "we need an enforcer-type power forward to play with Yao," this guy pops into my head. Unless we can swing a trade like Griffin for Schortsianitis, I could almost care less that we gotta wait till the second round, since we wouldn't have had a top four pick anyway.
