Who here thought Hakeem would be a Rocket for life after those two championship seasons? Anything can happen.
Hakeem left when he was a washed up i belive 38 year old player. If Yao at that age decides to leave, i won't mind.
The same thing that happened when Duncan became a free agent. Probably not a whole lot of talk about it, because he will be resigned. Hell, Drayton MaClane would spend the max to resign Yao. As far as loyalty is concerned on Yao's part...i have no doubt he will want to remain here, and will take what the Rockets offer, which will be the max most likely. I just can't see Yao moving on. Loyalty, i assume, is a big thing for Yao.
Loyalty is a big part Yao's peronality. He remains loyal to the chinese national team even though it might be detrimental to his developement in the NBA, so he will be loyal to the Rockets. As far as New York fans loving Yao, remember that they all boo'ed him when he was selected # 1 on draft night.
There is no way the Rocks will wait until his contract expires to sign him to an extension. They are probably just letting him catch his breath from his first deal before they start pushing his first extension. This is obviously a player worth max money.
Yao wants to avoid the spotlight as much as possible. He already has enough pressure from all of China so why the heck would he want to go to a media circus like LA, NY, or Chicago. As far as Golden State: Yes, that's what Yao wants, 12,000 Asians in the stands every night disecting his every move. It would be as if China's billions were 10 feet away from him. He's just dying for more attention. Houston is very laid back and big enough where he doesn't feel couped up like a Memphis or Charlotte. Also, there's enough of an Asian population but not too much to keep his parents happy. Finally, the Rockets can offer him more money and we also are his first team. Loyalty should never be underestimated.
To answer this question more seriously: Let's make the following assumptions about the Rockets' future financial picture. We can argue about most of these assumptions, and some of these players will be traded, but remember we usually are trading them for players with similar salary demands, so this is still useful. (If you don't like these assumptions, you will need to add/subtract to the totals below) 1. We resign Posey for 100% of the MLE in the summer 2003 with 10% raises each year. 2. We resign Griffin for 120% of the MLE in the summer 2005 with 10% raises each year. 3. Mobley picks up his player option in 2005/06 and we resign him for 120% of the MLE in the summer of 2006 with 10% raises each year. 4. We resign Nachbar for 100% of the MLE in the summer 2006 with 10% raises each year. 5. We resign Yao in the summer 2006 for the maximum with maximum raises each year. 6. Our 1st round pick is about #15 in 2004, about #18 in 2005, about #20 in 2006 and are all subject to rookie scale contracts. 7. We do not sign any of our 2nd round picks above the minimum. 8. We do not resign Rice, Cato or any of our other current players for anything greater than the minimum when their contracts expire (Rice in 2004, Cato in 2006). 9. We add no free agents above the minimum. 10. The salary cap is at $45m in 2006-07. 11. The luxury tax threshold is at $58m in 2006-07. 12. The MLE is $5m for 2003-04, $5.2m for 2004-05, $5.5m for 2005-06, $5.8m for 2006-07. 13. The next CBA (starting in 2005-06) has a luxury/escrow tax system similar to the one in the present CBA (the owners like it as they can pay less, so somewhat unlikely to get rid). So the salary situation in 2006-07 will look like this: Francis $13.8m Taylor $9.7m Norris $4.3m Posey $6.5m Griffin $6.6m Nachbar $5.8m Yao $11.2m 2004 1st round pick: $1.5m 2005 1st round pick: $1m 2006 1st round pick: $0.8m Mystery minimum player: $0.6m Mystery minimum player: $0.6m Mystery minimum player: $0.6m Mystery minimum player: $0.6m Total salary for season 2006-07: $58.4m (right there or most likely over the luxury tax threshold) So unless we simply give players away (and probably good players, since other teams will need some bait to take someone like Norris and Taylor -- and you can see very clearly here how Norris's and Taylor's contracts kill this franchise) or don't resign Yao (the subject of this thread!), Les Alexander have to commit to paying luxury taxes -- and please don't even think that Les will pay it up as $1m over the threshold essentially means a straight $12m loss ($1m salary + $1m tax + $10+m tax money share from teams awfully over the tax threshold, e.g. NY, Dallas). As a business man, you won't think say the service of a MLE player is worth $20+m a year, will you? That is part of the reason why I think the talk of us using our MLE this summer or the forseeable summers for that matter is highly unlikely.
