What's a fair contract for Yao assuming limited playing time?

Rockets are hardball players in the morey era, all FA negotiations have been hardball, and I expect nothing less with Yao, there is no upside to offering him an extension now.

Regardless of the CBA situation, whatever the max salary is going to be next year, some team will throw it at Yao, as long as he is healthy.

 

if i were you, i would add one more option - pay nothing.

the next contract means the rest of his career. if he plays less than 24 min for rest of his career, rox should go to other direction, plain and simple. think about, as morey said many times, yao is the corner stone. rox is building around him. if he plays less 24 min, what is the point of doing all those things?

ppl here misinterpreted the whole idea of playing less 24 min. they are not talking about the rest of his career. i will bet on that his playing time will gradually increase during the rest of his career if no any setback occurs. i am not talking about this regular season. otherewsie, there is nonsense to keep him.

 

7-9 mil loaded with incentives.

 

agree, this the only two options.

A) He is healthy, which means that other teams will throw max at him, so you either max him or lose him.

B) He gets injured again, which means he retires. and you lose him.

The only two options is max or nothing. There is no scenario where he is healthy and he does not get the max.

 

no..it's a limit the doctors have put on him.

yeah, i have a hard time believing he'll get max dollars....but i may be drastically underestimating the off-the-court stuff....which i probably shouldn't.

 

It baffles me that the majority of the voters believe an oft-injured player who will be limited to less than 30 minutes a game deserves more than $10 million a year.

 

i'm glad to know i'm not alone.

 

Nothing to do with what he deserves, it's a matter of NBA economics. Either max him or lose him, supply vs demand.

 

coz you have no idea what eventually min he will play. right now they are talking about this season. it doesn't cover the rest of his career.

i expect his surgion will allow yao to play around 30-32 min after a year of playing if he doesn't see any setback.

 

Heavily incentive based.

Base 4 Million, another 1 million for every 10 games played.

 

I know what he's been paid for the past several seasons and what he's managed to play in them.

 

the thread title says: "...assuming limited playing time"

 

Well, this season is all that teams can go by not what they EXPECT him to play. Teams can not invest a Max deal on a simple assumption and what we do know is he is playing 24 minutes max...no way you pay max money or close to it for someone who plays half a game.

Amare couldn't even get a max deal this summer even though he was relatively healthy, it took a desperate Knick team to give in and give him close to the Max.

 

I don't understand all the penny pinching around here.

The man himself already said if he cannot play to the level he expects to he WILL retire.

He is following cautious approach coming back from major surgery.

Another big guy Z has gone thru this and it takes time to get back in shape.

So if he can play and say with time, he is at less than 30 min for the season but they go all out in the playoff (and is very effective), wouldn't that be enough to let everyteam out there reach for the max for a chance to sign him?

And I do believe Morey when he said it, that the team is built around Yao (for now), then if Yao can play and is effective, he will be signed for what the market will bear for him.

I do wish the best for him and may he have a very successful return.

 

Pay him piecemeal or by the second.

$100 bucks a second... 1 minute =$6000

If he averages 20 minutes that's $120,000 per game times 82 = $10 Mil

 

then why do we pay him a penny? if he can't play more than 24 min, cut him loose. he is not a role player. when he is on the court, the playbook has to be changed. it doens't make any sense to keep him with your assumption.

 

It's not Max's assumption, it's the premise of the thread.

 

I think if we're going to assume the 24 minute playing time rule, we should also assume the benefits that the Rockets expect will accrue from it:

* No season-ending injuries
* Full-time minutes in the playoffs

If we're not assuming we can get those things from limiting his regular season playing time, then there's really no point in employing him at all.

Given those assumptions, he's easily worth more than $10m per season.

 

$11-12 sounds about right for his market value. But it depends on Yao's level of play, level fo health, and what the new CBA says.

My two reference points are two other effective centers who was playing relatively limited minutes. Scroll down to the "Salaries" section. Was under a different CBA, but I think the numbers will be similar.


http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sabonar01.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smitsri01.html

 

completely agree.