Yao Ming and T-Mac: Too much risk, not enough reward

until we lose Yao and/or Tracy to another injury.

personally, i've seen enough. if it takes a max contract to keep yao around, i'd go another direction. if he's willing to take less than that, then you're fine...and i think he can be a big part of a championship team. but we need to stop pretending that we can merely assemble pieces around Yao to get us to the promised land.

 

The salary cap demands we go in another direction. You can't invest that much money in two players who have a history of chronic health problems. Honestly, rebuilding is probably the only option at this point. You can't resign Artest, because you want to have cap space for the 2010 free agent class. You can't bring back T Mac for the same reason, and in two years Shane will be - gulp - two years older, so I don't see him being resigned.

Other than Landry, I don't see many of these guys on the roster in three years.

 

For Morey this is probably more than obvious, for Les it likely isn't. And therein is the problem. After this season is over, the Rockets must go in a different direction. It is not about personalities, loyalty, feelings, or the "good times." It is what it is; obvious. At one time I thought TMac was the best player in the league, and he likely was. I am a fan of Yao as a person, but I have always been somewhat frustrated by his on court performances. They may be passionate in their own way, but the inner fire of both these players never quite burned as bright as it needed to. Thus, their temperaments and their durability have always been issues. I think the TMac/Yao is over. Unfortunately, Les Alexander may have other plans.

 

a winner is you.

 

Mutual admiration; I always like to read your posts.

This a sad situation in a way, but it is truly time to reload. I wish it weren't true, but it is.

 

If we were to trade Yao to a team that could really tap his marketing power like Golden State, then we could add perhaps Biedrins, Randolph, and Maggette for Yao and expiring contracts. That would give us a solid replacement at center with Biedrins, a quality third scorer in Maggette, and a talented young forward in Randolph. If you have TMac, even a 18-20 pts/game TMac, with Artest and add in those three you've got a hell of a team.

 

Doesn't Yao bring $$$$ (a lot of it) to the Rockets?

If we get something for him, it'll have to be a high price. Then again, lots of team would be looking for the money as well, and might be willing to pay the price. Only thing is, we'd get bunch of borderline all-stars/all-stars rather than a superstar.

 

Unless Golden St. plans on changing their style of play I doubt they would want Yao.

 

I don't buy it. Anyone who wants to win it all will plainly see that not touching the team for one season is our best shot of winning it all within the next 3 years.

Re-building THIS summer will guarantee that we won't win it within 3 years IMO. Unless someone unexpectedly fals into our laps, it doesnt make sense to me,

Think of it this way. If Yao gets tha max with us, the money we'll make for him will give us the flexibility to go over the cap and maybe luxury tax to get someone else too. Re-signng Yao to less money will give us space to sign someone who, alone, will not bring as many wins to this team.

Letting Yao walk will make things tougher than the have to be. I say we go into next season with the same squad, give it a shot, and then evaluate everything after that. We may be able to go right into contending after 2010, even if we don't get a marquee player that summer.

I guarantee that we wouldnt be buying picks all the time if not for the revenue that yao brings in and there are several areas where Yao's cashcow abilities support this franchise.

I'm sick of this era as much as anyone else, but when you look at it from Morey's perspective, I think it's clear that the best thing to do is stitch this team up for the coming season and then do some major work on the team's infrastructure the following season if needed. Now, IMO, is not the time to dismantle simply because both dismantling and re-assembling will be easier in summer 2010. Forcing it now will set us back a while probably.

Is anyone actually thinking a full rebuilding effort? As in, deal Yao, Battier and Scola for young talent, let Artest walk and let T-Mac expire? I'd be more willing to do this than to just trade Yao (for example). Kind of like the Blazers. This makes more sense to me.

 

It's very hard to predict what will happen. There are several factors that will probably lead Morey to wait until the trading deadline to see what sort of product he has.

1. T-mac is not worth trading right now because his value is low. His value will be higher near the trading deadline, so why not see what he becomes? How much does he recover and fit in? These are all very big things to consider. Also, whether or not you move him is also a function of opportunity. Another team has to want him enough.

2. Yao is injury proned - no doubt, but maybe the reality is finally here that the Rockets give him the first month of the season off and use him in very limited minutes until march. In other words, use him hard only just before the playoffs to get his conditioning up to speed, and lessen the chance of stress related injuries. The good news is that all of his injuries thus far have been 100% recoverable. He hasn't had injuries with a long-lasting impact.

3. The core of this team is very talented and has a bright future, but is inexperienced. Guys like Brooks, landry, and wafer are still developing.

4. Artest is the one who must adopt the most, it's clear he's not as good as t-mac at stimulating the offense, we need him more as a defensive stopper and driver to the basket - not a 3 pt shooter. that's not his strong suit. I doubt he will stick around to play 3rd fiddle though - he is most likely gone if t-mac stays, so again, a lot of uncertainty.

I don't think we will have as much problems as people say we will. If we replace artest or t-mac with a serviceable offensive star - we will be back in contention.

 

This is too much.

1. so we sign a guy to be our starting center...and to be the focal point of our offense...but we play him limited minutes until march and then just flip a switch? it just doesn't work that way.

2. hasn't had injuries with long-lasting impact?? what?? this guy is injured every year. he rarely finishes a season. he's missed at least 30 games in 3 of the last 4 seasons. second season in a row it's the same injury.

 

Why trade Yao?

We do need someone to play at the Center position right? So lets keep him, he's a great center, probably the best we could get!

Lets just stop putting so much pressure on him. It worked so-so this offseason, he is a great leader. Maybe not a first option offensive player, so what? Lets go get a better scorer but keep Yao as our leader!

Get a backup 7footer as well who can block shots a la Deke and we are good to go!

I don't know why people want to trade one of the best centers, even though he is injury prone.

Anyways, If we where to trade him (chances are 5%) what could we get out of him? Probably not as much as people think...

 

lol maggette? no thanks. dude is a freaking ballhog. there wont be enough ball to go around with maggette and mcgrady.

 

At least if we have to play Yao we know how to defend him....front him.

 

Trade Yao for a PF/C who can actually guard the pick and roll. We don't need Yao's inside presence with Adelman's genius offense. This is the guy who probably ran the most potent offense in the past 10 years.

 

risk v reward?

LOL

look at what you have: a medium media market with little national appeal. a penny pinching owner. low appeal stadium. city where bball is 2nd or 3rd sports priority

you think if you dump Yao and Tmac... one who came to the city through the miracle of ping pong balls and the other a very favorable trade... that the franchise will go UP?

do you not remember the SF3 years when despite having a very talented star it was touch and go for the playoffs every year? most teams do not have the luxury of guaranteed playoffs, guaranteed national coverage every year.

take away Yao and Houston is another Sacramento or 76ers... a mid market team struggling to make an impact in the league and holding parades for making it to the playoffs. it could be 5 years before they make the playoffs again or 15 before they're a legit contender... in other words decades before Houston is relevant again

 

Some sanity in an otherwise knee-jerk thread.

The team can still make use of Yao's skill set. The Rockets (as they have needed to do from Day 1 of Yao) just need to emphasize taller, more athletic players in an even more uptempo game. They have Grady's expiring contract, Artest's Full Bird Rights and Battier's supposed blue-collar value to re-load around Yao and Scolandry.