RealGM

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... ck_For_Yao

I think that the Rockets are desperate with Yao. His injuries look like he may retire early. They would have to give us a #1 pick. Although, if we were to think hypothetically, and he was actually relatively healthy, it's certainly interesting to think about. A dominant Griffin to go along with a tower that would devour rebounds and attract attention.

Any thoughts?

Edit: talking to some other people, they're saying the main reason why we should have done this deal was for massive cap relief. Yao's salary is covered by insurance - We would be saving at least $26.5 million this year. I believe that he is also expiring next year...

I'm still trying to understand why LA wouldnt have preferred this HOU deal to the CLE deal they did.

It would have provided immediate cost savings instead of having to wait on Mo Williams' deal to drop off the books.

Sure, Mo Will provides a veteran PG replacement for Baron but its not like this Clips team is pushing for the playoffs this year.

So why not take the greater cost savings with Yao and go ahead and throw Bledsoe in the fire?

Bill Simmons was just speculating.

The Rockets woudn't have done that deal.

^ Thats the only plausible explanation I can think of because if such a deal were on the table and the Clips opted for the Cleveland option instead, they are fools

Immediate savings and Yao generates revenue just being on your roster. I don't think this deal was on the table.

I dont believe that

Rockets wouldn't have done that. they already had Lowry and Dragic. And financial impact is huge.

Seems false to me. Sterling would have pushed for this right away.

Leor_77 wrote:Edit: talking to some other people, they're saying the main reason why we should have done this deal was for massive cap relief. Yao's salary is covered by insurance - We would be saving at least $26.5 million this year. I believe that he is also expiring next year...

I figured savings would be the reason. I'm in the minority with winning now, but it would be nice to have a lot of cap space.

I could be wrong, but I don't buy that this was available to us. Cleveland, I get, because they want draft picks. They were even willing to trade for Hamilton and buy him out so that they could get the Pistons' pick.

In all honesty, I'm pleased with the trade that we did make. Trading for Yao's expiring contract would have given us around $24M in cap space, but we'd be in need of a small forward, point guard, and another big. Right now we have a big, a point and $11M left over (depending on the cap) to improve the team. I'm content with our current options and pray that Neil will be proactive in improving this team going forward.

Mo Williams is a pretty good player for us and a good fit, he is more than cap relief.

If the other trade were actually available then yeah the Clippers take it. But as a fan I am glad with what we got. I was never one to hold my breath for Kobe Bryant or LeBron James to sign with us, so I don't really care about cap space for Chris Paul or whatever. We just dumped our only big FA signing of the last few years...

Getting a mid-round #1 instead of giving one up would have been nice, but those mid-round picks rarely pan out, and this draft is supposedly particularly weak. I'd rather us win some more games to build confidence and chemistry with the guys we have, to build on for next year.

Finally, if Yao's salary is that sweet (insured and all that), the Rockets would never have to give up a #1 to trade him, they'd be getting assets back and not a bloated contract in Baron Davis.