Rockets Have no Plan to Trade Yao Ming if Draft Him

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Rockets Have no Plan to Trade Yao Ming if Draft Him

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Chinese Center Yao Impresses NBA Coaches, Scouts in Official Workout

The Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association has no plan to trade Yao Ming if they selected the 2.26-meter (7-5 feet) Chinese center with their first pick of the NBA draft on June 25, team executive Michael Goldberg said on Tuesday.

Goldberg was in Shanghai for a meeting he involved between the Rockets and Shanghai Sharks general manager Li Yaomin and club president Bai Li. The Shanghai Sharks found Yao Ming in his teenage and trained him into the best center of China's first division league.

"Li Yaoming and Bai Li have been gracious hosts." Goldberg said, "To the point now we felt almost like a family here."

Goldberg arrived in Shanghai on Sunday with Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson, coach Rudy Tomjanovich and spokesman Nelson Luis.

"With the Sharks, we spent time working to avoid obstacles (for Yao to play in NBA) and we were very happy with our discussion and we had understandings." said Goldberg.

"I believe that both sides were very, very pleased with our meeting. We think that we developed a good start for our relationship." he added.

No discussion about trading Yao

Goldberg declined to speculate the possibility that the Rockets would choose Yao if everything was cleared but guaranteed that there had been no discussions of trading him.

"From the basketball standpoint, the coaches and the organization love Yao Ming, he is tremendous," said Goldberg. "But we have to take one step at a time, to make sure we understand all of the concerns."

"There is no discussion about trading Yao Ming, right now we are focused on understanding the concerns."

There were speculations that the Sharks, who owned Yao, would like something in return if their giant center leave his hometown to play for certain NBA club. But Goldberg said the Sharks had not demanded anything in their meetings.

"What was very gratifying to us was that Li Yaoming did not make demands," Goldberg said. "He had concerns, we had things that we thought would be helpful to the Sharks and we could do but also things that could be helpful for the Rockets."

"We looked for ways to make everybody better," he emphasized. "The description that I would give is that we are looking for a win-win situation."

The Rockets delegation will fly to Beijing on Wednesday to meet officials from the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), the sport's governing body in country of the world largest population.

"We'll do the same thing," said Goldberg. "To understand the concerns and make sure there are no obstacles."

Yao, 2.26 meters or 7-5 feet, was released to take part in the NBA draft after leading the Shanghai Sharks to their first ever CBA league title in April and the Rockets, who won the NBA draft lottery, showed great interest in the 22-year-old big boy.

Yao, who is now training with the Chinese national team in their preparations for the man's basketball world championship in September, will need approvals from his club, Shanghai Sports Administration Bureau, the CBA and the State Sports General Administration to play in the NBA.

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