Posts: 1277 06-07-2002 11:07 PM http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/story?id=1392062 I posted this in another thread, but thought that it deserved a thread of it's own Here's an excerpt: Meanwhile, according to a broadcast report Friday, the Rockets have notified the Sharks that they'd like to have a long-term relationship with the 7-foot-5 center. Shanghai general manager Li Yaomin told Houston television station KRIV in a telephone interview his team had received a letter it had requested earlier in the week giving the Rockets' assurance that if they draft Yao June 26 they will keep him and not trade him. "The process is now at the stage I have been waiting for. We can now meet face to face with the Rockets and the real negotiations can begin,'' Li told the station through interpreter John Dao, a Houston businessman who is the Sharks' local spokesman. "I am extremely happy with the Rockets' expression of a long-term relationship with Yao Ming.''
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Sounds like the Rockets just limited their options for a "potential" franchise player. Ticket sells will be good though.
