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Jonathan White

Houston Rockets CEO Tad Brown will step down at the end of the NBA season, he announced on Friday, after 19 years at the team who were long China’s No 1.
The Rockets, who had made the play-offs for a team record eight straight seasons, will not play this postseason and Brown will leave. They made the play-offs 13 seasons during Brown’s time in Houston.
Brown, who started with the organisation as Vice-President of Corporate Development in 2002 before moving to CEO in 2006, was asked for his highlights at the Rockets.
“There are too many” he said, “Everything.


“Yao Ming and I started within the same week. the friendships I’ve made. the Hall of Fame coaches and players, the great play-off runs.”
The Rockets were long the No 1 team in China, with NBA All-Star Yao leading their popularity and that of the league back home. 
NBA: When China fell in love with Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets
They were even linked with Chinese ownership in 2017, with Yao mentioned as an investor, before being bought by current owner Tilman Fertitta.
In 2019, the Rockets found themselves in the midst of a crisis following then GM Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters.
That kicked off a series of retributions including the NBA being taken off terrestrial television and the Rockets blacklisted from streaming site Tencent for the whole of the 2019-20 season. 

Brown said that the decisive period came at the end of that difficult season.
“It was a really challenging fall,” he said. “The people who left meant a lot to me.” 
Houston lost head coach Mike D’Antoni last September and he was followed out of the door by long-standing GM Morey, who moved to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Houston Rockets return to China screens, 15 months after Hong Kong tweet ignited NBA controversy
Star player James Harden then forced a move to the Brooklyn Nets in January.
Brown assured the media that his decision was nothing to do with the ownership.
“This has nothing to do with ownership. This is one of the most uniquely selfish things I’ve ever done.”


Meet Coco Jones, the R&B singer who performed at the Super Bowl pregame show

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Chinese basketball prospect Yang Hansen makes NBA Rising Stars team at All-Star Weekend

LeBron James snubbed as an NBA All-Star Game starter for first time in 21 years

NBA (National Basketball Association)

Retiring Houston Rockets CEO Tad Brown calls Yao Ming a career highlight

NBA All-Star Yao Ming in action for the Houston Rockets in 2006. Photo: Reuters

Retired Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming speaks during his jersey number retirement ceremony in Houston in 2017. Photo: AP

NBA: When China fell in love with Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets star Yao Ming making his presence felt during an NBA game in 2006. Photo: Reuters

Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Shaquille O'Neal, front left, helps fellow inductee Yao Ming, right, with his jacket during a news conference at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2013, file photo, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, top row center right, former NBA Houston Rockets basketball player Yao Ming, top row center left, and NBA Commissioner David Stern, bottom left pose with children during the NBA Cares Special Olympics Basketball Clinic ahead of a 2013-2014 NBA preseason game against the Golden State Warriors in Shanghai, China. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tried Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019 to defuse the rapidly growing fallout over his deleted tweet that showed support for Hong Kong anti-government protesters, saying he did not intend to offend any of the team's Chinese fans or sponsors. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, FIle)

Chinese center Yao Ming talks to the media during a court-side interview at the Rockets practice facility in Houston October 21, 2002 in Houston. Ming, who played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and the Chinese National Team, was the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft and the first-ever international first round pick in NBA history. REUTERS/Richard Carson

Retired Houston Rockets center Yao Ming speaks during his jersey number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Rockets and the Chicago Bulls, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Retired Houston Rockets center Yao Ming speaks to the media before an NBA basketball game between the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, in Houston. Ming's jersey number will be retired during a halftime ceremony Friday night. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

NBA not only ones looking for next Yao Ming as other sports still hope to cash in on China

A fan holding a China flag watches the NBA China Games between the Brookyln Nets and Los Angeles Lakers in Shanghai in October 2019. Photo: AP

Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Yao Ming speaks during induction ceremonies, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

People walk past the National Basketball Association (NBA) store in Beijing on October 9, 2019. - Chinese state media slammed the NBA for an "about-face" on October 9 after the body said it would not apologise for a tweet by the Houston Rockets general manager supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

Chinese boys in jerseys of Germany's Bundesliga club Bayern Munich take part in a practice session after the opening ceremony of Bayern's office in Shanghai on March 22, 2017. Germany's Bayern Munich on March 22 became the first Bundesliga club to open an office in Shanghai. / AFP PHOTO / Johannes EISELE

Fiba Basketball World Cup: Yao Ming takes responsibility for’s China failings but he’s not to blame

Yao Ming (right) and Yi Jianlian react after the loss to Nigeria at the Fiba World Cup. Photo: Xinhua

Houston Rockets return to China screens, 15 months after Hong Kong tweet ignited NBA controversy

LeBron James, of the Los Angeles Lakers, battles with James Harden, of the Houston Rockets, in an NBA game. Photo: AFP

NBA: Jeremy Lin, Los Angeles Lakers are China’s most popular, Houston Rockets bounce back

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James greets Houston Rockets guard James Harden after the teams met in the 2019-20 NBA play-offs. Both teams are among the most popular in China, according to a new report. Photo: EPA

Sport

Basketball

Tad Brown to leave at the end of the season after 19 years – starting the same time as Chinese superstar back in 2002
Rockets were China’s No 1 team for many years and were linked with Chinese ownership before Tilman Fertitta took over in 2017


Rockets were China’s No 1 team for many years and were linked with Chinese ownership before Tilman Fertitta took over in 2017.


Yao Ming

James Harden