Yao Ming Injured Again
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reported Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has another stress fracture in his in his left ankle. The fracture showed up on an MRI done this morning and was unexpected. For the past few days Yao has talked about getting ready to be back on the floor.
This is the same ankle that has kept him out of the lineup in all but five games this year and all of last season, but it is in a different bone.
It may be officially time for the Rockets to just move on, sad as it is, as the Portland Trail Blazers may have to do with center Greg Oden.
For a long time the Rockets have been built around the idea Yao would be in the middle of the paint, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, intimidating opposing offenses, and being the hub of all movement on offense. Being so dependent on a player like that, building a roster around a single player’s talents, can be very detrimental if that player can’t be on the floor (again, ask Portland).
Since the 2005-06 season Yao has played in more than 57 games just once, missing a total of 193 regular season games in that span.
When healthy he is a 20-point, 10-rebound player, but health is something the Rockets can’t depend on anymore.
With Yao counting as a $17.7 million expiring contract this season and likely not playing this year, look for Houston to get even more active in trade discussions, as Bill Ingram noted after the team acquired Terrence Williams yesterday. It’s likely while this latest development with Yao is disappointing to the organization, it’s something they have thought about and are already coming up with a game plan to address.
Houston may start getting busy in the trade market very soon. The question is, will they use Yao’s expiring contract? Or let it expire and take the cap space? They have just $41.7 million committed to 10 players for 2011-12.
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