| 29 June 2009
"It puts us back in the Stone Age for centers." - Matt Moore from Hardwood Paroxysm
This news that Yao Ming could not only miss most of next season but could possibly be done playing in the NBA forever isn't just bad for the Houston Rockets or the gigantic Chinese center; it's bad for the NBA altogether. It's not the death of the center but it's definitely putting the center position into a coma.
Here's the list of competent, reliable centers in the NBA right now: Yao Ming
Dwight Howard
Tim Duncan
Al Jefferson
That's pretty much it. There are potentially competent centers like Andris Biedrins, Andrew Bogut, Spencer Hawes, Nene Hilario, Greg Oden, Brook Lopez, Chris Kaman, Emeka Okafor, Kendrick Perkins, and Joakim Noah. And of course you have your guaranteed busts like Hilton Armstrong and Andrew Bynum.
But the list of guys that will actually matter at the center position over the next five years is just as thin as Austin Daye. Yao Ming isn't just a good center. He's the center (poor choice of words) of the Chinese basketball universe. He's the idol of a billion people. He's the pride of the Houston Rockets in a similar way that Hakeem Olajuwon was before him. It doesn't mean he's regarded as the same level of player and it doesn't mean that he's as popular as The Dream. But he's the hope for another title in Clutch City before the next decade is done.
Yao Ming is only 29 years old and perfectly capable of carrying a team through some rounds of the playoffs. He's an underused offensive force. He's a defender that many guards dream of dunking on but few attempt to climb. He's a skilled passer and a lock at the free throw line. He's fortune and promise. He's the number one option that's treated like a number two.
He's also injury-riddled. He's missed 81 regular season games over the past four years and 10 playoff games. And now that proneness for injuries is at a career-threatening level. In 2006 he broke a bone in his left foot that required inserting three pins to strengthen it and help it heal. He had to take six months off in order for it to heal properly. In 2008, he broke his left foot again, this time with a stress fracture. And early in May of this year, he once again broke his left foot.
Yep, that SAME left foot.
Normally, they'd just treat it, let it heal and try for next season. It's a feeling they know well between Yao and Tracy McGrady. It's a feeling that Daryl Morey, Rick Adelman, and Leslie Alexander are always prepared to examine and deal with.
But this time, it's different. This time, the hairline fracture in his left tarsal navicular bone isn't healing at all after 52 days of rest. Here's a quote from the story in the Houston Chronicle:
For now, the emphasis is on getting Yao back on the court. The surgical treatment options could include placing a pin inside the foot, a bone graft or even realigning the foot to operate differently. Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas underwent similar procedures, reducing his high arch to a flatter foot position, an option that could be considered for Yao, Clanton said, though his arch is not as high as Ilgauskas' was.
That sounds alarming to me. Not only does it sound alarming but it also sounds like he is a coin-flip away from being forced to retire. And if he has to retire, it puts the Rockets in a situation that is close to a lose-lose.
Now they have to find a replacement with an injury exception and risk paying a huge luxury tax payment if Yao comes back. They have to figure out how to potentially replace Ron Artest if he bolts for another team. They have to pray that guys like Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks, and Carl Landry can continue progress and evolve as NBA role players that are more than role players. And most of all, they have to pray for Tracy McGrady to return.
The prodigal max contract is once again the most important player in the Houston Rockets organization. He's recovering from some serious knee injury-ness that will be another big setback in his fading star. If the NBA were the universe (and for many of us it is), he'd be a star that has transitioned from being a white dwarf to a black dwarf (that's dying star, astronomy knowledge for you - the one thing I semi-retained and possibly got wrong).
Tracy McGrady's comeback story is the only saving grace for the Rockets this year. He's carried the team before but he was in much better physical condition. He's able to do great, amazing things with 80% capacity that few in the NBA have ever been able to do at 100%. But much like Paris Hilton, there's very little tread left on this tire. Getting him to 80% would a miracle in and of itself, much like getting Yao Ming to be healthy enough to be the best center in the league once again.
And that again is the fate of not only the Houston Rockets but the fate of Chinese basketball and the NBA - the reliable center just isn't that reliable anymore.
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