Houston….We have a problem…Yao Ming is still injured

or that the commercial is funny even though I am not an Apple fan

For a lot of people, that is like saying that water is wet or that the sky is blue.  For Rockets fans, this is another dagger to the heart of any championship aspirations.  It also makes some of the trade talk understandable. ESPN details the damage…

Yao Ming’s broken foot is not healed and the Houston Rockets say the All-Star center is out indefinitely. Yao suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot in the Rockets’ second-round playoff loss to the Lakers on May 8. The team initially said Yao would miss eight to 12 weeks, but team doctor Tom Clanton examined Yao’s foot in Houston on Wednesday and said the injury has not responded to the treatment program. A bone scan conducted Wednesday night revealed the fracture had not healed. The team now says no timeline is set for Yao’s return to basketball activities, though Clanton said Yao is experiencing no pain in his foot. “Unfortunately Yao’s foot hasn’t healed the way we had hoped at this point and our next step is to consider what we can do to get Yao ready for the start of next season,” Yao’s agent, John Huizinga, told KRIV-TV in Houston. “Obviously he is disappointed.” ESPN.com

For Rockets fans,  I hope that this is a blessing in disguise for them.  This makes it impossible that Yao would be working out for the Chinese and now hopefully will concentrate on getting his health where it needs to be.  The double duty that he has had to pull with the Rockets and the National Team has been a little too much.

Career Season Averages

Year	Team	G	GS	MPG
02-03	HOU	82	72	29.0
03-04	HOU	82	82	32.8
04-05	HOU	80	80	30.6
05-06	HOU	57	57	34.2
06-07	HOU	48	48	33.8
07-08	HOU	55	55	37.2
08-09	HOU	77	77	33.6
Career	—	481	471	32.7
All-Star	—	6	6	17.2

Career Season Total

This is a chart deatailing the career of Yao.  I cut it to only include the numbers that I care about.  Yes, he is a talented player, we can all agree on that.  His production numbers are not in question here.  When he is on the court, he produces.  The issue is keeping him on the court.  25, 34, 27 and 5 games in the past 4 years, and in his best year, he got injured in the playoffs.  Eraly in his career as a young man, his body could stand up to the rigors of playing in the NBA.  His body is clearly breaking down.  He is like my Mustang. It’s a classic car that always has some issue with it.

My mustang is just like this one in color and exterior condition, without the rally stripe down the middle.

Recently, the issue has been the transmission.  It has a slow leak, even though the seals have been replaced twice.  This is the curse of Yao…