Prime is actually facepalming after reading the script.

Are you sure Yao isn't a Celtic? This is a lot like one of their old injuries. At least he didn't pull a Dino Radja, and DNP-CD his way into neverland.

I think the Rockets should permanently hypnotize Yao into thinking he's a computer and therefore feels no pain. The only downside is that this could happen to him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eA3XCvrK90

Let's not forget that when this injury happened to Yao (possibly in the first half of Game 3 of that Lakers series), Yao refused to have anyone look at it. Now that might be heroic, but it's also stupid (as you can see); however, Rick Adelman definitely deserves a lot of blame here for letting Yao continue to play on an injured foot after refusing to have it looked at. As the coach you have to go to him and say "if you won't let the doctors look at it, I'm not putting you back in the game." This is true whether the player has no injury history at all, but it's far more true with a player who has such a long injury history like Yao does. Anyone could rather easily see how much Yao was laboring out there in the second half (the commentators spoke at length about it that game), but Adelman left him out there. He even left him out there with the game fairly well in hand by LA for most of the 4th quarter. Just an incredibly stupid move by Adelman, IMO.

Look for the Rockets to try to unload McGrady for anything they can get this summer, especially if they don't plan to pony up to re-sign Ron Artest. BTW, I think they will re-sign Artest, but it'll be for far less money than Artest probably wants. I just think that's gonna be the case for a lot of free agents this summer, as there's really only a very small number of teams who are willing to break the bank for players, and most of them are already over the cap as it is. Also, in Artest's case, the team this summer with the most cap space who is most willing to break the bank, almost surely would have huge reservations about signing Artest, for obvious reasons. I'm talking, of course, about the Detroit Pistons.

It's no wonder, really. The way that Yao shakes off trainers like he's Nuke LaLoosh...

If those doctors looked at that foot or not, Yao was done. He's a giant with bad feet, cue Bill Walton impressions here.

On another note, I just found out about these guys, and I found them inexplicably hilarious. Basketball related.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQxOvTpMH1s&annotation_id=annotation_950247&feature=iv

Buck Nasty: So will Yao be making strained analogies to Diogenes, Kermit Washington, and Quicksilver Messenger Service for Chinese television in the near future, followed by fathering a kid whose legacy will be that of a permanent bench substitute on a championship team!?

no one said it yet huh?


YAOZA! YAOCH!

but in all seriousness this is quite sad. The NBA needs a Yao. Especially since Wang Zhizhi left and became the MVP of China's league

I believe that Yao has the proper genes to do all of those things. His son will be a Ike Diogu like bench player, however. (Slightly better, but still 7 ft.)

I have to admit, I didn't even know Ike Deez was a 7 footer until the playoffs. I thought he was like 6-7.

It would be pure basketbawesomeness for Ron Artest to play for Detroit next season.

Come on Joe D! Make it happen!

Buck Nasty - The reason it was important for the doctors to look at his foot was because playing on an injured foot can often make it worse. Much worse, even. Reportedly Yao hurt his foot in the first half of that game and then continued to play on it for the rest of the game, and it didn't come out till the next day that he'd broken it. Who can say when he broke it? I do know that he looked a lot worse out there at the end of the game than he did in the 3rd quarter. I can't help but feel like a guy his size playing on an injured foot may have caused major damage after the fact. JMO.

This sucks for Houston.

Is it time to blow things up while players still have some value? I mean, Aaron Brooks' stock is never going to be higher. Same with Landry and Scola and Battier. How many teams in the West would give their left nut for Shane "the Kobe Kontainer" Battier?

And Artest was a nice piece this year, but not exactly a guy you can build around. And THAT is what Houston needs- somebody to build around, now that Yao is D-U-N.

...

WRT Ricky Rubio- can this kid PLEASE get a worst-of for throwing a hissy fit about (gasp!) Minnesota drafting him? What a whiny brat. He talks about how much he wants to play in the NBA but then drops this BS on Minnesota after they spend the #5 pick on him. Maybe the Wizards knew what they were doing after all when they passed on him. The way I see it, he's got a LOOOOT of growing up to do. He's a prima donna who hasn't even proven himself yet.

I'm not impressed.

I totally see your point, and am completely disregarding it. So what if Yao did break it in that game? We all know he can't stay healthy. If he would have stopped playing before that series began, I would guarantee that he would still have ended up injured. Probably not even his foot. A plane would have went down on a deserted island and Yao is lost forever. It's going to happen. Just like Knee-Mac.

Rodimus Prime used the Matrix to defeat Unicron. Not even close to useless.

Where's Kool-aid man in this picture?
OH YEAH!!

Wild Yams is absolutely right here. Adelman needs to be called out for failing to do what a coach is supposed to do: protect players from themselves. There is a difference between tough (Jordan's flu; Isiah's ankle) and stupid (Yao). Adelman is the guy supposed to be able to know the difference between the two and to act in the long term interests of the player and franchise. Adelman = fail.

It's not really something new that Adelman doesn't rest Yao. While Jeff van Gundy generally tried to keep Yao's minutes limited, Adelman did not really bother to do that. It could be anecdotal evidence, but I recall several instances where van Gundy mentioned this, especially last season. This season Adelman seems to have gotten better about it, and along with the fact that Yao generally avoided heavy contact drills this season seemed to be a good recipe for keeping him healthy in the regular season. Old habits die hard though I guess... :-\

Whatever the cause or whoever to blame hate to see any player go down

Ok.. maybe one or two players I get a secret glee out of seeing them go down. Yao ain't one of em though

@ak dave

In rubio's defense, sota did draft 2 PG's. so hes probably expecting not to see many minutes...

Hi Mr. Bawful. Great banner pic!!!!
Altough I would like to make some remarks:
How can you take Marbury and Isiah from there? Thei're the MEN, they deserve the spot in the wall of shame. Their efect in the NBA is not yet done. Also for Kobe... come on, give Kobe some space. To end, you could also push in that Garnett-Alien lookalike-F-bomb pic. Priceless!
By the way, does any of those pics belong to the "Mario"?

Love the banner photo except for one guy who shouldn't be in there. Taking a disagreement with another blogger to the point of putting their pic up there with some bawful and downright evil elements of the league is beneath you guys.

I echo AKDave's comments; Rubio deserves a WotN on his own.

Adelman should've interfered I agree; show some balls man.

/Not literally of course

If you were a PG and saw your team draft two in a row with 5 + 6, (and like 4 more during the rest of the draft and two more in the parking lot) wouldn't you not want to play for the team either?

Maybe, but I'd not open my yap in front of the media in my first week on the job.

he is really a great wall.

I don't think you guys should be writing Yao out just yet. The Rockets haven't even released official reports yet. That's why you can't trust these unidentified "sources", because most of them are just trying to stir up some gossip for entertainment purposes.