[Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! sports]
As the NBA draft approached, the grim truth about Yao Ming’s(notes) broken left foot hung like an anvil over the Houston Rockets. The fear isn’t that he’s just lost for next season, but longer.
The Rockets and Yao’s reps are frightened over his future, and the concern is the most base of all: Does Yao Ming ever play again?
“The realization has hit them that this is grave,” one NBA general manager said.
For now, the Rockets have privately told league peers it could be a full season before Yao might be able to return to basketball. Multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses are describing a troubling, re-fracture of his navicular bone. Three pins were inserted a year ago, but the foot cracked in the playoffs and isn’t healing.
“It sounds like he’s missing most of next season, if not the entire 82 games,” one league executive who has had recent discussions with the Houston front office told Yahoo! Sports. “That’s all that [the Rockets] will concede quietly, but they know it’s probably much worse.”
Houston general manager Daryl Morey refused comment on Monday and a team spokesman said the Rockets will not have further comment until Yao undergoes additional medical tests.
Contrast that to the Chron's coverage by Jonathan "tortured prose" Feigan:
Nearly seven weeks after the Rockets were shocked by the injury that ended Yao Ming’s season, they were as stunned Wednesday to find it has not healed.
A bone scan late Wednesday evening showed that the immobilization of Yao’s left foot has not healed the hairline fracture he suffered May 8 during the Rockets’ second-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
A statement released by the team said Yao and his doctors will consider other treatment options. Those could include anything from wearing a cast, rather than the walking boot used since the injury, to surgery.
“Yao is not experiencing any pain in his left foot. However, the results from the CT and bone scans we performed over the past two days indicate that the hairline fracture has not responded to the degree that we expected,” Rockets team physician Tom Clanton said in a statement. “We will review a variety of treatment options before proceeding.”
(snip)
Despite the injuries, Yao has remained central to the Rockets’ long-term plans and is considered untouchable when it comes to trades heading into tonight’s NBA draft.
“He is the cornerstone of the team,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “We’re trying to win here. We have an All-Star. We’re hoping Tracy (McGrady) can come back and play at an All-Star level like we know he is capable, but we’re dealing with uncertainty there. We’d like to get more All-Stars, not trade one away.”
Richard Justice danced around the issue but failed to mention what the Rockets are privately saying.
Namely, Yao Ming is out.....for a long time.
Instead of the company line from this town's sports scribes, or wink and nudge 'negative' columns designed to rile up the fan base while staying so outlandish so as not to offend the targets, it'd be nice to get a little bit of actual sports analysis and reporting on the big issues....
Say, like the severity of Yao Ming's foot injury. That'd be some reporting I'd like to see from the Chron. Because I love my family and would like to spend more time with them I'm not holding my breath.
UPDATE: Feigan files a report: Admits to being scooped by Yahoo! Sports.
Sad.