Houston we have a problem.

Did anybody know that there was a third twin tower? It towers over everybody that visits it, people continually take pictures of the massive structure, and it could possibly fly. Wait what? Did I just say that? A flying tower? Why not? At 7’6, Yao Ming is a skyscraper compared to the typical NBA players. It doesn’t hurt that he plays for the Houston Rockets either, after all, Rockets main purpose is flying.

But just like the twin towers, the third tower seems to have taken a hit. “Houston, we have a problem.” On July 1 2009, Yahoo first reported of Yao Ming’s injury. “Yao sustained a hairline fracture of the tarsal navicular bone late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets said last week that the injury has not healed and he was out indefinitely.” Reports have stated that Yao could miss all of next season, and can even be career ending. Yao has decided to take a different path and seek different medical opinions. In recent reports, Yao will also wait a week before deciding surgery. Eric Zhang, Yao’s agent, has stated regarding of Yao’s injury, “We are still in the information gathering period.”

Chinese officials have responded by saying that they do not believe that Yao’s status is as serious as it seems. Keep in mind that this isn’t the first time Yao’s ever injured his foot. In 2006- 2007, Yao missed 32 games because of a leg injury. In 2007-2008, Yao sustained a stress fracture in his left foot in 2007-08, which caused him to miss 26 games.

But I wouldn’t exactly jump to conclusion that Yao Ming is finally done. While some reports say that Yao’s career is done, doctors have said the same regarding quite a few players. In 2005-06, Darius Miles severly injured his knee while playing with the Portland Trail Blazers. Doctors were stated to say that Miles would probably never play again. While Miles missed two seasons Miles sure enough made a comeback. In that same year, Amare Stoudemire discovered knee cartilage damage, which resulted in micro fracture surgery. People were fast to say that Amare would not be able to come back to the NBA, and if he was able to, he would never compete at the caliber as he had before. Sure enough, Amare proved critics wrong and has continually risen to become one of the leagues best power forward/ center positions today. But I think the best example would be Shaun Livingston. Scouts have said that Livingston could be the next Magic Johnson with his pass first mentality. All those dreams were postponed in 2007. “Shaun suffered tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral meniscus. Livingston also suffered a patella dislocation, in addition to the previously diagnosed tibia/femoral dislocation” (nba.com/clippers.) Some doctors said that he would never play again, let alone walk. With determination, Shaun now plays for Oklahoma Thunders.

Seems like Yao is in bad shape now right? Wrong. The Rockets are clearly in worse shape. Without Yao, Houston seems to be destine to miss the playoffs next year after a promising playoff run against the Lakers. Who knows how many games Tracy McGrady is destined to miss next season, Ron Artest is gone, and now Yao Ming is hurt. The certainty is that Rockets seem to be looking for anything to replace Yao. In the beginning, Houston took a desperate approach to try and sign big man Marcin Gortat. They even created an email address, rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com, to only find Gortat signing with Dallas. Within the unrestricted free agent range playing the 5, there really isn’t any real dept inside. Arguably Chris Wilcox, Zaza Pachulia, Leon Powe, and Mikii Moore could be one the better unrestricted free agents in the class.

The second approach the Rockets can take is doing a trade to a team that has an overhaul at the center position. Being a fan of the Clippers has made me interested in exploring a possible trade to the Rockets for Kaman. Looking deep into their rooster, however, there isn’t a great want in their team besides Shane Battier. The problem with that is Shane Battier’s contract does not entirely match with Chris Kaman, so unless Houston is willing to let go of a player such as Aaron Brooks, the deal is practically shot down. Also, once 2010 hits, the only center in the team (if Kaman is traded) would be Deandre Jordan, not an ideal player to start at the center position yet. So the problem is, the Clippers should try and explore a trade option with Camby, but Houston might not want an aging veteran for a glue guy who can score without the ball. Let’s face it, Shane Battier has more trade value than Marcus Camby after his performance with Kobe.

The second trade option could possibly be for Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas, also known as “Z.” Z’s upside is phenomenal, he is one of the taller NBA players, shoots the ball very well, and can also play the low post game. With the recent acquisition of Shaq, Z might possibly switch to PF, a move that has two 7 footers starting. While it’s unclear what the Cav’s starting lineup would look like, Houston could should possibly take an approach to try and acquire Z from Cleveland. I’m not really a trade guru, so it’s doubtful that any trade speculations would work out. The problem with trading for Z is that if Cleveland wants to. Remember that Cav’s want to do anything to hold on to Lebron’s contract, which coincidental expires the same time Z’s contract does. This gives Cleveland a huge salary relief of $10,841,615, or if you’re not good with numbers like me, roughly 10 million.

Seems to me that the third tower in Houston is pretty irreplaceable, and it’s true. Even if Houston were able to sign Gortat, Gortat probably wouldn’t be able to replace the numbers that the 7’6 giant would probably produce. Don’t forget that Yao can shoot jumpers, which Gortat can’t. Easily this year, we can say that Houston probably will miss the playoffs this year. Oh by the way, there isn't a ground zero in Houston though. Even if Yao is in a wheel chair, he'd still probably be taller than most of us... Just saying. (: