An MVP candidate goes down in the west.

Various media outlets are reporting that Rockets center Yao Ming is out for the rest of the season season. This is great news for the Warriors and every other team in the western conference. I find it really hard to see how the Rockets are going to make the playoffs without the big guy...even when healthy McGrady is probably not enough to carry this team, and he's inevitably going to miss a few games here and there down the stretch. The Rockets have a bunch of great role players, but besides T-Mac and Yao they don't have anyone who can really create their own baskets, and their going to have a tough time staying afloat in the hyper-competitive western conference.

The Rockets are a team built around slowing things down and playing half court sets, which works great if you can throw the ball inside to Yao for an easy two (and have is vastly improved defense shutting down the opponents inside game on the other end). But since the Rockets backup plan at center is a 41 year old defensive specialist who has played exactly 19 minutes in 2008 (yes, Dikemebe Mutombo is still in the NBA), I don't see them making up for this huge loss and continuing the run of success they've enjoyed over the last couple of months. Its hard to play half court basketball when your best inside threat is Luis Scola.

The Yao injury also gives me the opportunity to talk about my dislike for the way the NBA MVP gets picked every year. Too often writers pick the award based on a vague determination of which player on a good team had the best statistical year or made an already good team "great." They'd much rather name an MVP who made a 45-50 win team turn into a 60-65 win team (Steve Nash) than name an MVP who made a twenty win team into a 50 win team (Lebron).

Anyway I bring this up because I think people underestimate how important Yao is to the Rockets: they are going to SUCK without him. I'll be very surprised if they even get to 45 wins this year, which sounds like a decent number but which only requires them to go 9-16 over the rest of the season. With Yao the Rockets were on pace to win 55 games, without him they'd probably win 30-35. He's certainly not the MVP, as that honor clearly goes to Lebron. But besides King James and Dwight Howard, Yao is probably one of the most valuable players in the NBA, a guy worth 20-25 wins to the Rockets. The only other players in the league who come close to that this year are Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, and maybe Kobe. Baron Davis? The way Monta's been playing the Warriors would still win 35 games without him. Dirk? Steve Nash? Not this year. Tim Duncan? The Spurs are still winning 45 without Ginobili and Parker.

Youtube link of the day: 5'9" Nate Robinson blocking Yao (yes, I know this goes against everything I just wrote about how Yao is a top 5 MVP candidate, but its awesome enough that I have to post it anyway).