The thing is, now the entire league knows, and it may be too late for the Rockets to trade him.

Who’d touch Yao Ming now, why assume the risk for his max contract?

Perhaps the Rockets should have moved him earlier – everybody knew he had a bad foot since years ago.

But…too late. It’s amazing, teams find themselves in the situation ALL the time.

See, one would think that GMs would know their players the best, and move a player if they think there’s too much injury risk. But no – that almost never happens.

But it really brings to light what a GM could be: ballsy, or a paper pusher.

1. If the GM pulls the plug on a big-ticket player who might be injury-prone, the GM incurs the wrath of an entire city, state, and the mockery of a nation, if the traded player succeeds on the other team. Case in point? The Grizzlies who moved Pau Gasol, who began sitting out games due to a bad back. Which was miraculously cured on the Lakers. In that case, a player was not showing signs of being injury-prone, he was simply tanking games to force a trade. But the Grizz’s GM Chris Wallace has been publicly castrated for two years. That’s the enormous downside, as well as costing them their jobs.

2. On the flip side, if the GM holds onto a player even though the risk is substantial, and the player ends up falling apart, nobody would criticize the GM. People usually just say, “what a shame” and the GM is exculpated from any sort of responsibility. Yes, the team may be derailed for half a decade or more, but the GM’s job is safe.

The result? GM’s just hold onto their big ticket players until everybody and their mom knows they’re damaged goods. When it’s just too late.

So do I believe the Lakers would calculate the right level of risk and have the courage to pull the plug on Bynum? No. There’s just too much of a cost if Mitch is wrong (even if he’s proven right in a couple years – he may be fired long before then).

Then again, maybe I’m just being pessimistic. Yes, Buss can choose to spend whatever is necessary to keep all the players, risk or no risk. Then again, Ariza’s agent (same as Bynum’s infamous agent, right?) just said Ariza won’t accept the hometown discount, and wants to be shown the money. How’s that on the optimism meter?

And of course, perhaps I’m giving up Bynum too easily. Even if we lose Odom and/or Ariza, perhaps Bynum is the key even though he didn’t have a major role in the postseason (of any year). How likely is that?

Yes, he’s young. But plenty of bigs around the league with “lesser talent” have flourished at his age. Nevermind the greats like Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, how about Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, and heck, Al Jefferson?

Am I making too much out of a few injuries? God-forbid I call Bynum injury prone (although Lakers trainer Gary Vitti had no problem calling him that). Well, it just happens that most of the great players in this league have proven to be durable their entire careers.

I’m obviously arguing against common wisdom.

But the guy who pushed for a Grant Hill trade out of Detroit deserves credit. That took balls.
The guy who pushed for a Tracy McGrady trade out of Orlando deserves credit. That took balls.
The guy who pushed for a Jermaine O’Neal trade out of Indiana deserves credit. That took balls.

Kenyon Martin was traded from the Nets despite becoming an All-Star and looking like one of the best power forwards in the league. But he did struggle with knee tendinitis in the last two years of New Jersey (as well as breaking his leg in college). After he was traded to the Nuggets for a few first round picks, he signed a BIG ASS CONTRACT and struggled with the same knee tendinitis…then got the dreaded microfracture surgery.

Bottom line? Injuries, particularly in the lower bodies of bigs, linger. And sometimes they’re not serious enough to get surgery outright. Perhaps a player can play through it until a big contract is secured.

But there are, without a doubt, warning signs.

There are plenty of ways to make excuses. People have been making excuses for Kwame Brown just about until the day he threw a cake at Ronnie Turiaf and missed. If a guy throws a three-foot cake at a six-foot-nine, two-hundred pound dude, and MISSES, you know basketball is a lost cause.

But the great players who’ve won championships have been durable. Reliable. No excuses with them.

Like I said, it’s not an open-and-shut case with Bynum, especially where I’m sitting. But that’s exactly the point; the probability that Bynum is one of those indestructible greats is almost nil. On the othe rhand, it’s increasing almost exponentially that he’ll be injury-prone like all the other players who shown the same symptoms.

But for who?

How about guys like Chris Bosh, who has pretty much abandoned Toronto by saying he wasn’t going to sign an extension with them. Toronto will lose him, but at this point, getting Bynum would be a great deal for them.

For us, we get a player who’s been reliable, relatively durable, skilled…not as young or full of potential as Bynum, but for a championship caliber-team already without him, adding Bosh would be a safe, great move. And we would have helped ourselves far more than any other team out there. Without the risk.

Doesn’t have to be Chris Bosh, but that’s what a great GM should do. Seek opportunities, keep an open mind, always look to improve our team in changing circumstances. And above all, have the courage to manage risk in a way that improves his team rather than secure his job.

Although who would go after Mitch’s head if he trades Bynum for Bosh? That would seem like a veteran savvy move. Drop in a bad contract (like Luke or Sasha), then it becomes brilliant.

The Lakers have proven they’re a championship caliber team without major contributions from an injury-prone Bynum. Lose the risk, take the safe bet and improve more than any other team in the NBA. Imagine how unbelievable the Lakers would have been this year if they had Bosh’s 20 points and 10 rebounds in the middle instead of Bynum’s 6 and 3.

The time is right. Do it, mitch.