Finally some news on the Yao front — it has been awhile.

Yao has been recuperating from foot surgery in Houston since the end of the season, but would like to return to China once he finishes his rehab work in Houston so he can practice with the Chinese National Team. Right now he’s only 50% sure if he’ll be able to do that, but he should know more in about 2 weeks. Read more in this Houston Chronicle article.

This article seems to contradict what was stated in another article written a couple of days earlier on June 14th where it said Yao was going to return to China within the week. In that article, it said Yao would be working out with personal trainer Anthony Falsone for rehab work. But I know Falsone has stated in the past that he doesn’t do rehab work on athletes, but focuses on post-rehab and general strength and conditioning. In addition, in the first article article mentioned above Yao stated, “I’m really looking forward to going back home, but not yet. I need to do some part of rehab here. I think it’s better here because once I go back to China there is nobody that can help me.”

So if you’re in China and your awaiting Yao’s return, there are still mixed signals on when it will be. In the meantime, I’ve got to think Yao has been watching from Houston the NBA Finals and visualizing what it will be like to play in one someday.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.