Even though Yao and the Chinese national team are out of the World Championships, you can still see Rockets forward Shane Battier and new Rockets guard Vassilis Spanoulis of Greece play against each other on Friday. They play live on ESPN2 at 3:30am Eastern time.

Both teams are undefeated. Whoever loses cannot win the Championship, so it should be a great game.

Patrick Ewing has decided to resign from the Rockets. Not that he’s mad at Jeff Van Gundy or anything. He just wants to spend more time with his kids, especially since his son is playing for his alma mater Georgetown. Here’s his quote:

“It was a difficult decision to resign because I enjoy coaching. I love working with Jeff (Van Gundy) and the rest of the staff, and our players are really good guys. But my children are getting older, and I want to spend more time with them. I’m sure at some point I will get back into coaching, but right now I need to focus completely on my kids.”

That’s the beauty of having played in the NBA for so many years. Ewing made lots of dough when he played, so he doesn’t really need a job (give him credit for wanting to work hard in coaching the past three seasons). Yet he can get another assistant job at any time since he has a good reputation having been an All-Star for years, has Yao Ming on his resume, and has Van Gundy vouching for him doing a “great job” in Houston.

The Rockets don’t plan to sign anyone to replace him. And don’t even think about Hakeem Olajuwon becoming a coach. “The Dream” recently said this about coaching in the NBA:

“That’s a job. That’s a big difference. I don’t want to work because I’ve travelled all my career. Now, I finally get more time off with my family and a chance to do stuff with them. I wouldn’t give that up. Why would I want to give that up?”

But Hakeem could help him in his annual Big Man camp, as he states in this piece on Rockets.com. And Moses Malone is available to help Yao out as a favor anytime he wants the help. This other Rocket legend and NBA All-Star center has stated before he wouldn’t mind helping Yao out.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Rockets are going to sign former Stanford standout guard Casey Jacobsen. Expectations were high of Jacobsen when he was drafted in the first round by Phoenix with the 22nd pick. He stuck around for 3 seasons, then went to New Orleans, and recently played in Europe.

I saw him play at the Vegas Summer League in July, and he looked better than I thought he would. He was known for his 3-point shooting at Stanford, but in Vegas he showed good hustle and an ability to get to the rim and finish.

The Rockets have signed 4 additional guards this off-season. It will be interesting to see which guards will make the final roster.

You can read more about Ewing and Jacobsen in this Houston Chronicle article.

In this story, Yao thinks it’s time that Chinese players go overseas to improve…

“We cannot make enough progress by the national league alone: it’s like trying to build a cart without knowing how.”

“Chinese players have to go overseas to play. I mean, they should go there alone and fight for their positions on the teams. This is the only way to lift the overall level of Chinese basketball.”

The Chinese coach Jonas Kazlauskas adds…

“It would be good for the team to go to Europe and play against a European-style defence.”

We like how Yao and Jonas are challenging the status quo. If Team USA can revamp how they make their team better, surely the Chinese will, too.

Interesting how strange some of the theories are revolving around China’s loss to Greece the other day, knocking them out of the World Championships. The Beijing News says Yao was getting so much adulation for playing so well in the tournament, it exhausted him to the point that he couldn’t get off more than 5 shots in that loss. Whatever.

You can read more about some of the recent headlines appearing in Chinese newspapers in this Houston Chronicle article.

The good thing is that Yao will be able to get away from all the arm-chair coaching soon when he returns to Houston on September 6th to prepare for training camp.

Yao goes up for a tough shot around the rim in China’s game against Greece on Sunday at the World Basketball Championships in Japan. Unfortunately, the Greeks surrounded Yao all game long and forced other Chinese players to beat them. The strategy worked. Yao only scored 10 points, and the Greeks won going away 95-64. Click here for more photos from the game.

As Yao was double- and triple-teamed against Greece on Sunday, the backcourt proved to be the Chinese national team’s liability as they lost 95-64 to Greece. Yao and company have now been eliminated from the World Championship tournament.

Yao, who was leading the tournament in scoring with 28.4 points per game, only scored 10 points in this one and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Things were looking good as China jumped out to a 23-11 and 27-17 lead in the second quarter, but then Greece turned on the pressure and forced a total of 24 turnovers and made China take lots of bad shots.

At least the Chinese and Yao accomplished their goal in these World Championships by advancing from the first round to this semi-final game from that amazing win against Slovenia.

And if it makes him feel any better, Yao’s new Rocket teammate and Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis was outstanding, igniting the Greeks with instant offense and scoring 15 points overall. The Rockets can really use someone Manu Ginobili-like in their backcourt. If he’s anywhere close to being like Manu, Yao will be happy.

For stories on this game, click here and here.

I know we’re in the middle of a World Championship with China playing in a few hours. But let’s take a break for a few minutes to give props to Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy for springing for 30 season tickets in a contest to find the rowdiest fans in Houston so Toyota Center can get jumping next season.

I watched the Houston news tonight, and it was pretty hilarious to see all these fans ‘auditioning’ by going crazy. It was great to see many of the winners screaming out afterwards, “We love Jeff Van Gundy!” The last time I remember seeing Van Gundy getting that kind of appreciation was after he defended Yao last year for picking up lots of questionable fouls, resulting in a $100k fine from the NBA for insinuating there was some kind of conspiracy. Rocket fans loved how he stood up for his Big Man like that.

JVG seemed to have a good time with it all on Saturday, smiling and laughing as rarely seen before. I met him last month, and he’s actually a pretty upbeat guy…in the off-season.

Workman Shane Battier continues to get props from the national media during the World Basketball Championships. Here’s an article from AP.

With all the love Shane is getting among all the stars on Team USA (who would have thunk it?), I’m wondering if all the fans who bashed the Rockets for trading #8 pick Rudy Gay for Battier on Draft Day are starting to accept Shane for what he can bring to the team?

For those of you who weren’t crazy about Shane coming to the Rockets, what do you think about him now? Sound off here in the discussion forum.

Great piece by Fran Blinebury of The Houston Chronicle this morning about how much work the Chinese basketball program still has ahead of it if they are going to be competitive in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Yao had this to say:

“We need to send more younger players to other places. Maybe not just to U.S., but to teams in Europe. Our coach can help with that. He knows a lot of people in Europe.

“When you just send a whole team to play in Europe, as we did this summer, it makes you improve. But when a single player goes and joins that team, it’s a totally different feel. That would change you much quicker than to just play team against team. Just like me. I practice every day against the best. I play 82 games a year. I would not be the player I am if I did not go to the NBA.”

Pictured above is a promotional poster for Tracy McGrady’s new shoe line for Adidas. For the third straight year, T-Mac is on tour promoting his new line and making public appearances in Asia. Pictured below is T-Mac making an appearance in Guangzhou, China. Click here for more photos from T-Mac appearances.

While Team USA and Rocket teammate Yao are in Japan for the World Championships, T-Mac is touring Asia promoting his products for the third straight year. Although he’s worthy, remember that he wasn’t invited to tryout for Team USA because of the rehab on his back, among other things.

They love him over there. Check out his blog entry on NBA.com. Click here for more photos from T-Mac appearances.

Here’s another article about his thoughts on Korean and Asian basketball, in which he says about Yao:

“I have never seen anyone who works as hard as Yao. Hard work is what it comes down to if you want to be the best.”

Yao and the Chinese national team face a tough foe on Sunday night in a Greek team that went 5-0 in the first round of the FIBA World Basketball Championships.

Remember that Yao met Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis, his future teammate in Houston this coming NBA season, for the first time on August 9th (click here for the photo, as well as here for another photo where Yao congratulates Vasilis for Greece winning the FIBA Stankovic Cup on August 15th).

Game time for their matchup is Sunday at 8:00pm Japan time, or 7:00am Eastern time in the U.S.

Also of note is Team USA’s game against Australia Sunday at 1:00pm in Japan (midnight U.S Eastern time), which will be televised live on ESPN2.

Remember that teams that lose their next game go home. Could the happy times in Japan soon be over for Yao?

Most people thought the Chinese had no chance until they shockingly beat Slovenia the other day. But if they beat Greece, they’ll play Wednesday the winner of the France-Angola game.