As Yao prepares for the start of the NBA season on Wednesday in Utah, Raymond in China has worked hard to translate a long interview that Yao granted to Titan Sports. Click here for the translated interview.

Thanks, Raymond!

Yao sprained his left ankle last night in Orlando in his 14th minute of play. It’s minor and he said he won’t even miss the Rockets’ next practice on Saturday. He sprained it when he was boxing out for a defensive board, and was pushed from behind.

In those 14 minutes, Yao had 13 points and 4 rebounds. Later in the second half, the Rockets held a 13-point lead but the reserves blew it when the Magic went on a 19-0 run, and the Rockets ultimately lost 94-90. Good thing it was only a preseason game, but it was there last warmup game before next Wednesday’s regular season opener against Utah in Salt Lake.

Yao corrals Shaquille O’Neal in a preseason game Wednesday night where Shaq only scored 9 points on 3-of-8 shooting and grabbed 5 rebounds in 22 minutes of play. Yao struggled with his shooting as well, only hitting 1-of-7 shots that were away from the rim (5-of-12 overall), finishing with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. However, the Rockets still won the game 96-71. Click here for the game story. For more photos from the game, click here.

I watched Wednesday night’s game and was deeply impressed with the Rockets’ 96-71 victory over Miami, who played Dwyane Wade and Shaq significant minutes. If the Rockets play this well in the regular season, it’s going to be a fun one. 55+ wins wouldn’t be out of the question. They are loaded, and Bonzi Wells hasn’t even played in the preseason yet.

Yao looked good on pick-and-rolls where teammates like T-Mac and Vassilis Spanoulis delivered nice, soft passes to him near the rim for easy layups. He also had a sweet left-handed hook shot over Shaq from the middle of the lane. But he missed the rest of his shots away from the basket to finish 5-of-8 from the field for 12 points. I like what Yao said after the game, though:

“He (coach Jeff Van Gundy) wants me to score, score, score. If I score five times in a row, don’t think about passing the sixth time. I need to learn this.”

Amazing! Maybe Yao will average close to 30 points per game this season with these instructions.

On the down side Wednesday night, he got his shot blocked and stolen a couple of times and he threw an easy pass too high over Rafer Alston‘s head where he acknowledged it was ‘his bad.’ Despite five turnovers, he made up for it somewhat with 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.

T-Mac also struggled, but Shane Battier (10 points, 6 boards) continued to play solid ball. Alston (13 points, 6 boards, 5 assists) looks very improved compared to last year, hitting 3-of-6 three pointers on Wednesday (7-of-13 in the preseason) and committing only one turnover in 27 minutes.

Rookie Steve Novak (17 points, 4-of-7 from three-point land) was impressive to make up for Yao and T-Mac’s shooting woes. I don’t think anyone thought that Novak would shoot so well in his rookie season from 3-point territory (12-of-21 so far). But it’s still early, and once he hits the drain of the long, NBA regular season, I expect his shooting will taper off.

Kirk Snyder looked great scoring around the hole and going to the basket. As Van Gundy stated a couple of weeks ago, it’s clear Snyder is very athletic and strong. He scored 11 points Wednesday night, but he needs to stop being tempted by the 3-point shot as much. He missed all three of his attempts, includine one attempt from an angle that hit the backboard first, and missed all four of his attempts in his last game.

Barry is back

It was interesting to hear former teammate Jon Barry, now an ESPN game commentator, provide his perspective on Yao. He stated:

“I’m just a big Yao fan. I really think he could be one of the top 6-8 centers ever to play this game. I love his game.”

We know that most people love Yao’s game, but to say Yao has the potential to be up in the upper echelon of centers all-time is something I hadn’t really thought about since Yao is only in his fifth season and had his breakout year only last season.

On an different note, I laughed when Barry said that coach Jeff Van Gundy has no problem calling out his players during film sessions, and that Barry was highlighted so much during these sessions, he was the “Brad Pitt” of the team.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

Yao and Juwan Howard read to some kids at Toyota Center at Read to Achieve event on Monday, October 23rd. Click here for the story and more photos from the event.

At Read to Achieve on Monday, the understated Yao quipped in typical fashion, “”I (wanted) to listen, not read. I (wanted) to sit with the kids.” But then got serious and followed up with, “But no, I do like reading to them.”

I love how Yao is using his celebrity to make statements on various topics, like not eating sharks’ fin soup. In this story, he wants his fellow countrymen to show courtesy to visitors during the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

This is nothing new for people from host Olympic countries to ask their fellow citizens to be more welcoming of visitors for the Games. I remember during the 1984 Olympics in LA and 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, city leaders asked local residents to stay off the roads to prevent traffic jams. And during the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Mormons were asked not to proselytize visitors to their religion.

There are countless other examples of these kinds of recommendations being made. So anyone who thinks Yao is overstepping his bounds needs to keep things in perspective. After all, these statements were part of a 2008 publication released by Olympic organizers.

Yao dwarfs 6’10” forward Steve Novak during Sunday’s Rocket practice. This was the first time that Yao had been able to practice in a week. Click here for an article on Yao’s condition. For more photos from the practice, click here.

After not practicing with the team for over a week because of his toe problem, Yao says the lost time has put him out of shape, and he has to work extra hard after practice to get his conditioning back.

Also in this Houston Chronicle article, Yao comes out — when he wasn’t even asked — that his Reebok shoes were not the source of his toe problem. You’ve got to think that Yao was asked by his business team to settle the shoe controversy once and for all. Still, coach Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t want to rule out the shoes.

Mike Kahn of FoxSports.com comes out and says in this article what we’ve all been expecting to hear for a couple years now.