After Yao arrived back in China yesterday, he gave an interview to CCTV. Here’s Raymond’s summary of the interview written in Chinese:

* Yao Ming explained he opted to skip shoulder surgery this summer, and chose conservative treatment instead. If he had opted for surgery, it would have been at least 6 months minimum before he could have played some basketball, and even longer to complete his rehabilitation. That would have affected his ability to play a full season for the Rockets next year, and perhaps his ability to be at full strength for the 2008 Olympics. So he chose physical therapy instead, play for the next year or so, and postpone the surgery for another two years.

* He jokingly said if anything had gone wrong with surgery to his right shoulder, he would have become a “rookie” again by losing his shooting touch.

* When asked what he planned to do in the next few months, Yao Ming said he will stay in Shanghai to continue his training. Then he will need to meet and discuss with the Chinese national team about when he should rejoin them. Since the national team will not be back in China until mid-July, it will not make much sense for him to be in Beijing. so he will stay in Shanghai most of the time.

* When asked whether Yi Jianlian was happy about being picked by Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA draft, he rebuked reporters and said:

“Who said so ? Where did you hear that ? Yi Jianlian phoned me after the draft, and I could not tell he was not happy in his tone. Well, after all, to be drafted at #6 was not bad at all. There maybe some subsequent changes. I don’t know. Maybe Team Yi will make some moves, but that is none of my business. Anyway, I have to congratulate both Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue for making the NBA. As a matter of fact, Sun Yue was picked at a higher position than I originally thought. I originally thought that he would be picked at 50 some places. And I heard that he was be picked at 36, but then the Golden States Warriors chose for a trade.”

* When reporters pressed to ask further about his wedding, Yao Ming chose not to answer.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.