Raymond has posted lots of photos in the forum from the first day of Rockets training camp.

As you’ll see from the photos, training camp is being held in Houston at Toyota Center this year instead of Austin like the past two years. Having been to Austin training camp both of those years, it really provided a great opportunity for the team to get away from all the distractions of being in Houston, like their families, most of the media, etc., and develop a stronger bond with each other. It will be interesting to see if it has an effect on the team’s chemistry at the start of the season.

On another note, the Houston Chronicle did a good story on Yao where in this article, it’s revealed that Yao has lost 13 pounds since last season, and he’s now 100% after being only 70-80% during the Olympics. The Rockets will try to reign in Yao’s work ethic by limiting his practice schedule and not have him play as many minutes per game (37.2 last season).

Here’s another post from Ren, the latest addition to the YaoMingMania editorial team:

Yesterday was Houston Rockets media day; which means its time (at least for bloggers, early birds and now Astros fans) to refocus our energy on the upcoming NBA season. So my heretofore all-consuming fantasy football team to which hours a week had been dedicated to ensure a repeat Championship will be put in the sidecar as we burn on into Rockets ’08-’09 season.

Let’s start off with some links…

Obviously, expectations are high with the arrival of Ron-Ron and the general consensus is the Artest deal is the epitome of high-risk, high-reward. Morey is no Gus Hansen but anyone with enough pressure to win can be pushed to take uncharacteristic risks; not that this is that. No one in Houston is second-guessing the trade… yet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yao Ming was back in Houston for Media Day today where he met his new teammate Ron Artest.

Click here for Raymond’s photos from Media Day.

On top of that, the electricity in Yao’s house was restored today from Hurricane Ike. The mood wasn’t all festive, though, considering the news that Tracy McGrady will have to play with arthritis in his left shoulder this season, Shane Battier will miss up to 4 weeks because of swelling in his ankle after rehabbing it after surgery in the off-season, and Rafer Alston still not in top condition. Click here for the story.

Later on in the evening after Sun Yue‘s press conference in front of the LA media, he fell ill and was rushed to the hospital where they diagnosed him with mononucleosis! So he’s out indefinitely! Click here for a short article about it.

Sun Yue had his first press conference with the U.S. media yesterday in Los Angeles.

A second round draft choice of the Lakers, over 50 reporters (foreign and local) attended. Click here for Raymond’s photos. Click here for video from the press conference.

Check out this interesting story from Raymond about Yao’s visit to see the Shanghai Ballet Troupe.

Raymond reports that Yao Ming has been working off his butt in the past 3 weeks (other than weekends and those days he spent visiting the earthquake-affected area of Sichuan) on his rehab with Anthony Falsone and Rockets assistant coach Jack Sikma. Yao spent 5 hours per day on his rehab (2.5 hours in the gym, 2 hours on shooting practice, 1/2 hour jogging).

Click here for translated articles from Raymond about Yao’s workouts.

Yao Ming appeared on Shanghai Oriental TV’s talk show “Kefan Is Listening”??????last night (Saturday, September 20th). Interviewed by host Cao Kefeng ???, Yao talked about his life in basketball life and some of his own aspirations for the future. Once the transcript or video comes available, we’ll post it here. In the meantime, check out some of the photos from the interview.

In other news, Raymond reports that Yao will be staying in Shanghai for another week before he departs for Houston on September 28th (Sunday) to report back to the Rockets on the 29th. He is staying behind because Liu Wei, his best buddy for the past 14-15 years and teammate on the Shanghai Sharks and Chinese National Team, is getting married on the 27th (Saturday).

Raymond reports that Yao Ming, upon his return from Sichuan, volunteered in his capacity as the Official Image Spokesperson for Shanghai Municipality to host a welcome dinner reception on Friday for the Olympic Champions at the Yacht Club On the Bund, an exclusive private club on the famous Shanghai Bund.

Yao personally called Liu Xiang to ask him to join him to co-host the dinner reception for the athletes, including 9 Olympic Champions that are competing in the sporting event.

Liu Xiang first declined so he could rest his injured leg, but he eventually agreed to show up on the occasion in his capacity as Shanghai Municipality’s image spokesperson.

Read more of Raymond’s coverage of the event along with photos by clicking here.

Raymond reports that yesterday the United Nations presented to Yao Ming and two other Chinese the UNAIDS Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the AIDS Response to recognize their special contribution to AIDS Prevention and Care programs in China.

Since Yao Ming had just wrapped up his Sichuan tour and had just arrived in Shanghai, he could not make it to the award ceremony in Beijing, but delegated his Chinese agent Lu Hao to receive the award on his behalf. Click here for more of the story and photos from the award ceremony.