The NBA players have returned to the U.S. and things are finally calming down a bit here in China. Yao has stayed behind in China, but I may be meeting up with him in Shanghai during a workout in the coming days. Of course, if that happens, I’ll be posting photos and/or video footage from here.

I’ve been able to post a couple of times since coming over to Beijing early last week for Yao’s first charity game, and then to Taipei early this week for his second one. But there was so much going on each day and it takes several hours to prepare my posts and edit videos, I couldn’t keep up!

So over the coming days and next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing more in-depth thoughts and posting exclusive photos and behind-the-scenes videos I was able to shoot with the gracious cooperation from the players and BDA Sports, the agency that represents many of the players who came on the tour. BDA also played a big part in coordinating much of this trip. I was with them many steps of the way. They are first class people, and I can tell why many players choose to be represented by BDA. Their openness allowed me to get some killer content that I’ll be sharing with you!

When I do start posting my content, I might end up jumping around a bit since, as many of you know, China blocks access to Youtube where I normally post my videos. On top of that, before my trip I bought a new Apple Mac Mini to capture and edit my video. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t make clear when you buy these machines that they now have different “Firewire” ports from what Apple put in previous MacBooks like I bought a couple of years ago. As a result, the Firewire cable that I’ve used well in the past that connects my old Mac to my camcorder doesn’t fit the new port!

Because of this change by Apple, I spent hours going to different electronics stores in Taipei to try to find a cable, or adapter, that’s relatively easy to order online in the U.S. Unfortunately, no one had it in Taipei — one of the premiere electronics markets in the world! Apple computers just aren’t very popular over here (yet), probably since they’re much more expensive than PCs. But now that I’m in Shanghai, I plan shortly to go to the new Apple store they just opened up 3 weeks ago. They better have it, or I’ll be pissed even more! That will mean it will take longer to post the great video I shot, unless I can’t find a working proxy server that will allow me to post the videos on Youtube. So many technical hurdles on this trip.

Stay tuned for some great content. I was blown away by this trip, and I think you will be, too, with the photos, videos and stories I plan to share with you in the coming days (hopefully).

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Yesterday (Tuesday) Yao Ming was finally able to do what we’d all been waiting for — workout on the basketball court! YaoMingMania.com was fortunate to go along for the ride (literally) as we accompanied Yao in a van to/from the facility.

Yao Ming sports his new Yao Monster headphones on the way to the practice facility.

When we got to the practice facility, about 30 children were sitting on the court sidelines while a half-court practice game was taking place among some Chinese players. When Yao entered the gym, I’d say about 75 media people with video cameras and digital cameras just SWARMED to him. It made sense that so many media members had been invited to this workout since that would help promote his charity game Wednesday night in Taipei.

But what I never realized from still photographs I had seen in the past is the frenzy at which these guys MOVE to Yao when he shows up at a venue like this. It’s really an amazing sight to see and made me remember why I decided eight years ago to name this site “Yao Ming Mania.” It’s still maniacal over here.

In the U.S., there isn’t nearly as much media showing up at a venue like this one (and/or a large number aren’t ALLOWED in), and they usually keep themselves in check by being cool about how they move toward players when they enter a gym or a room. In China and Taiwan, it’s more of a mad rush, and they don’t seem to care about how they’re being perceived among each other.

Fortunately the organizers of the workout had plenty of security personnel around to make sure that Yao wasn’t touched. What was striking to me was how well Yao handled all of them crowding around him. He just keeps his composure and handles it with grace.

Later the media gave him more space as he did stretches on the floor with the help of a trainer, and then he proceeded to shoot lots of jumpers from 5 spots on the floor and mixed in some free throws, too.

Yao shoots jumpers free throws with much of the media looking on (there were many others watching who aren’t pictured in the photo above)

Yao looked sharper than ever, hitting most of his shots with a high degree of accuracy. He never needed to jump high off the floor to launch jumpers; maybe a couple of inches as most. Since he’s so strong and tall, he doesn’t need much lift to avoid getting his shot blocked.

By the end of his shootaround Yao was drenched in sweat, but he took the time to walk over to the 30 schoolchildren and sit in the middle of them to get his picture taken with them…with the dozens of media people following closely behind, of course.

I shot a bunch of video from this workout, so look for that video to get posted in the next couple of days, along with many more reports of Yao’s trip to both Beijing and Taipei. That will include another report of Yao practicing on the court Wednesday morning (Taipei time) with most of the NBA players who came to play on Yao’s charity tour.

REPORTING FROM BEIJING: It’s been a very busy past few days in Beijing for Yao and the players who came to China for his foundation’s charity gala and game, which was nationally televised in China on CCTV. As you might have seen on Yao’s Facebook page earlier, he posted the following:

Thank you to all the people who came to my foundation’s charity gala and game in Beijing this past weekend! It was a great success in raising funds and building fellowship. We do it again in Taipei in a couple of days.

Yao kept the motor running when early the next morning, he left Beijing for Shanghai for some appearances for the Shanghai Expo (more coverage of that to come). But before we move on from the activities that occurred in Beijing this past weekend, I wanted to share with you some select photos from the charity gala on Friday and the charity game on Saturday (video from these events will ultimately get posted, too!).

Yao Ming competes against a boy during his Charity Gala on who could build a Transformer toy the fastest. The boy ended up winning, even with Yao getting help from other NBA players.

For more photos from the Charity Gala, click here.

The Rockets’ Aaron Brooks flew to China for the Charity Game and gets his ankles taped in the locker room.

Hasheem Thabeet dons one of the official Charity Foundation jerseys in the locker room before the game.

All the NBA players line up during pre-game introductions.

A wall of photographers lines up the size of what you would see at an NBA Finals game.

The players watched the Chinese pre-game festivities like any fan would.

The players huddle during a timeout between quarters. The game was competitive in the first half, but the NBA players prevailed in the second, even after the planned move to put Steve Nash and Aaron Brooks on the other team in exchange for two Chinese players.

Yao’s Rocket teammates Chase and Aaron take a break during the game.

Brandon Jennings takes a jumper in the game, and made the crowd oooh and aahhh like always, as did all the players.

For more photos from the game and post-game news conference, click here and here.

Friday afternoon in Beijing, Yao Ming took part in a press conference to announce a new line of co-branded products with Monster (think “Monster Cable” not “Monster.com.”)

According to the press release, the Yao Monster products will range “from high performance headphones, lifestyle bags and performance glasses line, to home theater connectivity and power products” and “will offer consumers in China a unique ‘fusion of technology and life’ – and a fresh way to identify with their national hero as they enjoy experiences and avenues of self-expression once available only to a privileged few.”

This line of Yao Monster products actually look pretty cool…

Click here for more photos from Friday’s press conference.

There’s alot more content coming from Beijing, folks. There’s so much happening, it’s hard to keep up!

Another busy day in Beijing on Friday. In the morning the NBA players on tour here (Chase Budinger, Baron Davis, Amir Johnson, Dajuan Summers, Brandon Jennings, Hasheem Thabeet) took a bus to a nearby gym to practice for Saturday’s charity game being held for Yao Ming’s Foundation.

Surprisingly, the players didn’t mail it in. They went through several intensive drills, worked up a nice sweat, then followed it up with a full-court practice game [I’ve got video that I’ll be posting later].

Talking to Bill Duffy, the agent who represents all of the players participating in Yao’s Foundation Tour, these players came to China not only to help Yao with his Foundation, but also to keep their conditioning up during the off-season to raise their intensity level with other NBA players with them. And since these charity games are NBA-sanctioned, if they were to suffer an injury, they don’t have to worry contract-wise above and beyond if they were injured in an NBA game. So they worked hard and are taking a lot of pride into their game against the Chinese National Team on Saturday night.

Hasheem Thabeet, Chase Budinger, and the other NBA players go through dribbling drills.

Baron Davis and Hasheem Thabeet stretch during their workout.

One funny episode occurred when a few teenage boys who happened to be playing in a nearby facility wanted to get inside the gym so they could watch the NBA players working out. Graciously, they were allowed in to watch from the bleachers. It turned out that when the players were going to practice playing 5-on-5, they were short a couple of players, so the boys were invited on to the court to fill-in! They were reluctant at first, but after lots of encouragement, they ultimately came on to the court since they realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play against NBA competition!

You couldn’t wipe the smiles these boys had on their faces the entire time they were on the court. At one point one of the boys got the ball on an open fast break, looked great taking it to the basket, but he blew the open layup! Everyone laughed, including the boy, since he caved under the pressure of scoring his first basket against NBA players!

Another time, there was a lot of playful banter that one of the boys traveled after scoring a basket, but Baron Davis came to his defense since the boy was on his team! The whole gym cracked up as Baron continued to loudly make his case for the boy throughout the next possession!

All in all, the teenagers had a lot of fun and still had the smiles on their faces after the practice ended.

More activities occurred the rest of the day involving Yao, which I’ll get to in my next post in a few hours. There is so much happening here in Beijing, it’s hard to keep up!

Thursday night Yao Ming and many of the players who will be playing in Saturday’s charity game gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Beijing for a press conference.

What’s impressive was that the players had just arrived from an 11-hour flight from Seattle (add on a few more hours for each of them to get to Seattle from their home city), checked into their hotel, and immediately went to the press conference where each one said a few words about how they were looking forward to helping Yao’s foundation through the charity games they will be playing.

Having made a similar flight myself to be in Beijing for this weekend’s events, I can tell you that’s no easy feat. They must have been really tired to do all of that in 24 hours. You could tell that Yao was very appreciative for the players to give their time and energy to such a worthy cause, and will continue to show his appreciation over the coming week.

Yao greets each player individually at the press conference for his Charity game and gala.

Also incredible was the number of media at the presser. I counted at least 15 video camera crews, and there were probably a couple dozen still photographers, and maybe 100 media members overall. This is probably about 4 or 5 times the number you would see in Houston for a similar press conference.

Click here for more photos from the press conference, which include pics of Brandon Jennings, Amir Johnson, Hasheem Thabeet, Baron Davis, Chase Budinger, and Dajuan Summers. Also in attendance were Chinese National team members Liu Wei, Ding Jinhui, and coach Bob Donewald, Jr. Steve Nash is expected to arrive today (Friday).

This morning many of the players will be heading to the stadium for a workout, and tonight is the charity gala dinner at the hotel. Tomorrow night is the game itself, then head to Taipei, Taiwan early next week for another game.

Raymond has posted in the forum some photos of Yao Ming visiting Monday his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks training facility.

Click here for more photos of Yao visiting with his team and some of his humorous banter with the media about being a new father.

Yao is preparing for his charity galas and games in Beijing and Taipei, respectively. YaoMingMania is departing for Beijing tonight and will be covering some of Yao’s activities in China.

Personally, I’m excited about this deal. Miller isn’t in the same category as Chris Bosh, but he’s a solid backup to Yao, and highly coveted given there weren’t really many other options out there. Daryl Morey must have done a great job fending off other offers, I’m sure. Miller’s history with Rick Adelman in Sacramento surely helped.

You can read more about Miller’s 3-year deal worth $15 million at the Chronicle.

This all comes after the late news Thursday that the Rockets signed Luis Scola to a 5-year, $47 million deal. And earlier in the week they matched the Cavaliers offer sheet for Kyle Lowry.

That makes 15 guaranteed contracts for next season. The Rockets are now locked and loaded!

In case you missed it, Raymond posted in the forum a translation of an interview that Yao gave to the Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday.

Yao said he is preparing to leave for China soon to take part in his charity games in Beijing and Taipei. He also talked about his rehab efforts, Yi Jianlian‘s trade to the Washington Wizards, his thoughts about Wade, Bosh and James joining forces in Miami, and the Rockets’ 1st round draft pick Patrick Patterson. These were particularly interesting…

– When told about Steve Francis‘ interest to extend his career by playing in the Chinese Basketball Association, Yao said Francis is still very popular in China, and he has great respect for SF3 since Francis helped him alot in his first 2 years in NBA. He thought if Francis can really join the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks (which Yao owns), he will surely strengthen the squad, and help them become better and stronger. But it all depends on what Bob Donewald Jr. wants to do with the team in the new season.

– Toward the end of the interview, Yao said he had to cut short his interview to rush home for his baby girl. He said she had grown to 12 pounds already since her birth 2 months ago.

It’s the dog days of summer and it’s still quiet on the Yao front. Yao continues to workout 5 days a week and tending to his baby daughter, but he did spend some time last Thursday at Aaron Brooks‘ basketball camp at Rice University.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the camp.

Aaron will be returning the favor to Yao since he is scheduled to play in some of Yao’s charity games in Beijing and Taipei (Taiwan) on June 24th and June 28th, respectively. Yao won’t be playing in those games, but will probably be coaching from the sidelines. That means Yao should be leaving Houston for Beijing in the next week or so.

Joining Yao and Brooks will be Chase Budinger, Baron Davis, Brandon Jennings, Amir Johnson, Hasheen Thabeet, and DaJuan Summers.

Yours truly at YaoMingMania will be heading to China to cover Yao and some of his activities over there, so make sure to come back for full coverage starting the middle of next week!