YaoMania spoke to Yao several hours before Sunday’s Phoenix-Houston game at Toyota Center before Yao started his workout. Yao told us that the doctors would be checking out his foot, and based on their determination, decide if he could shoot baskets Sunday without his protective boot on, something he hasn’t done since the surgery. It turns out they must have cleared him to shoot free throws, just like we thought they might, since free throws don’t put any pressure on his feet in comparison to jump shots.

You may remember how we shot video of Yao in the fall shooting baskets from a chair to keep weight off his foot. Yao told us on Sunday afternoon he really hadn’t been shooting any baskets at all the past several weeks and months - especially since he had been in China the past few weeks — and also because he had plenty of time to regain his shooting touch before next season. That’s why we find it amazing that Yao reportedly hit 92 of 100 free throws Sunday without really having any practice lately!

Here are more photos of Yao shooting the free throws, and here’s some video.

In the video you’ll hear Rockets’ broadcaster Bill Worrell saying that the TV crew spoke to Rockets management that Yao was videotaped shooting free throws without his protective boot on, and that Rockets’ management was surprised by that news. But it’s obviously a mis-communication since Yao told us as he was headed to Toyota Center, that there was no way he was going to shoot baskets unless he was cleared by the doctors after they examined his foot.

Rockets.com posted on Tuesday afternoon an interview with Yao, along with video of him working out…(if for some reason these videos don’t display in your browser, you can click here to view them on Rockets.com)

They also interviewed his personal trainer Anthony Falsone. One of the big revelations that’s good news for Yao’s fans in China is that Falsone says that Yao will be able to go back to China in December.

Click here for some of the transcripts from the interviews with Yao and Anthony.

Since I recorded and posted the videos of Yao working out at Toyota Center a few weeks ago, it looks like the press thought it would be a good idea by recently taking some photos of him doing the same.

Click here to see more photos of Yao working out with his new boot.

Here’s another video of Yao working out, this time in the Rockets’ weight room at Toyota Center.  Check it out!

Many of us have been wondering what Yao has been up to the past few months. We’ve seen periodic updates and photos on his Facebook page (Facebook.com/Yao) as well as YaoMingMania.com. But we haven’t seem much video of him. Until now. Check it out below.

Earlier this week I spent a couple of hours with The Big Man, who was gracious enough to let me record him working out.

Yao had posted on his Facebook page a few weeks ago that he was working out 5 days a week, on weekdays, for 2-3 hours a session. He said these workouts were ‘light,’ just to keep his upper body in motion. So I was thinking he’d be doing something along the lines of ‘12 ounce curls,’ or maybe a little more than that. After all, he has over a year before he’ll be playing serious basketball. Kick back and relax, go to Toyota Center mainly to get out of the house, right?

After seeing what I saw, I feel like such a wuss. A light workout to Yao is a P90X-like workout to me! Understand that Yao will not be playing basketball professionally for more than a year. But he’s still commuting into downtown Houston — during rush hour mind you — every weekday and slaving away in the gym.

He has every excuse to just lay low, maybe go to Toyota Center a couple of days a week, workout an hour, and just ramp up his workouts a couple of months in advance before the 2010 season starts. Or do what Charles Barkley did — start trying to lose the flab during training camp.

I now know why Jeff Van Gundy and many others around the league say that Yao is the hardest working player they’ve known.

Making the workouts even a little more challenging was that the weight room was a bit warm and humid, probably more than normal [Note: a second video will be posted in a few days from his weight room workout]. I was told by a Rockets’ staff member that the room partly gets cooled by the air conditioning that hits the arena floor. Since there are no events scheduled at Toyota Center they obviously don’t need to cool the arena like they normally do. That made the sweat pour out of their skin in just a few minutes.

In the weight room were other players like Joey Dorsey, and recent free agent signees Jelani McCoy and Lorenzen Wright. They were going through some pretty impressive workouts themselves. But they are all vying for jobs with training camp only a few weeks away. Yao is a YEAR away.

Thanks Yao for the privilege of letting us see what you do during the off-season. Hopefully this is an inspiration to all of us so that the next time you don’t feel like exercising when you know you need it, think of Yao.

ESPN.com is reporting that Yao could return sooner than anyone expected based off Yao’s progress. Rockets GM Daryl Morey had this to say to ESPN The Magazine:

“Yao Ming is progressing well. I don’t think that [a career-ending scenario] is something that will happen, based on what I’m hearing from the doctors. They do know that the bone will heal and he’ll get back on it. And they have not actually ruled out [his return] this season. I think that’s less likely than likely, but they haven’t ruled it out.”

First, the good news is that Morey feels confident it won’t be a career-ending condition. However, I think it may be way too early to say Yao could return next season. He had the surgery on July 21st, a little less than 6 weeks ago. So let’s not get our hopes up too high, folks. After all, he’s still in a cast.

Click here for the rest of the article.

According to published reports that Raymond read in the Chinese press, Yao checked out of Houston’s Memorial Hermann Hospital on Saturday, four days after his surgery.

Yao’s parents will be taking care of him at home. His wife Ye Li is making arrangements to return to Houston from Shanghai as soon as possible.

Yao will return to the hospital in a few days time to remove the stitches, and his foot will be placed in a plastic cast for 3 months. He’ll use crutches for 6 to 8 weeks to get around.

Yao can resume upper body training during the 3 month span and can start his rehabilitation training after the cast is removed.

In case you missed it, Yao had his foot surgery yesterday. This from the Houston Chronicle…

Rockets center Yao Ming underwent surgery Tuesday morning to repair the hairline fracture in his left foot and another to realign the bones in the foot in an effort to prevent the recurrence of the injury that has ended his past two NBA seasons.

The Rockets did not provide any timetable for Yao’s return to basketball-oriented workouts or competition, other than he expected to participate in training camp in October 2010.

I still feel very bad for Yao. Having surgery is no fun, especially after not thinking you would need it, and having it done in the same area as before.

The Houston Chronicle, ESPN and Rockets.com are reporting that Yao has finally made the decision to have surgery on his foot next week, just like Zydrunas Ilgauskas did back in 2001.

Let’s hope Yao goes on to have an injury-free career like Big Z has had since that surgery. I personally think Yao will miss all of next season, although one of the stories says he can start taking on ‘basketball activity’ in 6 months. We’ll see.

Click here for the Chronicle and ESPN stories on the specifics of the surgical procedure he’ll undertake.

This from the Houston Chronicle this afternoon…

In an indication that Yao Ming will miss all of the 2009-10 season, the Rockets signed Trevor Ariza using the disabled player exception they expect to receive with Yao out.

The use of the injury exception would indicate he plans to undergo season-ending surgery, rather than choosing the more conservative option of immobilizing the injury again in the hopes that his hairline fracture would heal without surgery.

If Yao was to recover quickly from the surgery, Yao could come back and play next season, though granting the exception indicates that the league agrees that Yao will likely miss the season.

So it’s not all gloom-and-doom. Yao COULD come back next season. But listening to Houston sports radio and reading the Chronicle for over a week now, everyone has been resigned to the prospect that Yao will most likely miss next season, although it hasn’t been confirmed yet, nor has the treatment that Yao will opt to take.

The good news is that using this exception on Ariza gives the Rockets the flexibility to still use the mid-level exception on another free agent, perhaps Orlando center (like Marcin Gortat?). Go Daryl, Go!

Here’s more from the Chronicle on today’s announcement.