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.

I would be irresponsible if I didn’t report what Yahoo Sports and the Houston Chronicle are reporting about how Yao may miss next season, and maybe longer.

Here’s Yahoo’s story, and here’s Jonathan Feigen’s story from the Chronicle.

Because Yao is in no pain, I think alot of this may be speculation. I prefer to agree with the statement Rockets’ physician Dr. Tom Clanton made: “The fact he is having no symptoms gives us reason for optimism.”

Discouraging news late yesterday came out that Yao’s left foot hasn’t healed. Yao flew to Houston from China to get his foot checked out as scheduled. This statement came from Rockets team physician Tom Clanton…

“Yao is not experiencing any pain in his left foot. However, the results from the CT and bone scans we performed over the past two days indicate that the hairline fracture has not responded to the degree that we expected. We will review a variety of treatment options before proceeding.”

This could mean anything from wearing a cast to surgery. I know Yao has got to be really bummed right now. He was itching to get back to running, so this is a setback.

Here’s more of the story from the Chronicle.

Raymond has translated an interview of the Rockets’ strength and conditioning coach, David Macha (who also has trained Yao), gave to Sohu Sports where he talks about McGrady’s progress in rehab. I found it interesting that Macha also talks about McGrady’s confidence level.

For Raymond’s complete translation, click here.

Below is a video that Raymond found that includes Yao as well as interviews in English of Yao’s trainer Anthony Falsone and Rockets’ assistant trainer Keith Garnett that was produced on Monday, July 7th. Falsone and Garnett (along with Rockets assistant coach Jack Sikma) are in China to monitor and assist in Yao’s rehabilitation efforts leading up to the Olympics.

To read a translated interview with Garnett about Yao’s progress, click here.

In this video Yao, Falsone and Garnett are seen participating in an academic exchange seminar with some sports doctors from Chinese Basketball Association teams.

Raymond found some great photos of Yao playing some one-on-one with Rockets’ reserve Loren Woods yesterday, as well as some time with weights in the gym. Click here for more photos from Yao’s workouts.