It has been a couple of days since the NBA draft, and I normally would have commented on it by now, but it has been extremely busy with me at work and in my personal life. But now that it’s the weekend, I’ve found a few minutes to write, as well as had some time to digest what the Rockets did on Thursday night, as I’m sure you have.

First, you gotta love what Rockets GM Daryl Morey did in getting 2 pretty good players for the price of one. Trading Nicolas Batum for Donte Greene and Joey Dorsey look like great moves (click here for photos from their press conference on Friday that Raymond has posted in the forum).

But since Greene isn’t that great of a ballhandler and is known to take some ill-advised shots, I’m not all that excited about him being a formidable scorer off the bench this season when Tracy McGrady needs a rest. Although Greene ranked higher than Chris Douglas-Roberts, I was hoping CDR somehow would have become a Rocket because of how tough he made his Memphis team along with Derrick Rose. I never underestimate big-time experience like that and the value of being a winner.

Speaking of Memphis, even though he’s only 6′ 7″, I like the Joey Dorsey pickup as a backup center. I love how he describes himself as a “Ray Lewis with a basketball.” He along with Yao and Dikembe Mutombo should be tough matchups on defense for the Tim Duncans and Amare Stoudemires in the West. It’s also cool to have a bench player on your team who is known to be one of the best in a certain category: like Aaron Brooks with speed, Steve Novak with 3-point shooting, Mutombo with shot-blocking, Carl Landry with dunks and jumping ability, and now Dorsey with defense and intensity.

The big work ahead for the Rockets is getting a backup shooting guard to take over Luther Head‘s spot, who I don’t expect will be with the team this season. The other is getting a legitimate center who can score, because when Yao is taking a rest, the hole in the offense still remains. Something tells me Loren Woods isn’t going to be the answer. But scoring centers are hard to find. It would have been great if the Rockets could have made a trade for one or both of these during the draft, but now look for Morey to work some of his magic the rest of this summer.

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.

Raymond has translated this nice article about how Yao is now back on the court playing some 3-on-3. Thanks, Raymond!

Raymond has some good information about what’s up for Yao this summer leading up to the Olympics. Check it out here.

Raymond reports that Rick Adelman, Steve Francis and other members of the Rockets staff are hosting a two-week basketball clinic for 10 of the top Chinese Basketball Association players at an Anta-Rockets training camp.

Yao didn’t show up because he is endorsed by Reebok, and it would have been a little awkward since Anta is an obvious competitor. But last week, he threw a welcome party and dinner at his Yao Bar & Restaurant after his countrymen arrived in Houston.

Click here for more photos from the training camp.

It’s good to see Yao get out and get a break from the depressing news from the earthquake in China — Raymond reports that Yao Ming and two-time U.S. Olympic taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez were introduced to the world of NASCAR as honorary pit crew members for Kyle Petty‘s No. 45 Coca-Cola team in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Some of the activities included:

* Leading a moment of silence for the Chinese earthquake victims.

* In crew uniforms, Yao and Lopez changing tires and performing other pit crew duties with Petty and the No. 45 Coca-Cola car.

* Yao and the Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers shooting hoops and playing “Around the World” in Victory Lane.

*Lopez providing taekwondo tips to Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers.

* The media shooting baskets with Yao.

Click here for more photos of Yao at these events. Thanks Raymond!

On Wednesday, Yao visited the Chinese consulate in Houston where they set up a hall for the national mourning that had been aside in China from May 19-21 for the tens of tousands of people who died in the earthquake in Sichuan.

Here Yao is pictured with his wife and mother:

Click here for more photos from Yao’s visit to the consulate in Houston.

Almost everything went the Rockets’ way when it came to scoreboard watching the two big games Tuesday night that were relevant to their hopes of winning home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Blazers’ defeat of the Lakers puts the Rockets just 1/2 game behind LA, and New Orleans’ loss to Utah puts Houston 2 games behind the Hornets for first place in the West. New Orleans and Houston have 5 games left to play in their season, and the Lakers have four.

Right on Houston’s tail is Phoenix, who won Tuesday night and are only 1/2 game behind Houston. Phoenix has four games remaining.

Although Houston wants Phoenix to lose to hold them off, I think we want to see them win Wednesday night, as crazy as it sounds. That’s because they’re playing San Antonio (on ESPN, I might add). If the Suns win that game, and the Rockets take care of business against Seattle, THEN THE ROCKETS WILL BE TIED WITH THE SPURS AND THE LAKERS with 4 games remaining in all 3 teams’ seasons. And all 3 of these teams will only be 1 1/2 games behind New Orleans for the Western Conference lead. Wow! I won’t even get into the tie-breaker situation because it’s so complicated.

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Hey everyone, I’ll be traveling today and will have a conflict later tonight in watching the Rockets-Mavericks game that I can’t get out of, so I probably won’t be able to watch the game and blog about it. This usually happens maybe a handful of times throughout the 82-game season (I haven’t missed one yet this season).

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight. The Mavericks have been struggling lately, too. I wish I could watch it. I’m already starting to think of the withdrawal pains I’ll be having during the game.

Raymond reports that Yao and his new bride Ye Li filmed a commercial for Chinese life insurance company China Life on Monday in Houston. Here’s one photo from the commercial shoot:

Click here for more photos from the commercial shoot.

Raymond also has photos from Monday and Tuesday’s Rockets practice. Thanks Raymond!