I love how Yao has fought back against the criticism he received a few days ago from the official Chinese sports newspaper — China Sports Daily — about how he had been taking too much personal time before rejoining the Chinese National Team. You know, petty things like getting some rest after his long NBA season ended, attending pre-Beijing Olympic festivities, volunteering for the Special Olympics event and Basketball Without Borders camp, planning his wedding, etc.).

Here’s what Yao said about the matter earlier today:

“I know Chinese law protects people’s right of speech but I feel this is unfair on me. I entered the national team at the age of 18 and have competed for the national team for 10 years. I promise I have played with 100 per cent focus every year. The team are witnesses to my improvement and also my commitment.”

“I won’t be bothered by the report, I know there is only one goal for me and them – the Olympics.”

Good work, Yao.

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You probably already heard the news about Steve Francis turning down more lucrative opportunities from the LA Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, and Miami Heat to come back to Houston. It’s reported that Yao and Tracy McGrady recruited Steve to come back, and I guess it made a difference.

Still, I’m shocked he didn’t go to the Clippers to be with good friend Cuttino Mobley and business partner Sam Cassell for more money. Considering Cassell is old and Shaun Livingston blew out both knees last season, LA needs more guard help than the Rockets.

I’m not as excited about this move for the Rockets as the Mike James, Luis Scola and Bonzi Wells deals this off-season. I have a feeling that Francis hasn’t matured enough and will expect to plop himself back into the starting lineup like a few years ago before he was traded. Francis has that kind of ego, and perhaps his motivation to come back to Houston for less money is to prove the world wrong after the Magic, Knicks and Trailblazers gave up on him.

This is a dangerous and combustible addition, especially since I expect Mike James to start at point guard. Francis may think otherwise (that’s one of the Houston Chronicle writers wrote).

It would be one thing if Francis was on the tail-end of his career, was trying to win a ring, and was willing to play limited minutes a la Michael Finley with the Spurs. But Francis just turned 30 years old, and is probably a few more years away from taking the Finley route. Something tells me he still wants to be The Man.

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Our Raymond has some photos from Yao’s Wednesday workout in Beijing while his Chinese national teammates scrimmaged.

Yao is being cautious to not participate in practices or team drills to protect his shoulder from injury while he strengthens it with personal trainer Anthony Falsone.

Incredibly, Yao got some flack from China Sports Daily, a newspaper owned by the government’s All-China Sports Federation, for taking too much time off after the Rockets were eliminated from the playoffs, spending too much time with the Special Olympics and participating in pre-Olympic festivities. Get this…they wrote:

“No matter how lofty public welfare activities are, they can’t be allowed to take first place in a player’s life”

“China’s other players were ‘flinging sweat like snow’ while Yao recovered from the season.”

As someone in the YaoMania! forum wrote after reading this article, “WTF?”

I can’t believe this publication that is owned by the government would diss Yao like that. Yao is so loyal to his national team, his country, and is such a hard worker…these guys must be on crack. It’s almost like they are living in a different era reminiscent of China’s storied past in limiting individualistic freedoms.

And it’s not like Yao has been on the beach kicking back since the NBA season ended. You’ve seen here on YaoMingMania all the working out he has been doing. In addition, the Special Olympics and Olympics are a big deal that makes China look good to the rest of the world. And give the guy a break on the wedding thing. It’s not like he’s doing it Tony Parker-Eva Longoria style with a lavish ceremony and lots of pomp and circumstance. It will be a private ceremony with no hype.

All in all, they are messing with the wrong guy. If they end up losing some of Yao’s commitment by lambasting him publicly like this, it will really backfire against them.

Yao arrived in Beijing on Tuesday and continued his workouts with former Rockets trainer Anthony Falsone, who has been his personal trainer for over a year now.

Even though he had a 5:00pm practice with the Chinese National Team, Yao worked out beforehand for 2 1/2 hours with Falsone, working up a big sweat as pictured below.

Click here for more photos from Yao’s workout in Beijing.

Part of Yao’s workouts include strengthening his right shoulder. While in Beijing, he will also be practicing and working out with the national team, but will be avoiding activities that involve physical contact.

Per his doctor’s advice, he will not play basketball until September, so he won’t likely be playing in the 3rd annual FIBA Stankovic cup in Guangzhou/Macau at the end of July, nor play in European tournaments in August.

Thanks go to Raymond for the photos and recap of Yao’s activities in Beijing.

Our Raymond has translated (over 3 hours) an article that China’s Titan Sports conducted with new Rockets coach Rick Adelman while he was in Vegas for the NBA Summer League last week. I have highlighted in bold some of the key statements from Adelman that you might find interesting. Here’s the translation, thanks to Raymond…

Regarding the Houston Rockets new head coach Rick Adelman, the most pressing two concerns from Chinese fans are 1) Under his coaching, what kind of progress/changes Yao Ming will have to make? and 2) How far will the Houston Rockets advance in the playoffs?

ADELMAN: I think he can reach the same level of accuracy as Brad Miller in his shooting ability. We have looked at Yao Ming’s shooting. He is an extremely fantastic shooter. I also hope Yao Ming can become a great passer just like Vlade Divac. I thought during his years, Vlade was one of the best passing centers in the NBA. I think Yao Ming similarly can become the most versatile all-rounded centers, not only good in a high post offense, but will still remain as the best center in the low post.

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The news just broke tonight that the Rockets were able to trade never – to – play – in – America – again Vasillis Spanoulis for very promising PF Luis Scola with the “wisest” of all NBA teams, the world champion San Antonio Spurs.

Ever since getting drafted by the Spurs in 2002, the Argentinian Scola has been hyped for years as a great NBA power forward prospect (Olympic Gold medal winner, Spanish league MVP) once he decides to play in the league. Getting Scola may have been the best option available for the Rockets considering the weakness of affordable PFs in the league.

If Scola turns out to be the real deal, Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey might have vindicated himself after drawing the wrath of many Rocket fans who couldn’t believe he selected Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry in last month’s NBA draft. No one saw this deal coming. Kudos to Morey for pulling it off.

What’s also amazing is that Morey carries very little risk of looking like a bad guy in dealing Spanoulis, who many still believe has great upside in the NBA. Spanoulis said he wouldn’t play in the U.S., even if he were traded to the Spurs and given the starting point guard job. So if he stays true to his word, Spanoulis won’t haunt the Rockets in what “could have been.”

And if Spanoulis changes his mind and decides to come back to the NBA, he will be a liar in the biggest sense of the word and will take Morey and the Rockets off the hook. Although I like Spanoulis and hated to see him give up so soon on his NBA career, I’m enjoying how Spanoulis and his agent have painted themselves in a corner with that statement about not even wanting to play for the Spurs.

So why would the Spurs do this deal?…

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Although it’s not Yao news, our correspondent Raymond in China has let us know that Shane Battier arrived in Beijing Monday, and he will be in China through the end of the week.

Shane obviously has a big following there (being Yao’s teammate doesn’t hurt), as you’ll see from the reception he got at the airport:

He’s keeping himself very busy with activities being coordinated by his sponsor, the China Peak Group, including a photo session where he donned several outfits, including this one:

Raymond does a great job of describing what Shane is doing in China as well as posting other photos in this YaoMania! forum.

Our Raymond has translated a couple of more Chinese articles into English. The first one is with Rockets’ guard Luther Head, who says he hopes he’s not traded.

The second one is with Daryl Morey, who is in Vegas for the NBA Summer League. It’s interesting to read that Morey still thinks Vasillis Spanoulis will want to come back next season, despite quotes from Spanoulis there is no way that’s going to happen. Good work, Raymond!

On Sunday, Yao spent some time with children infected with the HIV virus in Shanghai as part of the Basketball Without Borders program.

Since Yao is a spokesperson for the HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in China, he asked for the public’s help to not discriminate against children like these and to provide more of a helping hand. To see more photos with Yao and the kids, click here and here.

In case you missed it in the forum, we have more photos of Yao in the YaoMania! forum instructing kids at the Basketball Without Borders camp in Shanghai. Here’s one of my favorites…

…and here’s more with Yao (with Scottie Pippen) at the Read to Achieve program on Saturday the 7th…

…with this being one of my favorites…