Last week Yao said that the Chinese need to send some of its players overseas to improve. He said it again yesterday, this time with more detail:

“As the 2008 Olympics are drawing near, we should send abroad the likes of Yi Jianlian and Wang Shipeng as soon as possible in a bid to raise our level in the short term.”

Click here for more of the story, which explains that’s going to be tough to do given past experiences with Wang ZhiZhi — lots of sitting on the bench and moving from team-to-team. But Yao refutes that argument with the following statement.

“Even if our basketballers fail to play as regulars, we still could benefit at least from their training. I played as a substitute 10 minutes per game initially, too. It depends on your will and work.”

We learned last week that the Rockets were interested in signing former Stanford standout Casey Jacobsen, and they made it happen on Tuesday. Click here for the story.

The Rockets also signed another Stanford guy, Matt Haryasz, who was somewhat impressive in a few games at the Vegas Summer League in July. He probably won’t make the team because the Rockets drafted a similar but better player — Steve Novak (click here for a YaoMania! interview) — before Haryasz, but he should get some looks during training camp.

Team USA’s nemesis — and new Rockets guard — Vassilis Spanoulis, is profiled in this Houston Chronicle article. I really like his confidence. Looks like he’s ready to make an impact in his first year in the NBA just like Yao did.

I just watched the shocking upset of Team USA by Greece. Unbelievable!

No one can fault the USA for slacking like at the 2004 Olympics. Greece was the better team. The USA couldn’t stop them, and the USA’s offense just wasn’t cohesive like the Greek offense.

On top of that Greek and new Rockets guard Vassilis Spanoulis was incredible. He hit clutch free throws and 3-pointers on his way to a team high 22 points. He is going to have alot more buzz coming into the NBA now! At least that’s good for the Rockets.

Even though Yao and the Chinese national team are out of the World Championships, you can still see Rockets forward Shane Battier and new Rockets guard Vassilis Spanoulis of Greece play against each other on Friday. They play live on ESPN2 at 3:30am Eastern time.

Both teams are undefeated. Whoever loses cannot win the Championship, so it should be a great game.

Patrick Ewing has decided to resign from the Rockets. Not that he’s mad at Jeff Van Gundy or anything. He just wants to spend more time with his kids, especially since his son is playing for his alma mater Georgetown. Here’s his quote:

“It was a difficult decision to resign because I enjoy coaching. I love working with Jeff (Van Gundy) and the rest of the staff, and our players are really good guys. But my children are getting older, and I want to spend more time with them. I’m sure at some point I will get back into coaching, but right now I need to focus completely on my kids.”

That’s the beauty of having played in the NBA for so many years. Ewing made lots of dough when he played, so he doesn’t really need a job (give him credit for wanting to work hard in coaching the past three seasons). Yet he can get another assistant job at any time since he has a good reputation having been an All-Star for years, has Yao Ming on his resume, and has Van Gundy vouching for him doing a “great job” in Houston.

The Rockets don’t plan to sign anyone to replace him. And don’t even think about Hakeem Olajuwon becoming a coach. “The Dream” recently said this about coaching in the NBA:

“That’s a job. That’s a big difference. I don’t want to work because I’ve travelled all my career. Now, I finally get more time off with my family and a chance to do stuff with them. I wouldn’t give that up. Why would I want to give that up?”

But Hakeem could help him in his annual Big Man camp, as he states in this piece on Rockets.com. And Moses Malone is available to help Yao out as a favor anytime he wants the help. This other Rocket legend and NBA All-Star center has stated before he wouldn’t mind helping Yao out.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Rockets are going to sign former Stanford standout guard Casey Jacobsen. Expectations were high of Jacobsen when he was drafted in the first round by Phoenix with the 22nd pick. He stuck around for 3 seasons, then went to New Orleans, and recently played in Europe.

I saw him play at the Vegas Summer League in July, and he looked better than I thought he would. He was known for his 3-point shooting at Stanford, but in Vegas he showed good hustle and an ability to get to the rim and finish.

The Rockets have signed 4 additional guards this off-season. It will be interesting to see which guards will make the final roster.

You can read more about Ewing and Jacobsen in this Houston Chronicle article.

In this story, Yao thinks it’s time that Chinese players go overseas to improve…

“We cannot make enough progress by the national league alone: it’s like trying to build a cart without knowing how.”

“Chinese players have to go overseas to play. I mean, they should go there alone and fight for their positions on the teams. This is the only way to lift the overall level of Chinese basketball.”

The Chinese coach Jonas Kazlauskas adds…

“It would be good for the team to go to Europe and play against a European-style defence.”

We like how Yao and Jonas are challenging the status quo. If Team USA can revamp how they make their team better, surely the Chinese will, too.

Interesting how strange some of the theories are revolving around China’s loss to Greece the other day, knocking them out of the World Championships. The Beijing News says Yao was getting so much adulation for playing so well in the tournament, it exhausted him to the point that he couldn’t get off more than 5 shots in that loss. Whatever.

You can read more about some of the recent headlines appearing in Chinese newspapers in this Houston Chronicle article.

The good thing is that Yao will be able to get away from all the arm-chair coaching soon when he returns to Houston on September 6th to prepare for training camp.