Yao continues his workouts, and works ups a sweat, in Shanghai before leaving for Beijing on Saturday, July 1st. Click here for more photos from Yao’s workout.

Raymond in China has another update for us on Yao Ming’s whereabouts as of this past Saturday:

“Yao Ming left Shanghai on Saturday (July 1st) and is now in Beijing. He went for his rehab training Saturday morning at the National Sports Bureau training centre. He will rejoin the national team when they return from Europe on July 4th, but he will not take part in team practice yet, as he will continue his rehabilitation training with David Macha and Anthony Falsone. David Macha will soon leave a healthy Yao Ming in the hands of Anthony Falsone to bring him back to his competitive shape and form.”

Click here for more photos and video from Yao’s workout. 

I’m pleased that the Rockets appear to be making an effort to sign free agent and former Rocket Mike James, contrary to previous reports from other ‘analysts’ who thought they knew what they were talking about. Late Friday night Jeff Van Gundy paid a visit to James’ house a minute after the timeframe opened up for teams to talk to free agents. No doubt, this is a very significant development!

James’ agent is Bill Duffy, who also represents Yao Ming. James has made clear in the past couple of months that he would like to play in Houston again…and badly. But Duffy stated that James is still keeping an open mind to other teams, as anyone would do in his situation. The Rockets cannot pay as much as other teams can afford, so it will be interesting to see what happens, and Duffy said it would ultimately be James’ decision. The earliest that teams can sign free agent contracts is July 12th.

Here’s a Houston Chronicle article that describes the current landscape of free agent shooting guards that are available for signing.

I’ve stated it before that I hope the Rockets can sign James. Losing the chance to sign him will remind me of how another “James,” James Posey, decided to leave the Rockets during free agency a couple of years ago for more money, and we all know how valuable a role player he was to helping the Miami Heat to winning a championship.

Upon hearing about the Rockets trade of #8 draft pick Rudy Gay for Shane Battier on Wednesday night, I’m probably one of the few people who thought the trade was “okay” rather than a disaster. I liked Gay, but didn’t feel the Rockets could take chances and wait for him to develop. Battier isn’t spectacuclar, but is solid and should help out Yao and T-Mac in many regards. He’s still relatively young at 27, and his accurate shooting, good defense, and sound fundamentals will come in handy since the Rockets lack in those areas. Look for Battier to raise his career scoring average from 10.5 points per game to 15-ish for the offensively challenged Rockets.

There is an article in today’s Houston Chronicle with more reaction from Battier, T-Mac, and former Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown which I recommend reading. Here is an article that says Jeff Van Gundy was fine either way with Gay or Battier.

Also thrown into the trade and shipped off to Memphis was Stromile Swift, who I thought wasn’t as bad as people believed. Sure, he was a disappointing rebounder, but when he was aggressive and had one of those amazing dunks of his, he brought alot of energy to a relatively lackluster bench. After getting off to a slow start, he just seemed to placed in the doghouse with the Houston media and couldn’t rid himself of the baggage he brought from Memphis.

Underappreciated was Swift’s ability to hit the 12-15 foot jump shot, pleasantly surprising me with his shooting form. Knowing the Rockets luck, what will probably happen is that once he’s back in Memphis, he’ll probably thrive and win the Most Improved Player of the Year Award in 2007, and show how the Rockets gave up on him too soon, kind of like Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns, who was a throw-in last year on the Joe Johnson trade with the Atlanta Hawks.

What’s disturbing is that the Rockets courted Swift heavily and was able to convince him to sign with Houston for a much lower salary than he probably could have commanded from New Jersey or other teams. Remember that he was one of the most sought after free agents during the 2005 off-season. He came here more for the chance to win a championship than to make top dollar. Now after one year under the “bad fit” of playing under a slow-it-down coach like Jeff Van Gundy, they give up on him and ship him off, and he has a contract that is paying him less than he could have signed last year. I’d be a little peeved if I were him.

I wonder if this will end up hurting the Rockets’ reputation among agents around the league who may not believe the Rockets when they want to sign a player at a discount in exchange for a better chance to win a championship with Yao and T-Mac? Before T-Mac was on the scene and the Rockets had Steve Francis, the same thing kind of happened when the Rockets signed players like Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin, along with Mike Wilks (who had just signed a contract), and then traded them for Dikembe Mutombo. I liked the trade, but they seemed to give up on Piatkowski and Griffin pretty early, too.

Anytime you’re dealing with Jerry West, you have to be cognizant that you may have been snookered when it comes to trades. Remember West was the mastermind in L.A. who traded Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant. Everyone thought Divac was a solid pro who could help out Charlotte (kind of like Battier for Houston) and that Bryant had loads of potential. We all know who won that trade.

Raymond in China has done another fine job translating an interview of David Macha on Yao’s rehabilitation. Thanks Raymond!

It seems like every month there is some new accolade that Yao receives from a Chinese institution, like “most wealthy” or whatever. Now he has received another one: “most internationally influential athlete ever in the history of Chinese sports” from the Chinese Basketball Association (click here for more on the story).

I wonder if the humble Yao Ming ever gets tired of these larger-than-life statements that really don’t seem to serve any purpose. I just don’t ever envision the NBA saying the same thing about Michael Jordan, even in retirement.

At least the commissioner of the CBA isn’t trying to butter Yao up (wink wink) to play in the World Championships in late August with his statement, “We will by no means urge him to play the world championship in Japan. We do not want him to take any risk. He can take his time in recuperation.” Uhh, yeah…right.

Another article on 7′ 9″ project Sun Ming Ming appeared in the Houston Chronicle today. You may remember him after reading the article I mentioned in my June 7th posting.

Yao resumes his rehab and workouts in Shanghai. Click here for more photos.

FRIDAY, 6/23/06 – Raymond in China has provided a few photos of Yao resuming his rehab workouts in Shanghai. Click here for more of those pics.

What’s even more amazing are the VIDEOS of Yao working out! I have never seen such an “insider” view of what Yao has done to rehabilitate and get himself in shape.

The links to those videos are near the bottom of the page from the link above. In case you miss them, here they are:

http://sports.sohu.com/20060623/n243900890.shtml

http://sports.sohu.com/20060623/n243900966.shtml

Pictured with cousin and representative Erik Zhang Mingji, Yao is back in China to finish up his rehabilitation from foot surgery and get back into shape, hopefully for a run at the World Championships in late August. Click here for more pictures.

THURSDAY, 6/22/06 – Raymond, our correspondent in China, reports that Yao Ming is back in Shanghai. He is with David Macha, the Rockets strength and conditioning coach. He will stay in Shanghai for the next 7 to 10 days for his rehabilitation, and will head back to Beijing afterwards when the Chinese National Team returns from their series of exhibition matches in Europe on July 3rd. By that time, hopefully Macha will turn over a fully rehabilitated Yao Ming to Anthony Falsone who will continue to assist Yao to return to competitive shape and form.

Raymond also translated an interview that Sohu.com did with Macha about the latest status of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady’s rehabilitation.

Thanks Raymond!

John

I got a tip from Victoria in the Bay Area that they saw Yao at SFO yesterday (June 20th) headed to Beijing at the same gate where they were seeing off their daughter. Victoria reported, “People were politely making a fuss over him – which was nice to see…”

So obviously, Yao is now in China. I find it interesting that Yao decided to pass on watching live Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

Miami’s NBA championship gives hope to Yao and T-Mac that they may not be that far off from the promised land like most people think they are.

WEDNESDAY, 6/21/06 – After watching Miami win a ring Tuesday night, there is hope for the Rockets.

We all just saw the Miami Heat‘s incredible run to win the NBA championship. It was an amazing series not many people thought the Heat could pull off given Dallas’ “superior talent.”

It confirms to me further that to win a ring in the NBA, your chances increase if you have a marquee center who can be effective in the paint (Shaq, Alonzo Mourning) along with a guard who can score in a variety of ways (Dwyane Wade). As talented, quick and accurate Dallas was in the regular season and much of the post-season, to win it all, we just saw in the NBA Finals how you need a talented big man down low and an amazing shooting guard on the wing. The Mavericks had something close with the latter (Jason Terry), but not the former (Erick Dampier).

Of course, this is all good news for the Rockets who have both in Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady (when he’s healthy).

Although Shaq didn’t rack up massive statistics in the NBA Finals, he still grabbed lots of boards and kept the defense honest by not having the Dallas defense completely swamp Wade. And when you factor in Mourning’s contribution on the defensive end, you realize the Mavericks didn’t have enough with Dampier and Desagana Diop playing center, and Dirk Nowitzki playing “quasi-center.”

As much firepower and speed the Mavericks had in Nowitzki, Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Josh Howard, and Devin Harris, their offense and defense didn’t have enough to overcome their deficiencies down low and in the middle. As great as the Mavericks are, I guess jump shots and floaters in the lane can only take you so far.

Just look at last year’s NBA champions – the San Antonio Spurs – and what Tim Duncan has meant for that team in the paint. Or look at the Phoenix Suns this past year. If Amare Stoudemire had not been injured this past season and had been playing down low, there is no doubt they would have beaten the Mavericks to get to the Finals.

I know the Rockets are lacking in “role players” like the Heat have (Mourning, Udonis Haslem, Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, James Posey, Gary Payton). But those kinds of players are much easier to find in comparison to finding a strong duo like Shaq/Wade or Yao/T-Mac. Remember that Pat Riley acquired Williams, Walker, Posey and Payton all fairly recently.

What that means is that it IS possible for the Rockets to find the right supporting cast fairly quickly, hopefully with the expertise of GM-to-be Daryl Morey.

Similar to what George Mason University did in the NCAA this past year – making people believe that a mid-major college CAN make it to the Final Four — the Miami Heat give the Rockets hope that an NBA championship can be won with two (not three) franchise players — a force in the paint, a stud at shooting guard — and a few role players acquired quickly through trades and free agency.

And don’t forget that Jeff Van Gundy is a Pat Riley disciple, having been his assistant coach in New York. Hopefully Van Gundy learned something this year by watching how his old boss won a ring by coaching his players with more ‘touch and feel,’ rather than gloom-and-doom and calling out his players all the time.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com