China Radio International reports that Erik Zhang (a.k.a. Zhang Mingji), Yao’s cousin and head of ‘Team Yao,’ is healing quickly enough to maybe play in the World Championships this Summer starting August 19th in Japan.

I found this link on the NBA .com Web site. It’s odd…although Yao was named the HANNSpree Player of the Month for April, he only played in 5 1/4 games out of the 9 games the Rockets played in April. At the bottom of the story, it cites Yao’s stats for March: 15 games, 27.6 points, 11 rebounds, and 2.13 blocks per game.

Thanks to our YaoMania! correspondent Raymond in China, we now have translations of articles describing more of Yao’s recovery. Thanks Raymond!

Translation of Sohu article from April 21st:

It has been almost a week since Yao Ming‘s surgery. How is he doing? How is his wound? With these questions in mind, Sohu Sports interviewed Erik Zhang Mingji, leader of Team Yao.

According to Zhang Mingji, Yao Ming is doing great in his recovery. There is a little pain on the part (the left foot) that had gone under the knife, and he is also in a good mood. The stitches on his injured foot would be removed probably tomorrow.

Zhang also suggested that there will be 3 stages for Yao’s recovery plan. For Stage 1, Yao Ming will just need complete rest. For Stage 2, he will receive some physical therapy to speed up the circulation. Then for Stage 3, it will be strength and conditioning exercises to return to competitive shape and form. Currently, the plan is that Stage 3 will be conducted in China.

Zhang also mentioned Team Yao will send a request to the China Basketball Association to hire an experienced orthopedist to communicate with Yao Ming’s doctor in Houston to speed up his recovery. Also, Team Yao had tentatively decided that Yao Ming will return to China by mid-June, and had chosen the National Training Bureau (in Beijing) to be the venue where he will reside during his recuperation.

Yao Ming can now walk with crutches. Because it’s inconvenient for him to walk, and because he can’t take a long-haul flight, Team Yao politely declined a White House invitation for Yao Ming to attend the presidential banquet to welcome President Hu Jintao.

There had been previous reports that the Houston Rockets had turned down the CBA’s request to send doctors over to USA to inspect Yao Ming’s injury, and that the Rockets intended to stall his return (to China). When asked about this by the Sohu reporter, Zhang Mingji said those reports were totally mock-up nonsense. He said the doctor responsible for Yao Ming’s surgery called him up immediately after the surgery to update him regarding Yao Ming’s recuperation. This doctor earnestly told him that the Rockets will try to heal Yao Ming in the shortest time possible. He could not gurantee or predict the exact timing for Yao Ming’s recovery, but said they will try their best. Team Yao had also contacted the management of the Houston Rockets, who made it clear they would not intervene in Yao Ming’s return to China.

Also it was the reporter’s understanding that according to Hu Jiashi, Deputy Director of Chinese Basketball Management Centre, the CBA had never asked to send over doctors to the USA for Yao Ming’s surgery. And right after Yao Ming’s surgery, the CBA had also communicated with Team Yao numerous times, reiterating that they will not force Yao Ming into any games or tournaments. They also wanted to relay through Team Yao to Yao Ming the message that they hope he will not feel any pressure during his recuperation, and that he will only return to the court when he is 100% recovered. In short, the CBA will observe and respect scientific rules and principles, and will not issue any so-called “Return Timetable” to Yao Ming.

Team Yao also relayed Yao Ming’s appreciation to the Chinese Basketball Management Centre for the care and concern they showed before and after his surgery, and he also wants to express his thankfulness for all the good wishes from all his fans.

Translation of Tom.com article from April 22nd:

In the blink of an eye, a week has passed since Yao Ming had the surgery on his left foot. Because the surgery adopted some of the world’s most advanced technology, and was coupled with some auxiliary Chinese medical treatment in the past 5 days at his home, Yao Ming is recovering fast on his wound. The 4 stitches on his left foot were removed yesterday.

Erik Zhang Mingji also indicated that Stage 2 of Yao Ming’s recuperation will start soon now that his stitches have been removed. In a few days time, Yao Ming will start to recieve more comprehensive physical therapy to speed up the circulation, relax the muscles, and expedite blood circulation on his left foot. Erik Zhang Mingji also happily reported that Yao Ming could now walk with the help of a pair of tailor-made crutches.

A drawing was held between the Rockets and Golden State Warrioros on Friday since both teams finished with the same record: 34-48. The Rockets won the drawing and get the 8th spot in the NBA draft on May 23rd rather than the 9th. That means the Rockets have a 2.3% chance to get the top pick in the draft. Here are more details on the story.

Interesting articles from the Houston Chronicle about Yao or the Rockets probably will go dormant for awhile now that the season is over. But they did have two interesting ones today.

This one is about the kind of changes that owner Les Alexander , Carroll Dawson, Daryl Morey, and Jeff Van Gundy will make this season to the Rockets roster.

This one is about Van Gundy’s stint to be an analyst on TNT during the playoffs. Should be interesting to hear his comments on this season, as well as see him lighten up like we saw when he was a commentator a few years ago for TNT.

Kind of like how Forbes Magazine lists the most wealthy individuals in their annual issue, the ‘China Brand Academy’ does the same for Chinese citizens. Here’s the story.

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Everyone is talking about the screwy NBA playoff situation where it was in the LA Clippers’ best interests to lose Memphis this week so they could have a better matchup in the playoffs: playing a much weaker Denver team and have the home court advantage, rather than much stronger Dallas without the home court. And how Dallas finished with the second best record in the West, but they are most likely going to face San Antonio in the second round — not a good reward for playing so well this season

Well, I was talking about how it was a problem last year when the playoff seeding situation screwed up the Rockets, but no one from the NBA was listening (click here for the blog entry from May 9th, 2005). It’s ironic that Dallas is messed around this year when they easily could have been last year. Here’s what I wrote:

You know there’s a problem when it was in the Rockets’ best interest at the end of the season to lose some games so they could have played Seattle in the opening series rather than Dallas. But of course, that’s something no team should ever do. But the way the NBA is now aligned and how they award playoff seeds, it definitely creates more of an incentive to tank some games.

I know some people will argue that a winner of a division should be awarded one of the top three seeds in the playoffs, but if you ask most basketball fans what teams are in each division, they probably couldn’t tell you. Rewarding division champions with higher seeds is not fair to other teams in more competitive divisions that deserve to be placed higher in the playoff rankings. I like the idea of putting all of the teams in each conference in a big bucket like in previous years, and awarding the top seeds to two division champions, not three.

FRIDAY, 1/6/05 – For the second consecutive game, I am not able to produce a detailed write-up of the Rockets’ game against Cleveland last night. I am still on the road traveling. However, here is my obligatory link to the Houston Chronicle story about the game. Man, I gotta catch up on these games! Right when I’m not able to watch the games, they start winning again.

In case you didn’t see it yet, there’s a great article about Yao in today’s Houston Chronicle. Click here to check it out.

I just heard that point guard Mike James is gone, traded straight up for Toronto’s Rafer Alston. My initial reaction was shock and disappointment.

I really liked the energy James brought to the game, his quickness getting past defenders, and his ability to light it up a la Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, or even Bobby Jackson. Remember that playoff game against Dallas on May 5th (7-for-11, 22 points) when he was the only guard the Rockets had, other than T-Mac, who could give the Mavericks problems defensively during that series? I thought James would really be able to create some matchup problems in 2004-05.

Despite Alston’s controversial run-ins at Toronto (click here for a story that references it), his stats are impressive. Last season he was 11th in the league in assists (6.4), while James only had 3.6 assists per game. Here are some other 2004-05 statistical comparisons:

Minutes per game: Alston – 34, James – 25.1

Points: Alston – 14.2, James – 11.8 (give James 9 more minutes per game, and he would have matched or exceeded Alston’s PPG)

Steals: Alston – 1.48, James – .88

FG%: Alston – .414, James – .441

3-point %: Alston – .357, James – .386 (second on the Rockets bench last season).

In summary, the Rockets get more steals and assists (isn’t that what we got Derek Anderson for?), but they lose in scoring and shooting accuracy. The loss of James will make the already-struggling Rockets’ three-point shooting even more suspect (see story written below in “Are you ready for some basketball?”). Alston sounds like a Jeff Van Gundy type of player to me: low scoring (not always fun to watch), but a solid passer and defensive player. I liked the speed and flair that James brought to the game. I hope the Rockets know what they are doing. They usually do.

See what others are saying about the trade in the YaoMania! Fan Forum.

Read the Houston Chronicle article about the trade by clicking here.