Earlier this week Yao gave his first interview since his ankle surgery a couple of weeks ago. In anticipation of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S., a CCTV crew got Yao’s thoughts (in Chinese) on a variety of topics, including the Chinese President’s visit to the U.S., a quote that Barack Obama attributed to Yao, and several other topics. I had a feeling that Yao would be interviewed about the Chinese President’s visit. It’s just too big of a deal for Yao not to be asked about it. You can read Raymond’s translation of the interview by clicking here.

Below is an abridged version of the interview (in Chinese). If you encounter a problem with it playing below, try this link.

Raymond has translated in the forum an interview of Team Yao member Erik Zhang Mingji that appeared today in the Chinese online publication called Netease (a.k.a. 163.com). Click here for the full translation.

Here is a summary from the article based off Zhang Mingji’s responses to questions:

Yao’s surgery to repair the stress fracture in his left ankle was a relatively simple operation. It involved simply an implant of a stainless steel pin to facilitate the recovery of the fracture of the bone. Doctors had suspected that this current fracture was caused by bone spurs. So during this surgery, some large bone spurs were removed from the joint cavity. This further confirmed that the bone fracture could have been caused by these bone spurs.

Yao Ming has no plans to retire. He is still not yet ready to do that, and does not see the injury as being that serious to the point that he needs to retire.

Yao Ming wants to stay in Houston, and Houston also has that inclination.

The possibility of Yao being traded this season is less than fifty percent (50%), unless the Houston Rockets can now find a young All-Star player.

The full translation is here.

Yao had surgery on his left ankle to repair the stress fracture there. Here’s an article from the Chronicle that explains it all. Here’s the statement that came from Yao today:

“I’d like to thank everyone for their ongoing support. I know this will be another long rehab, but I’m looking forward to beginning my recovery. I will use this time to consider all of my options and will make a decision regarding my career plans as I get closer to the end of my rehab.”

Get well soon, big fella.

Sohu Sports (in China) is reporting that Yao had a chat with Hakeem Olajuwon in the hallways of Toyota Center after the Rockets-Raptors game Friday night (see photo below).

Click here for more photos of Yao and Dream together in the hallway of Toyota Center.

Hakeem told Yao that he would really like for him to come back, and Yao said he will give his “best try,” which is great news for Yao fans!  Although it’s not a guarantee that Yao will come back, he obviously hasn’t ruled it out and seems intent to make a go of it.  Here’s the transcript of what Sohu Sports published, translated from Chinese to English by our friend Raymond:

Sohu Sports: Talk to us about Yao Ming’s injury; (they said) that may end his career.

Olajuwon: That’s really very very disappointing, because I know he really wanted to continue playing the game. I just talked with him; I aked him to continue his efforts, to give it another try, and see if he can come back to play as well as to maintain a positive attitude. He said he will give his best try.

Sohu Sports: Do you think he can come back to play the game?

Olajuwon: Yes, I firmly believe so. He’s a man of strong character.

Click here for the Sohu Sports story written in Chinese.

Hakeem was at the game to promote the launch of his new clothing line called “Dr34m.” Click on this link (same as the link below the photo) to see Olajuwon signing autographs for fans who bought some of his new designs that went on sale Friday night at Toyota Center.

The Rockets took care of business Friday night against the Toronto Raptors, beating them 114-105. But for Yao Ming fans, they had to be just as excited (if not more) to see Yao’s baby girl Amy at the game, her first public appearance we know about.

In the stands Friday night were Yao’s parents, baby Amy, and Yao’s wife Ye Li.

Click here for more photos of baby Amy at the game.

Not to be forgotten, Papa Yao sat next to his teammates on the bench during the game…

Yao attended the Rockets-Wizards game Monday night (photos are below), but didn’t take any questions from the press about his future plans. However, Rockets GM Daryl Morey did give an interview with the Chinese press, which Raymond has translated in the forum here.

The biggest takeaways for me were that the Rockets have been in constant communication with Yao since it was announced Yao will miss the rest of the season. This dialogue is a good sign that whatever decisions will be made, either side won’t be surprised (remember the drama from McGrady when he said he was going to undergo microfracture surgery, completely surprising the Rockets’ medical staff?). Yao also has been doing upper body workouts at Toyota Center, and that surgery may be the option Yao takes instead of resting the ankle until it heals.

Yi Jianlian, who was traded from New Jersey to Washington before the season began, shot the ball before the game. Yi, who is recovering from an injury, didn’t play in the game, but should be able to play very soon.

Yi Jianlian talks with former teammate Terrence Williams before the Rockets-Wizards game

This Washington Post article has some good quotes from the Wizards’ Yi Jianlian about his thoughts on Yao’s latest injury. When asked about his reaction when he first heard about it, he said:

“I was very upset about it.”

Asked if he would like to see Yao play again, Yi responded:

“I hope so. I really hope so. Me, all the fans in China, we really hope that he gets back on the court.”

About Yao coming back:

“People always talking that he may not come back. But I think for a player like him, he has a pretty strong heart. It would be tough. I don’t think he’ll just walk away, you know. He’ll leave it alone, let it get healthy, see how it goes. But he’s got to take care of his foot and get everything well.”

Michael Wilbon has posted a great article on ESPN.com you should check out here titled, “Can’t overestimate Yao Ming’s impact.” Here’s an excerpt:

It’s easy to forget, now that he’s been so absent the last two years, that Yao Ming was once an iron man. The career obituaries that detail all the games missed in recent seasons and various injuries to his feet and legs tend to not mention that Yao played all 82 games his rookie year in the NBA, all 82 games his second season and 80 his third season.

The latest injury, the one that will force Yao to the sideline for the rest of this season and threatens to end his career, has prompted more conversation about what might have been had he stayed healthy and, sadly, not enough about the enormous contribution he made to basketball.

Read the rest here.

In case you missed it, a couple of days ago John Hollinger posted this article titled, “Post-Yao Rockets already here.”

As you all know, Yao Ming is in the process right now of deciding what he’s going to do with his basketball future after learning about the stress fracture in his ankle last week. Since he’s out for the season, and there’s a chance that Yao may retire, I’ve been doing my own thinking and have decided that I won’t be posting many updates after Rocket games this season.

I know most of you have come to this site to get updates on Yao, not really on the Rockets. If you did come to get Rocket news, it was under the auspices that it would be good to know what’s going on with the team before Yao returns to the team. Now that Yao’s future is in doubt, I’ll be holding off on frequent Rocket updates, but will continue to post here updates about Yao’s health and general news about him. If you were planning on coming back to the site to read my updates about the Rockets even with Yao hurt, please send me an email at johnb [at] yaomingmania [dot] com so I can get a good understanding of what readers of this site expected.

In the meantime, I will continue to watch all of the Rocket games because I’m a big fan of the team, and if Yao decides to return to basketball and the Rockets, I will crank up my Rocket updates (assuming he signs a new contract with them if he does return to the NBA). Occasionally I may weigh in on major Rocket news and issues, but I’m going to take this time to focus on another NBA-oriented venture I am launching.

I suggest if you want to stay abreast of all the Yao news that’s sure to come, I invite you to keep coming back to the site, or you can become a “fan” of my YaoMania Facebook page where you can see on your Facebook wall when I update this site with new information about Yao.

Looking ahead, there’s one thing I encourage all of you to checkout that can help me out in return for all the work I put into the site over the past 8 years. I have become an affiliate of an awesome Facebook marketing curriculum called “Crowd Conversion” from a Facebook marketing guru named Robert Grant. Robert was nice enough to provide some good advice to Yao’s marketing team on how Yao could best use his Facebook page to advance his charity efforts. If any of you have been thinking of advancing your business or causes on Facebook, I encourage you to checkout Robert’s program by clicking here and consider becoming a customer starting with the link above.

Hopefully this won’t be the end of Yao’s career in basketball. Make sure to come back to this site, or become a fan of the YaoMania Facebook page for more news and updates on all things Yao.

Thanks!
John

I went to the Rockets-Grizzlies game Friday night, which was a blowout the Rockets won going away 103-87. It wasn’t even that close as the Rockets got off to a hot start, opening up an incredible 30-point lead early in the second quarter. Kevin Martin was incredible, scoring 22 points in the first quarter. Kyle Lowry scored 15 points and had a career-high 16 assists, along with 5 steals through 3 quarters.

Of course, the big news was the announcement today that Yao is done for the season, which is no surprise, and the press conference the Rockets had before the game with Rockets’ team doctor Dr. Walter Lowe and Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey.

Rather than spend time writing about the blowout victory, I went ahead and typed up the press conference transcript the Rockets provided the media before the game. Here are some quotes that didn’t appear in some of the major news stories about the press conference.

Dr. Walt Lowe:

On the likelihood that Yao Ming can play again without future stress fractures: “I think that’s a question that doesn’t have an answer. Probably. A stress fracture, as you guys know, has to heal and the thing about this is different is this is related to an injury fairly recently and so I think that’s a question that just doesn’t have an answer.”

On talking to Yao Ming about the injury: “We’re saying ‘Hey Yao, you know, this needs to get treated.’ We’re talking to the foot and ankle guys about getting it treated and about the appropriate courses with that. So it needs to get treated. It needs to heal. It needs to be rehabbed right, brought back right, all those things. Is this something that I would say, hey, you’ve got no chance of every playing again, no, absolutely not.”

On what needs to be done to heal Yao’s injury: “Well, the usual case with this would be surgery. It’s a stress fracture and its in a location that the typical course (would be surgery). Has that decision been made yet, no. But the usual medial stress fracture is one that you would fix (with surgery).”

On if this year’s injury is a result of last year’s injury: “Well, last year was an osteotomy of his foot to make it flatter and help distribute the stresses more. But, I think you have to say, yeah, this is related to the previous issues Yao has had with his foot and the surgeries he’s had.”

More details on last year’s surgery relating to this year’s injury: “Well, it is a transfer of stresses that this big osteotomy moved his heel bone around to shift them into a different place and now his body has to take those new stresses to a new area. So, anytime they do something to change it or you see something else come from it, I don’t see any way you can say it’s not related to it.”

On if this will increase the likelihood of future stress fractures on Yao’s foot: “Well, when you look at the course of Yao’s career, stress fractures have been a part of his foot. To say he’s not at a risk to continue to have stress fractures would be crazy. So he is at a continued risk. The new position of his foot should unload his foot and make those stresses lower. We still have this injury back in Washington as a part of this injury to factor into it.”

On if this new injury needs “restructuring” surgery like his previous injury from last year: “No. No, this is a fracture that’s not displaced, so it’s still anatomically located and it’s one to provide fixation so it won’t displace and at the same time create a healing response inside that fracture, so it will heal. So it’s not a corrective osteotomy or moving his foot around, it’s just fixing it where it is.”

On how bad this stress fracture really is: “I don’t think there’s any word for it. I think no one is happy that Yao has any stress fracture for sure. At the same time if you ask me is this better or worse than having another navicular stress fracture, I’d say I’d rather have this one than that one. There have been stress fractures that guys have come back from in this league, too.”

On if this injury was already present when Yao was injured back in Washington: “I think it’s manifested itself since then. This was sort of an ankle sprain with bone bruising it sounds like. The MRI done up in Indianapolis, then brought back here and then really not progressing from a rehab standpoint which stimulated the new studies done yesterday that revealed a stress fracture.”

On if the fracture was hidden by the bone bruise: “You know it should not. A bone bruise is basically fluid or adema in bone and you can see fracture lines in that adema and you see those all the time with fractures. So, I don’t think it’s somewhat fluid in the bone obscured the fracture at all, you would see that.”

On if this fracture occurred sometime between the two MRIs: “Well, it manifested itself as a stress fracture, so it progressed to the point between the two MRI’s, yes.”

Daryl Morey

On if he is concerned about Yao ever returning: “Well, I think, as the doctor said, this is an injury that players come back from. We’re still gathering data to know on the likelihood and the prognosis. I think that’s something we’re still learning. I think it is too soon to know where we go from here, exactly, with Yao Ming.”

On how it will affect his plans this season without Yao Ming: “Well, I think , overall we’ve been preparing for this possibility, obviously as doctor said and we’ve talked to Dr. Lowe and Dr. Clanton and all the folks. Also Dr. Yazuki, close to working with Yao Ming. We’ve obviously known he’s (Yao Ming) been prone to possible future inures. So, as you can tell in our preparation, our signings, our trades, our draft picks. We’ve prepared a team to sort of work with Yao Ming and work without, both at a player level and mentality level. I think we have a very resilient group. They’ve been able to fight through injuries and have had winning seasons without both Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady last year. This year obviously we’re gonna have Yao Ming for mostly not this whole season. We feel like we have a resilient group to work for guys that can fight through injuries and we feel like we’ve got a young team that each day they play, they’re better than the day before. Not a team that’s declining but a team that’s improving.

Dr. Lowe:

On if there is any way Yao may not need surgery: “Sure. Stress fractures do heal with prolonged periods of unloading and crutches and non-laboring and those kind of things. So I think those things all have to be debated with Yao and sort of go through the whole process like you would with anybody that needs or should have a surgical procedure. I’d say yes, there’s a potential it would, but the likelihood that fixing it would lead to more certainty in it healing and also much quicker.”

On if this injury has any acute issues with it: “No, this definitely has no acute issues associated with it. So, I think there’s plenty of time to get all the bright minds of foot and ankle in the country together and look at it and talk to Yao and come up with a course of treatment that his doctors and Yao both believe in.”

On what kind of rest Yao should take after this injury: “I’m not the foot and ankle guy, which is okay. But, at the same time I do think the suggestion or the usual course of action for this particular stress fracture, which is a vertical fracture through the medial malleolus is that it would be fixed. I think that’s the smartest course of action. I’d put it in one of those 4-6 month recoveries. For a stress fracture to heal completely, it should take that 3-4 month period, and then there’s, as you saw with some other things in Yao, a very slow, progressive return to higher and higher unloading. So, that’s for sure in that 4-6 month window after it’s fixed.

On what Yao’s rehab would look like: “In the foot there’s not a lot of rehab. It’s range of motion, strengthening of the tendons that surround it, so it’s not as complicated of a rehab as a knee or a shoulder or some of the things you guys see fairly frequently out there. What has to happen in the foot is healing because the foot is skin, bones and tendons, so it doesn’t have a lot of muscles surrounding it. Those things that lead to a more vibrant healing anatomy. So you have to let it heal. You have to keep the motion. You have to get the swelling down. Then after the healing is there, you have to progressively load. That means there’s partial weight bearing, then more weight bearing, the same process you guys have seen him go through before. There’s not a cookbook protocol that says after this fracture you do this on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3. It’s a very progressive loading and the bigger the guys are, the more issues there have been with stress fractures or related issues, the slower you would go in that progressive loading process.”

Daryl Morey:

On Yao’s future: “I think until we learn more, we still see Yao Ming as the potential future of our team. We need to continue to talk to the doctors and see where that goes. So obviously Yao Ming is an All-Star center and if you look throughout the league, there’s not many of them. If it looks like there’s a good prognosis here and we’re still learning how good that prognosis will be, for sure we’re going to look at Yao Ming past this season.”

On Yao’s spirit: “I think he’s appropriately taking a step back and saying I want to hear all of my options and all the facts. That hasn’t happened yet. Doctors like Dr. Lowe, Dr. Yakuzi, Dr. Clanton, they’re all still conferring and he’ll get multiple opinions before he takes a course of action. I think he’s obviously taking the news hard just like we are, just like Rockets fans, just like everybody. I think for those who know Yao Ming, like many in this room, when there’s tough news, he sort of cracks jokes and things like that. He was doing that yesterday. He’s in good spirits. I think obviously when he’s not around others I’m sure it’s pretty tough to digest this news. As much as he’s been off the court and how much he cares about his teammates, the fans and the Rockets, it’s probably pretty tough for him.”

On how big of a setback this is for the Rockets: “Well, I think we’ve been, as we’ve said, preparing for this as well as we can. I think you need great players in this league to win. We’ve got a lot of players we believe in on this team. Yao Ming is very unique. There’s no Yao Ming store that we can go to to get another one with his abilities. So, it’s definitely a setback. It’s definitely a setback that we don’t have him this season. We felt like this season, where we could make this a special season was Yao Ming comes back and people step up on our team. Maybe there was a move that’s made and felt like we could really make some noise this season. We still feel like we’re a team that can make the playoffs this season. We feel like we’re fighting with about 4 or 5 other teams for the 7th or 8th seed this season. I know our guys in the locker room aren’t writing this season off. I know I’m not. I know Coach Adelman isn’t. We still think this can be a great season. Obviously the news yesterday was negative, it wasn’t positive.”