[size=117][color=red]So this ends all speculation [/color][color=darkred]that Yao Ming could return to play in the 2009 ~ 10 season if the Houston Rockets could make it to the playoff.

And I also hope he will not be coerced to play for the China national team in the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey (August 28 ~ September 12, 2010). [/color]

[color=red]But ALAS !!! It will be a torturing looooooooooooooong year of wait before we can see him play again !!! [/color][/size]

[quote]

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/sports/ ... _good_news

[size=150][color=red]Yao Gets Good News, Looks to 2010[/color][/size]

[size=109]Updated: Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009, 4:31 PM CDT
MARK BERMAN

HOUSTON - Eight weeks after major surgery on his left foot Yao Ming told FOX 26 Sports Wednesday he is encouraged by what the doctors are telling him.

He had the hard cast removed Friday and his left leg and foot were placed in a boot. Images taken of most of the bones involved in the surgery indicate [color=red]he is healing properly[/color].

"The picture looks good," Yao said. "The bones heal well. The big bone heals well. That's good news. It helps my mind.

"The key bone, (the tarsal) navicular, they will do testing later, but not that day."

The positive developments will have no bearing on the upcoming seasn. Rockets doctors have technically not ruled Yao out for the 2009-2010 season, but the team has said they expect him to be ready in time for training camp in 2010.

Yao clearly said there is [color=red]no chance [/color]he will be able to play during the upcoming season.

[color=red]"The answer is no,"[/color] Yao said. "You don't want to rush it, because they want it to totally heal this time.

"I have been in this situation enough."

It has not been easy for Yao to accept the fact he will not be able to play the game he loves for a full year.

"Obviously I want to play basketball," Yao said. "This is my life right there, but for long term, believe me for long term, I need to slow down. That's not my style, but sometimes you have to do that."

Prior to surgery there was concern that Yao's career could have been in jeopardy. He said [color=red]that is no longer an issue.

"I am able to play again," [/color]Yao said,

"In the beginning the doctor told me it could be a career-threatening injury. I think I'm not ready at that time to finish my career. I really felt lost in the first couple of weeks when they tell me.

"I think where am I going? Where is my next direction?

And when it became clear that he would be able to play again, [color=red]Yao felt like he had been born again[/color].

"That gave me almost like a second life," Yao said. "I have that feeling. One day I went back to the basketball court and it's my second life in my career."

Yao still works out three times a week, but with the heavy boot on his left leg, he is limited in what he can do.

"I'm used to keeping busy every day, practice, doing something," Yao said. "Now it's too easy. It's boring.

"It's like drinking water every day. There's no taste."

Even though the Rockets will not have their star center for the upcoming season, Yao still believes they can have a good year.

"If T-Mac (guard Tracy McGrady) comes back, if he has a healthy body, he's still one of the best guys to finish the game, " Yao said. "Also, we have (guard) Trevor (Ariza) joining us.

"His championship experience can really help us and he's talented. Also, (forward) Luis Scola, he's always stable. You have no questions about that.

"I think after last year our confidence is really (high) for this season." [/size]

Be quiet. It is not final until the 09-10 season is over. Don't take a few lines out of an interview and call it concrete. It is not a team statement, the team still have not rule out the possibility.

I mean...just look at Orlando with Nelson. Not a good idea, but it might just happen. So stop putting your perspective ahead of reality.

[quote="Feilong"]Be quiet. It is not final until the 09-10 season is over. Don't take a few lines out of an interview and call it concrete. [color=red]It is not a team statement, the team still have not rule out the possibility.[/color]

I mean...just look at Orlando with Nelson. Not a good idea, but it might just happen. [color=red]So stop putting your perspective ahead of reality.[/color]

[size=117][color=red]From Sporting News.......[/color][/size]

[quote]

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sp ... -10_season

[size=150][color=red]Yao Deserves a Rest in 2009-10 Season [/color][/size]

[size=109]Thursday, September 24, 2009
Posted By Bethlehem Shoals 1:41 PM

[color=red]The good news: Yao Ming is doing well after surgery. The terrible? He's "vowing" not to play next season, despite some time-tabled glimmer of hope that he might. [/color]To flip it further, the Facts of Life "take 'em both and then you have": Yao's confident that this extended recovery will allow him to come back for 2010-11 at full strength.

For the Rockets, this hardly comes as a surprise. Nor should it really affect their strategy all that much. They knew that their team would be small for much of the year, and their fabled win streak of 2007-08 had a Yao-less phase. They tried Yao, Ron-Ron and T-Mac, and are now down all three: Yao, for reasons previously mentioned; T-Mac because of his uncertain, post-microfracture recovery; and Artest, well, he's gone. What they do have, though, is undersized beasts Luis Scola and Carl Landry; speedster PG Aaron Brooks; do-it-all forward Battier and new face Ariza; and Rick Adelman masterminding the whole thing.

No, this is not a contender. But consider these Rockets poised, for now, to deal well with the death of homegrown dinosaurs. Their lineup has an identity regardless of their absent stars, if not one that makes us all jump up and down hoping for a title. Watch the team Morey wanted take shape, and then, just maybe, see McGrady worked back in late as the point-forward whiz he's always had in him, plus maybe Yao the following year as the center of the storm. That is, assuming they decide to re-sign either of the two big names.

The league may never be the same after 2009-10. Not just because LeBron might be about to get an offer he can't refuse, bring Amare with him, and take over the world in all senses. It's that, as much as the free agent bumper crop had been viewed as a good thing, it also offers the likes of Houston room to shed huge salaries, if they make that call. The Rockets will be one of those teams to watch, as we gauge whether they're set to move on without their stars, bring them into the fold, or forced to fall back on depending on them fully.

[b][color=red]One thing's for sure: Given all that Yao's body has been put through since he entered the league, he's earned the right to take this rest.[/color] This kind of fracture

hey pryuen
i was at the first preseason game this year
and yao's nowhere to be found.. hell, even tmac was there
way to support your team by staying at home and playing video games yao

[quote="rockets2007"]hey pryuen
[color=red]i was at the first preseason game this year[/color]

and yao's nowhere to be found.. hell, even tmac was there

way to support your team by staying at home and playing video games yao

This is good news for Houston. The rox seem to play better w/o Yao slowing them down and creating traffic in the paint.

Rockets are now a faster team. And they don't have to wait for Yao to stand at his favorite spot, or wait for him to walk to the court.

i think he could still play, he might be saying this to offer closure for the team, you don't want the team to be thinking that he could still comeback.

He should take the year off, end of discussion.