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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, leader of Team Yao, during an interview with the reporters yesterday, said: “It was due to proper treatment, and the optimism of Yao Ming right after the surgery that his recovery has surpassed our expectations. Even though the parts that were operated on are still swollen, they are expected, and it is within our expectation that the swelling should vanish in a few days time.” To speed up the recovery, Yao Ming now frequently has massaged the swollen parts, and the doctor in charge also comes to his home on a daily basis for physical therapy using ice packs to treat his sore foot.
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.
As you may already know, the NBA realigned itself to have three divisions in each Conference after the league awarded Charlotte a franchise, rounding out the number of teams in the NBA to 30. The realignment created 15 teams in each conference, thus allowing them to create 3 divisions in each conference, with each division having 5 teams each.
The problem was that that the rules suddenly changed so that the winner of each division was awarded one of the top three seeds in the playoff rankings. Therefore, a weak team that ended up winning their division got a higher seed compared to stronger teams in other divisions who finished with better won-loss records. That seems to happen in the NFL and Major League Baseball all the time, and I don’t think that’s right.
So if you look at the records this past season of all the teams in the Western Conference, ranked them by record, and awarded the two top seeds to the old Midwest and Pacific division winners, the first round playoff pairings would have been much different. Here’s how the Western Conference playoff seedings would have ended up:
1) Phoenix (62-20, winner of Pacific)
2) San Antonio (59-23, winner of Midwest)
3) Dallas (58-24)
4) Seattle (52-30) (they would not be seeded third as awarded, but fourth)
5) Houston (51-31)
6) Sacramento (50-32)
7) Denver (49-33)
8) Memphis (45-37)
With these seeds, here’s how the first round match-ups would have shaken out:
Phoenix – Memphis (same as what occurred this year)
San Antonio – Denver (same)
Dallas – Sacramento (different)
Seattle – Houston (different)
So as you can see, Dallas would have faced Sacramento, and if Dallas had lost their first round series against Houston, you can sure bet Mark Cuban and Maverick fans would be saying the way playoff seeds are awarded these days is screwy. I’m sure they would have wanted to face Sacramento instead of Houston.
And of course, Houston would have faced Seattle instead of Dallas. Seattle is good, but they aren’t that good, and the Rockets would probably be playing Phoenix in the second round right now (another team they could have beaten).
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.
Finally it’s over! May the Rockets’ 2005-06 season rest in peace. In a microcosm of their season, the Rockets had a chance to win Wedneday night against the World Champion San Antonio Spurs, but Rafer Alston missed two free throws with 7 seconds remaining that could have won it, and that was basically the ballgame. Rockets lose 89-87.
Like many Rocket fans, I’m glad Rafer missed those free throws to give them a better chance at a higher draft lottery pick, although I still don’t think he’s the long-term answer at point guard (another abysmal 6-for-16 shooting night).
And the on-again off-again Juwan Howard scored 8 points on 3-of-11 shooting after scoring 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting in the Rockets’ last game against Denver. How come that continues to happen? Keith Bogans, who had such a great game in Denver with some clutch plays down the stretch, shot only 1-of-5 from the field for two points in 21 minutes. And David Wesley only made 3-of-11 shots for 10 points.
On the bright side, unlike Rafer who will be thinking about those missed free throws all summer, those Rockets who can go into the off-season feeling good about themselves are the following:
So who do I see sticking with the Rockets next season? Here are my initial thoughts:
Will definitely be around:
Yao
T-Mac
Will probably stick:
Stromile Swift
Juwan Howard
Chuck Hayes – finished strong and could be the hustle guy that Van Gundy always loves to have around
On the bubble:
Bob Sura – hope his back shows improvement during the off-season. When he’s playing, he’s as tough as they get
Rafer Alston – if the Rockets can find another free agent point guard this off-season, trade him
Keith Bogans – inconsistent, but played well in spurts. Could be a good backup to T-Mac.
Richie Frahm – showed he can hit the three, which the Rockets really need
Ryan Bowen – can Van Gundy afford to keep a defensive specialist on the roster who can’t score?
Dikembe Mutombo – serviceable, but if the Rockets find a more athletic backup who can score…
Gone:
David Wesley – really toughed it out this year and tried very hard, but he’s past his prime. Thanks for all your heart over the past couple of years, D-dub.
Maciej Lampe – couldn’t get any playing time, even when the Rockets were bad. That must tell you something.
Rick Brunson – see directly above
Now with the season over, I’m going to continue tracking Yao’s recovery from foot surgery as well as discuss some of the Rockets’ moves this off-season that will help improve them from having tied for the worst home record in the league this season at 15-26.
To see the boxscore from the game, click here.
To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.
Late in the fourth quarter Monday night with the Rockets down 81-68 with 4:22 remaining, they were right on schedule toward losing their 48th game of the season and improving their chances for a higher pick in the NBA draft. But then they had to go on one of their most amazing scoring runs of the season without Yao or T-Mac, outscoring Denver 18-2 the rest of the way and shocking the Nuggets at home 86-83.
Unbelievable. Give big time credit to Keith Bogans, who was involved in three consecutive huge plays down the stretch.
Down 83-78 with 1:29 remaining, Bogans stole a long pass and took it to the hole on a sweet crossover move for a layup to make it 83-80, Denver. On the very next Rockets possession with about 22 seconds remaining, Bogans again drove it to the basket along the right baseline, drew the defense to him, then kicked it out to Juwan Howard who nailed an open jumper to make it 83-82 with 19.3 seconds left in the game.
Then on a play that reminded me of the ending of the UCLA-Gonzaga game a few weeks ago, the Nuggets inbounded the ball to Howard Eisley, who was double-teamed immediately by Bogans and Chuck Hayes. Bogans was able to knock the ball away from Eisley without fouling him, and Hayes was there to pick up the loose ball, dribble two times toward the basket and slam it through for an 84-83 lead with 13.4 seconds remaining! And Houston was able to hold on for the shocking upset!
Here’s a story from today’s Houston Chronicle that talks about how some Chinese are upset at the Rockets for Yao’s injured foot, which could knock him out of participating in the World Championships this summer. How can anyone be mad at the Rockets? I think Jeff Van Gundy makes it clear that it’s Yao’s decision if he wants to go for it and try to train this summer for the championships.
Van Gundy’s dry wit also came out in this article with this classic statement: “I just want Yao to recover when he can and become an even better basketball player. I’ve got enough problems already without being a vicious capitalist pig.”
Through this article in today’s Houston Chronicle, we get to know a little bit more about Daryl Morey, the soon-to-be GM who will be taking over Carroll Dawson‘s duties after next season. Personally, I think it’s a great, gutsy move by owner Les Alexander to bring in different perspectives the Rockets (nor many teams) have never had before.
To learn more about Morey’s background, I found this write-up of him on the MIT Sloan MBA web site.