<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao Ming would have felt awful if his left big toe did not feel so good. At this point, perhaps that is the way the Rockets would prefer it. He can rebuild his conditioning, but first he needed to bring his troublesome left big toe, now without the toenail that was removed a week ago, back on the court for Sunday's test drive. After his first practice since last week's procedure forced him to sit out the week, Yao said he felt no pain in the toe. But he said his conditioning fell off dramatically, changing the Rockets' focus to getting him back in shape. "I think one week off took almost everything away from me," Yao said. "I'm not in good shape now after a week not running. I have to do more work after the team practice to get back in game shape. My foot, I feel good." With that, Yao launched into an unsolicited testimonial for his basketball shoes. Sunday, he wore the model he wore throughout the offseason, as opposed to the tweaked version that had arrived last week. Though no one asked about the shoe, he said again that he believed it had not caused the problem, even if he did not know what did. "I was back in the shoes, the same shoes I used in the World games," Yao said. "I trained in the same shoes all summer long. Also the toe doctor told me it's not the shoes, it's something else. "We'll try to figure it out. He doesn't think it's a shoes problem, he told me. "I don't know (what caused the problem), but I feel good I can go back and play, no problem. The most important thing is I have no problem to go back and play now."</div> Link Good to see he's fully recovered, but Yao'd better get in good shape before the start of the season. A few preseason games should definitely help.
It's not going to be pleasing to see Yao taking a step back this season because of his drop in conditioning. The only way for Yao to get his conditioning better thought are through the preseason games, and it's only going to get better for him once he gets back out there.
