Yao Could Return to Rockets This Season

Yao was supposed to miss next season with his umpteenth stress fracture. Yao could go the way of Bill Walton, the player everyone dreamed he might become—minus the part where the career's cut short. Not so fast, says GM Daryl Morey. We might see Yao in action as soon as spring 2010. From an interview with ESPN.com: "Yao Ming is progressing well. I don't think that [a career-ending scenario] is something that will happen, based on what I'm hearing from the doctors," Morey told Alipour. "They do know that the bone will heal and he'll get back on it. And they have not actually ruled out [his return] this season. I think that's less likely than likely, but they haven't ruled it out. "And next season, the outlook is very good. He just took off the cast for a short period [two weeks ago], so the doctors could examine it, and everything is going well. Everything is on track." Bear in mind, this is the same Daryl Morey who just rec...