--C Yao Ming has agreed to back off from some of his workout regimen in the preseason and between games to try to stay fresher throughout the season and perhaps avoid injury.

Yao has been hesitant to take any time off through much of his career but said he would be more prudent this season and did take a day off during the first week of training camp.

"My goal is to play 82 games and then the playoffs," Yao said. "I need myself fresh in April, March and April, and hopefully more, May and June.

"It (cutting back on his workload) is a new experience for me. Before, I didn't need to think about it. I just worked harder and worked hard, got more experience, got more skills and training and used them in the game. Right now, I need more balance. 'Should I go now or should I stop?'"

--F Tracy McGrady said he would need most of the preseason to get his right knee back in shape and would play the season with an arthritic left shoulder that will need surgery after the season.

He was limited in the first few days of the training camp practices but began to come around by the third practice and went full speed through the entire practice on the fourth day.

"I feel pretty good," McGrady said. "I'm not ready to play, but as far as getting up and down the court, I can do that. My lateral movement is a little difficult right now and jumping is a little difficult, but I can get up and down the court.

"I can get out there and I can run. If I go out there and feel some aches and pains in my knee, I'm going to stop. I only know my body. But in talking to the doctor -- and I had an MRI done during our physicals -- he said I can't hurt anything. That's a good thing, but at the same time, I have to trust my body."

--G Steve Francis has been limited in practices while coming back from quadriceps surgery last February, working up to going full speed through half a practice on the training camp's fourth day. He said he was about three weeks from being able to take on the usual workload, but he already has progressed ahead of the schedule he expected.

"I don't want to take any chances until I'm cleared by my doctor," Francis said. "But mentally it helps to be out here. Last time I tried it, that's why I'm in the situation I'm in now. I tried to play injured, and it got worse. Hopefully with some rehab the next couple weeks, I'll be ready to go."

Francis is going to have to compete for a spot in the rotation, though that will not come until later in the preseason.

"It will have to happen eventually when I'm healthy, but I don't want to take that chance if I'm not healthy because I'll be in the same predicament that I was in last year," Francis said. "Anyone with an injury will tell you, if you come back too soon, that's when other things start to snowball and start to happen."

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I want a championship. I don't want just get out of the first round. I'd be selling myself short to get out of the first round and lose in the second. I'd still be disappointed. This is the first time I felt good going into the season feeling something really, really good is going to come out of this season if we all just put it together." -- Tracy McGrady

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