The main knocks on the first three years of Yao Ming's otherwise good NBA career have been his so-called "slow progress," periods of passive play, and lack of stamina. The China Basketball Association (CBA) -- with its stubborn insistence on scheduling Yao and the rest of the Chinese men's national basketball team in seemingly every single summer basketball tournament on earth, year after year -- bears most of the blame.

NBA players usually make the biggest progress during the off-season, as the 82-game, six-month regular season prevents them from single-mindedly working on their conditioning and individual skills. Unfortunately, Yao's contractual commitments to the national team often leave him with a very short off-season.

How important is this? Check out the stats of the Phoenix Sun's Amare Stoudemire, who entered the league at the same time as Yao. His points-per-game (ppg) average has risen from 13.5 in his first year to 26.0 in his third year, compared to Yao's 13.5-to-18.3 ppg rise. Yao has expressed desire for a Stoudemire-like jump. I believe he can achieve this, but only if the CBA stop cramping his room for development.

Sure, many other NBA players also play competitive basketball during the break. In the United States there are many summer basketball leagues in which NBA players participate. But few if any have to play in as many off-season international games as Yao.

In fact, shortly after the Rockets' season ended this year, Yao excitedly expressed hope for a summer of rest. Then like Dikembe Mutombo, the CBA quickly blocked that hope, citing his national team obligations. Fortunately, surgery limited him to only a few warm-up games and the Asian Basketball Championship; as a bonus, the coach further limited Yao's playing time.

Ironically, Yao's best break was that surgery, which gave him much needed albeit short rest from nearly three years of non-stop competitive basketball. Yao took advantage of this time off to work more on his game. He has added more upper-body strength, which should help him to finish plays much stronger like Shaquille O'Neil and snag rebounds like Kevin Garnett.

At the same time, the rest should give Yao more stamina and energy for this season. Consequently, both his minutes and his production will rise to an Allen Iverson-type level. The better conditioning will also manifest itself in Yao playing both more aggressively for longer periods and better in-your-face defense, aka Ben Wallace style.

I expect Yao to become a monster on the basketball court in this upcoming NBA season. Barring injury, he should elevate his game to a new level, and help lead the Rockets to the second round and maybe even the semifinals in the postseason.

In the meantime, the CBA needs to review its objectives. For China to reach its goal of medalling in basketball at the 2008 Olympics, it needs to undergo a mental makeover.

For starters, give Yao all of next summer off. Forget about the Asian Championships; the national team's 98-10 victory over Saudi Arabia in September means that China could have probably won the entire tournament without Yao. Besides, how significant is a title when your opponents play like high school freshmen?

If Yao gets the summer off, the benefits gained from the rest will turn him into an all-dominating center whose good free throw percentage and short jumper could vault him over Shaq as the world's premiere big man.

The CBA can also enhance the level of other Chinese players by allowing more of them to play in top leagues overseas, at least till the Olympics. A couple of years of competing against top players across the world may make them NBA-caliber by the time 2008 arrives.

Another option is for the CBA to lift its limit on the number of foreign players per team, at least until 2008. Such a cap limits the competition, which in turn stagnates Chinese basketball players' development, since they don't have to work as hard to earn minutes. What's wrong with an "elevate your game or warm the bench" philosophy?

So there are two scenarios.

One, at the 2008 Olympics, the national team, led by a dominating Yao and his efficient and fundamentally sound NBA-caliber teammates, leads China to the bronze medal, or, if Larry Brown coaches the USA Dream Team again, maybe even a silver or gold medal. Read the headlines: Chinese Men's Basketball Team Crushes USA.

Or, the CBA can choose the old-school way over daring and controversial yet efficient methods. The national team, led by Yao, wins the 2006 and 2007 Asian Basketball Championships, along with a couple of obscure tournaments. Then in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, in front of 1.3 billion Chinese people, the team, led by a good but tired Yao Ming, duplicates or even falls short of its 2004 Athens result of making the final eight.

Write to Raymond McFarland at mcstephen23@hotmail.com