Yao Ming, president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), had his 39th birthday on Thursday, the third birthday since he took over as the country's basketball boss. Compared with the previous two, this one was nothing but bitter.

September 12, 2017: Everybody had high expectations for Yao

In February, Yao presented a series of CBA reforms. These new policies included making plans for increasing the number of professional referees and requiring that players and coaches must take interviews during the finals to improve the image of the league.

In May, Yao decided to divide the Chinese national team into two, Team Red and Team Blue, so more young talents can join and core players will have more time to rest. Abudushalamu Abudurexiti, Fang Shuo and Sun Minghui made their first appearances in the national team via this opportunity. Besides, the CBA overhauled the past recruiting mode with an inviting mode for the national team to show more respect for players.

In June, the amount of games in the CBA increased, added limits to the use of foreign players and opened for the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers.

On September 12, 2017, people saw Yao's efforts and will to change Chinese basketball. Many believed that he could make it.

September 12, 2018: Yao and Chinese basketball tasted success

In June, the CBA divided the 20 teams into four divisions and extended the season to help the games grow more intense while making sure that players won’t get tired.

In July, Yao implemented important reforms in the contract signing process. Five classifications were made for domestic players with clear standards for contract length, salaries, guaranteed number and team priority to ensure that the interest of both players and teams will be protected, and teams were allowed to trade draft picks.

In August, the CBA presented reforms on the signing of foreign players. Teams could only sign a one-year deal with new foreign player from the new season but they were also given more chances of changing foreign players.

In September, China pocketed all four basketball gold medals in the Asian Games. In the men's 5 vs. 5 final, Team Red defeated China's long-time foe Iran in a great comeback game. When Yao sat on the floor to take a group photo with Chinese players, he looked like a happy child, just like most Chinese basketball fans.

On September 12, 2018, more Chinese fans believed that Chinese basketball development was on the right track under Yao's leadership.

September 12, 2019: The biggest setback of Yao's presidency

In May, nine CBA teams had their logos changed and multiple teams had new names as part of the league's "Image Improvement 2.0." The league also hired former senior vice president and chief marketing officer of NBA China, Wang Dawei, to be the first CEO of the league.

Meanwhile, the CBA made clearer rules about the contract issues of Chinese players who join overseas teams to make sure that the interest of players' former teams would be protected.

In September, China were knocked in the group stage in the FIBA Basketball World Cup at home and failed to claim early qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics. When asked who should be responsible for the losses, Yao replied: "I am."

On September 12, 2019, for the first time, Chinese fans had doubts about Yao's reforms and policies.

Though they had reason to do so, the truth is Yao is doing everything to make Chinese basketball better and he is on the right path. If it weren't for him, China would have suffered this pain way earlier.

After the team's failure in the World Cup, Yao said: "I won't stop the reforms, we cannot give up, we have to move forward. We already know what basketball looks like in the rest of the world and we need to take the best as our model example." Yao has faith in his work and so should everyone else as he has greatly helped Chinese basketball get closer to true success.