Quote:USA – Yao, Scola and Rockets ready for blast off





HOUSTON (NBA) – Hopes are sky high in Houston heading into Wednesday night’s season-opener against the Memphis Grizzlies that this could be the year the Rockets return to the top of the Western Conference.



Yao Ming of China is fit, Luis Scola of Argentina is coming off an excellent Olympics and summer signing Ron Artest adds toughness on defense.



But is this the year the Rockets win a power-packed Western Conference again?



“I know out there a lot of people say, 'The Rockets should contend in the West, should win in the West,’ ” Yao said in Wednesday’s Houston Chronicle.



“But a lot of teams got stronger. Other teams are not sitting there watching. Everybody wants a championship.



“You read those articles. They are positive, saying the Rockets should win and have a good team, whatever. I think a great team should always try to find something we have not done yet.”



Tracy McGrady is the team’s leading scorer and he knows pre-season predictions that the Rockets could win mean nothing.



“They put predictions on teams every year,” McGrady said. “We have to go out and prove it. We haven’t proven anything. It’s good to have people predict us to be in the Western Conference Finals and possibly even come out, but it doesn’t mean anything to us because we have to go out and make it happen.”



“I’m a little bit nervous,” Yao said. “Now we have extra pressure. I know if you want to play big you have to handle those pressures, but I’m not used to saying anything before I start playing. That’s how I am. This team has always been stronger and stronger every year. This is obviously another year we added another couple good players with us. We just need to make something happen. All right, this is the time.”



Texas rivals San Antonio, meanwhile, are preparing for battle without their Argentina superstar Manu Ginobili.



The South American is still recovering from ankle surgery.



He said on Argentina’s basketball federation website: "The ankle continues to improve day by day and I'm overcoming the adversities.



“I have already started to take some shots making specific movement. I also work in the arena, I run on the court and keep up my gym work. Everything is very controlled and I'm not exceeding myself.



"I feel little pain and my right ankle is not swelling. In other words, everything is going according to plan.



"Regarding my return to play, I hope it will be at the end of November or in the first days of December but that will depend on what coach (Gregg) Popovich decides. I may feel well by then but he may not want me to take a risk."

Quote:Clippers Acquire Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins From Knicks



Clippers Send Veteran Forward Tim Thomas and Guard Cuttino Mobley To New York





The Los Angeles Clippers acquired forward Zach Randolph and guard Mardy Collins from the New York Knicks today in exchange for forward Tim Thomas and guard Cuttino Mobley Clippers General Manager and head coach Mike Dunleavy announced today.

“In an attempt to make our team more competitive, we are excited about the acquisition of Zach Randolph,” Dunleavy said. “He is a 27-year old highly-skilled scorer and rebounder. Getting a player like Zach cost us two highly skilled veterans in Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas, but we feel that the move will help us both now and in the future. We wish nothing but the best of success for Cuttino and Tim with their new team.”



The six-foot-nine Randolph is known as one of the NBA’s most effective young post players, bringing a career 16.4 points per game scoring average and 8.2 rebounds in 467 career games to the Clippers. Randolph is a career 46 percent shooter from the field and averaged 17.6 points, a team-leading 10.3 rebounds in 69 games for the Knicks in 2007-08 while finishing 10th in the NBA with 40 double-doubles. Randolph is averaging 20.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the first 11 games of the 2008-09 season.



The Michigan State product was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers in the first round (19th overall pick) of the 2001 NBA Draft. Randolph, 27, played six seasons in Portland, enjoying a break-out year in 2003-04 when he averaged 20.1 points and 10.5 rebounds for the Trailblazer en route to being named the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year. Randolph joined the Knicks prior to the 2007-08 season in a trade.



In his third pro season, the six-foot-six Collins is averaging 2.2 points and 1.7 assists in nine games this season. A former standout at Temple University, Collins was drafted by New York with the 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft. Collins has appeared in 107 career NBA games, with career averages of 3.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.



Cuttino Mobley joined the Clippers as a free agent on August 4, 2005 and was a key member of the club’s run to the 2005-06 Western Conference Semifinals, averaging 14.9 points that season and 13.3 points in 12 playoff games. A 10-year NBA veteran, Mobley is the Clippers third-leading scorer this season, averaging 13.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 2008-09.



Tim Thomas signed with the Clippers as a free agent on July 13, 2006, and the 11-year pro has been a fixture in the frontcourt ever since, averaging 10.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 149 games in his time in Los Angeles.



With this transaction, the Clippers roster now stands at a total of 14 players, with three players (Chris Kaman, Al Thornton, Paul Davis) remaining from the team that finished the 2007-08 season.