NBA - Expectations soar in land of Clippers

LOS ANGELES (NBA) - If LeBron James and Chris Bosh made a huge splash when joining Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat before the 2010-11 NBA campaign, New Orleans' recent trade of Chris Paul has created a tidal wave of interest in his new team, the Los Angeles Clippers.

An outfit that already had NBA dunking champion Blake Griffin, the Clippers paid a steep price to get Paul on December 15.

They shipped Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and a first-round draft choice to the Hornets.

The Clippers have indeed become a very different team since the official end of the NBA lockout on December 8, when outfits were allowed to start making trades and signing free agents.

Paul's arrival means one thing for Clippers coach Vinnie Del Negro, who led the Clippers to 32 wins in their 82 games last season.

He is under pressure to deliver big style.

"The pressure is more exciting to me than not having it because it means people think we're relevant," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "I take the pressure as a positive."

Expectations are soaring in the land of the Clippers ahead of their regular-season opener on Sunday against Golden State and not just because of Paul and Griffin.

The team has added Chauncey Billups, whom Paul has called his "big brother", and has DeAndre Jordan, Caron Butler and Mo Williams.

Had Paul moved to the Lakers, as it appeared he would when the Hornets originally traded him to the Clippers' rivals, the NBA landscape would look different going into Sunday's play.

In that deal, the Lakers' Pau Gasol of Spain would have moved to the Rockets and Lamar Odom to New Orleans.

Houston also would have sent Argentina's Luis Scola and Slovenia's Goran Dragic to the Hornets but the NBA, who own New Orleans, ultimately nixed the trade.

Gasol stayed with the Lakers and both Scola and Dragic remained in Houston.

Dismayed by the Lakers' decision to trade him, though, Odom, one of the United States' top players in their gold-medal winning team of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, wanted out of Los Angeles.

The Lakers dealt Odom to the defending champions Dallas Mavericks.

Rudy's Move

One of the players Mavs fans had expected to see was Rudy Fernandez of Spain, after the club worked a trade with Portland during the NBA Draft.

But Fernandez, who played for Real Madrid during the NBA lockout, decided he'd be better off elsewhere so Dallas traded the shooting guard to Denver.

Also gone from Dallas are two players that were pivotal in last season's title-winning campaign with Tyson Chandler moving to the New York Knicks and Puerto Rico international Jose Barea joining Minnesota as a free agent.

Barea, who will play for Puerto Rico in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela next summer, moved to the Timberwolves after signing a four-year deal worth a reported $19million.

He will play alongside Ricky Rubio in the T-Wolves backcourt.

Rubio, whose passing skills have led to comparisons with the great 'Pistol' Pete Maravich, is making his debut in the NBA after spending the last two years with Barcelona.

A Spanish national team guard, Rubio only turned 21 in October.

Denver look to have a very exciting team.

They made sure their center, Nene of Brazil, remained with the side signing the 29-year-old to a new contract.

"He's one of your best players (on a team that has) won 50 games four years in a row," Nuggets coach George Karl said.

"In today's game, you can't give those guys up. Because of trades and circumstances, he's probably become our best player - our most-talented and skilled player."

It remains to be seen if Nene will compete for Brazil at the London Olympics since he hasn't featured for the team since the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship.

Grizz keep Marc Gasol

Pau Gasol's younger brother, Marc, decided to remain in Memphis with the Grizzlies signing the 26-year-old to a four-year contract worth $57.7million.

Marc Gasol has made giant strides since become a member of Spain's national team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, where he helped his country capture the gold medal.

Last season, he was crucial as the Grizzlies reached the Western Conference Play-offs and upset top seeds San Antonio in the first round.

"We really want to get to the next level," Gasol said.

"To get to the next step, we're going to have to work a lot harder than we did last year. It takes a lot.

"It's going to take a team effort from everybody, from the players, organization and fans - everyone has to push in the same direction - to get to the level we want to be at.

"We need to be together. That's the most important thing."

The New York Knicks have been busy since the end of the lockout and one of their decisions was to send France center Ronny Turiaf to the Washington Wizards in the three-team deal that brought them Chandler.

Turiaf, who missed the EuroBasket with a hand injury but should be in the French Olympic squad, will team up with compatriot Kevin Seraphin.

The Milwaukee Bucks re-signed free agent Luc Richard Mbah a Moute of Cameroon to a multiyear contract and Ime Udoka, a veteran guard who played for Nigeria at the Afrobasket in Madagascar, has joined the New Jersey Nets.

Philadelphia will give a debut to their promising first-round draft pick of Montenegro, Nikola Vucevic.

FIBA