Are the Los Angeles Clippers ready?

Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups are the main key for the Los Angeles Clippers but are they ready to play for the next season? CP3 with right thumb injury, Blake Griffin is now fully recovered from left knee surgery and Chauncey Billups isn't ready yet to play because he is recovering from left achilles tendon surgery. 

The Clippers play their first preseason game on Oct. 6 against Denver in Las Vegas. They Leave six days later for a trip to China where they'll play two games against the defending NBA Champion Miami Heat.

Media day at the Clippers' practice facility was more crowded than it;s been in years, the result of the team's flurry of offseason moves that brought in a veteran group to bolster the bench. With The new additions include Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Grant Hill, Ryan Hollins, and Ronny Turiaf. Odom, Barnes and Turiaf are former Lakers and also they won championship with the Lakers and Turiaf on the Heat last season.

For Odom, returning to the team that drafted him in 1999 is "a little out of body. It's a little surreal." He spent four seasons with the Clippers before being traded to Miami and then joining the Lakers for two NBA Championships. He is coming off a disastrous last season with Dallas Mavericks, where he was abruptly traded by the Lakers. He was unhappy playing 50 games with the Mavs before the team gave up on him in March.

Odom said he's in a "happy place" mentally and excited about joining a Clippers team on the verge of contending for its first championship after years of languishing in the NBA's basement.

"This team is built to compete against the best teams in the NBA," he said. "That should be our goal to start. Then let's learn about our strengths and weaknesses."

NBA Season 2012 - 2013 kicks off on October 30, 2012.