Novak, their second-round pick in 2006, had not been able to win a place in the rotation and was pushed further from their plans by the trade for Luis Scola, the emergence of Carl Landry and the draft of Joey Dorsey.

With Novak even further removed from the rotation and the Rockets roster at 16 players, they dealt Novak to the Clippers for "future draft considerations," expected to be no more than the right to switch positions in a future second round.

Novak always offered hope with a phenomenal shooting touch but did not develop in other ways enough to get playing time. He averaged 2.7 points in 70 NBA games, making 44.1 percent of his shots and 42.7 percent of his 3-pointers.

--The Rockets' trade of Bobby Jackson to the Kings will open an opportunity for second-year guard Aaron Brooks.

Brooks used the summer league to hone his point guard skills, though the Rockets will not try to change him to a more traditional, playmaking point.

"I know he made comments he was going to try to dish the ball and find people and be more of an assist guy," Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner said. "We just want him to play basketball. If the guy is open, get it to him. If he's not open, score. Nobody really asked him to turn into an assist man only. We still want to see improvement in defense and other areas."

Brooks, however, said he thought the plan to be more of a distributor worked.

"I had more assists, fewer turnovers," Brooks said. "Didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but that will come. I shot less, but I was attacking more (Sunday). This was a great experience to show me I can go out there and be a solid point guard."

It worked enough for the Rockets to go into training camp hoping that their options at point guard behind Rafer Alston will be enough.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "He's outrageous. He's happy, he's jumping, he's fantastic right now. He is happy as he can be to be put in a situation to compete for a championship. He's ecstatic." -- Mark Stevens, Ron Artest's representative