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lol clippers
Top NBA Draft pick is no savior for woeful Clippers
Blake Griffin, the top pick in last week's NBA Draft, visited the Los Angeles Clippers' workout facility and made it clear he will not produce immediate miracles for a long-time loser.
"I don't plan on being the savior," Griffin said on Monday.
The 20-year-old US college player of the year from Oklahoma averaged 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds a game but joins a Clippers team that was formed in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves and has reached the playoffs only four times since moving to Los Angeles 25 years ago, their 2006 trip the only one since 1997.
Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy has no qualms about putting Griffin on the court quickly in hopes of producing only the second winning season since 1992.
"He'll be on a long leash," Dunleavy said. "I'm not afraid to play rookies."
Griffin is the third top pick for the Clippers, who saw 1988 No. 1 choice Danny Manning average 19.1 points a game over six injury-hampered seasons and 1998 No. 1 selection Michael Olowokandi average only 9.9 points a game in five seasons.
lol clippers
when was the last time a white player with the no.1 pick actually made a contribution?
fkn BUSTS
Poor Clippers-must really suck to be Clipper fans. Lol, Billy Crystal
Already saying he's not the savior LOL Already showing no leadership skills, and no confidence in his abilities. All I see is a guy thinking, omg how am I going to do it in this league, he's probably nervous as by now and feeling the pressure of the first pick. Oh well, letdowns are a staple for the Clippers.
That's really telling IMO. He's not a leader from the getgo.
It's unfair for us to expect a 20-yr old to enter that situation and immediately start telling older players what to do.
As far as leadership goes, Baron Davis and Marcus Camby are the ones that need to step up and hold their guys accountable
Now if only Baron would lead by example..
Blake Griffin is working on fitting in
Overall top selection in the NBA draft is not wasting time trying to impress new teammates, especially the veterans.
By Baxter Holmes
LA Times
Thirty minutes before the Clippers introduce their No. 1 overall draft pick, Blake Griffin is in workout garb. He trots to center court at the Clippers' training facility in Playa Vista, where second-year guard Mike Taylor is putting up shots, sweating like he's cutting grass in a Texas summer.
Griffin leans his 6-foot-10 frame down to the 6-2 Taylor, smiles, and offers a towel.
"Whatever you need, sir," Griffin says.
Fifteen minutes later, Griffin walks out, having exchanged his scrubby outfit for a light-gray vested suit (no purple; he learned his draft-night lesson), and checks in with Taylor, who's still sweating buckets.
"You good? Need anything?" he says.
Taylor laughs.
Oh, the humility.
So Griffin knows his role as a rookie (which, Eric Gordon says, will probably be daily deliveries of doughnuts, Starbucks, Gatorade and fresh towels -- along with whatever else the veterans decide) but knows he's not the savior for a punch-line team of perennial lottery pickers.
"I don't have to be a savior," he said Monday afternoon. "I don't have to be something I'm not. There are so many guys that can help me."
That's a different mind-set than the one he took to Oklahoma. The Sooners team he joined in 2007 was coming off a 16-15 season. Griffin had nearly doubled the win total by last season, leading the team to the Elite Eight.
Can he do the same in L.A.? Can he turn around the Clippers?
"That's definitely the goal," he says. "The goal is to come in here and try. We don't want to be complacent with where we're at.
"But I don't want to overstep my bounds."
He has other goals too. He wants the Clippers "to be in the playoffs" and hopes "to contribute, to be considered in the running for rookie of the year."
Griffin's contract negotiations with Clippers President Andy Roeser were to begin Monday, said his agent, Sam Goldfeder.
And then there's the NBA Summer League, which for the Clippers begins July 13 when they face the Lakers at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
For those games, Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said Griffin would be the starting power forward, and the goal would be to get him comfortable, but to let him develop at his own pace.
"He'll have a big leash," Dunleavy said. "Let him run. If he gets tired, we'll pull him back in."
During those games, rebounding will be the first priority, and Dunleavy wants Griffin to develop a pick-and-roll game, like the one he got from Elton Brand. After that, a mid-range jump shot and, eventually, a 15-foot-bank shot.
Dunleavy didn't aim low on comparisons.
"I feel like he's a cross between Charles Barkley and Tim Duncan," Dunleavy said. "He's bigger than Barkley, but he has the quick first step like Barkley, the explosion like Barkley, the big hands like Barkley. He's got the size, the demeanor of a Tim Duncan, the work ethic."
Work ethic, indeed. Griffin finally got to L.A. from New York late Friday, after missing a flight and being delayed on another.
The next morning at 9, Dunleavy and his staff got word that Griffin wanted to work out. So, at 10 a.m., Griffin was in the gym. Same thing Sunday, same thing Monday.
"This is my job now," Griffin said. "College, I had class, whatever. Now, it's a business, and that's the way I look at it."
lol griffin
lol clippers
Well, he's half black.
Anyway, I wouldn't confuse practicality and modesty with unwillingness to lead. He's a quiet guy. I think the Spurs have one of those leading their team.
Leave Griffin alone sons, he is going to be a fine player in this league. The Clippers will improve as crazy as that sounds, and I expect them to be a playoff team by the 2010-11 season.
already judging him after one quote?
Griffin is no whiter than Duncan.
This season will be one long cringe waiting for Griffin's inevitable ACL tear/Achilles tear/broken leg/amputation/gunshot wound/meteor impact.
"I feel like he's a cross between Charles Barkley and Tim Duncan," Dunleavy said. "He's bigger than Barkley, but he has the quick first step like Barkley, the explosion like Barkley, the big hands like Barkley. He's got the size, the demeanor of a Tim Duncan, the work ethic."
Um...yeah. lol
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