Clippers Basketball | Love The Game

[SuperNova854]

Yo macken I dont have it

[SuperNova854]

Blake Griffin gives the Clippers hope



Membership in the NBA draft lottery, seemingly semi-permanent for the Clippers, ended up having its benefits.

It took a nightmare of a 19-win season to get to this place, the eve of the eagerly awaited debut of No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin in training camp.

But all things Griffin hardly will be the only compelling story line in what surely will be another eventful season. They are, after all, the Clippers:

1. The Curse of Jenny Craig?

Baron Davis showed up last season and said all the right things. But he couldn't do the right thing because he simply wasn't in shape. Is he this time? Best to watch him, not listen to him, to get that answer.

2. Culture shift

Suddenly the team with a whiff of Raiders-like rebellion is looking remarkably old-school with the youngsters (Griffin, Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan) leading the way in workouts in the gym and on the court getting ready for training camp at Playa Vista.

3. Shot clock on Mike Dunleavy

Call him Coach Under Scrutiny. It was always going to be that way with questions being raised when the position of general manager, at least officially, was added to his job title last year. Perhaps the best move Dunleavy made was his most recent one: adding the highly respected John Lucas to his coaching staff, a man who might well replace him as coach should the Clippers stumble.

4. Blake Griffin

Do you put the kid in the starting lineup immediately? Griffin might make that an extremely easy answer, and it's not going out on a limb to say he'll get there even faster than Gordon did as a rookie.

5. Cambyman's future

Call Marcus Camby a multi-pronged asset, a reliable rebounding machine and the holder of an attractive expiring contract. He had a courtside view of the team's future at the Summer League in Las Vegas, but should the Clippers falter early, his future probably will be elsewhere.

Projected starters

* G -- Baron Davis: Out of shape, injury-riddled and unhappy last season. Nice hat trick. The most culpable of Clippers, which is saying something.

* G -- Eric Gordon: Never truly slammed into the rookie wall, an admirable accomplishment in a season of Clippers discontent.

* F -- Al Thornton: Proof Thornton is truly getting serious will be if you don't see the McDonald's bag by his gear before games.

* F -- Marcus Camby: His expiring contract means the trade rumors won't take long in coming off the bench.

* C -- Chris Kaman: Dirk Nowitzki stayed home, and so did Kaman. Germany's loss in the European championship this summer may be the Clippers' gain this season.

Projected bench contributors

* Blake Griffin: Bench, you say. Let's just say the No. 1 overall pick is listed here for the purpose of this article. His minutes will be many.

* Rasual Butler: Headline writers applauding gift: The Butler did it. Good outside shooter arrived here in August via the New Orleans Hornets' effort to shed salary.

* Sebastian Telfair: At 24, this is his fourth NBA team, following turns in Portland, Boston and Minnesota. Still plenty of minutes to go around as backup to the oft-injured Davis.

* Craig Smith: Pleasant byproduct of the chain of events set in motion by moving Zach Randolph and his big contract to Memphis for Quentin Richardson. The Clippers then flipped Richardson to Minnesota for Telfair, Smith and Mark Madsen (since waived).

* DeAndre Jordan: Big 12 peer pressure comes to Playa Vista. Griffin and his prodigious work ethic can only help show the way for the raw Jordan.

* The Rest: Steve Novak, Mardy Collins, Brian Skinner, Ricky Davis. Also invited to camp are free agents Kareem Rush, Taj Gray, Anthony Roberson and Jerel McNeal.

[SuperNova854]

Clippers 2k10 First-Look Ratings

[mike3]

yeh al thornton seems a bit low, Clippers lineup looks good

[SuperNova854]

Clippers' Griffin Doesn't Believe In Curse, Will Come Off Bench



LOS ANGELES -- Blake Griffin has battled Los Angeles' famous traffic. He's played Good Samaritan for a woman in a stalled car. He's been photographed by paparazzi.

Now if only he could get around to the real reason he came to town -- helping the Los Angeles Clippers become a playoff team.

"It's been a long time waiting for this," he said Monday. "I'm ready to get going."

The No. 1 pick in the NBA draft joined his teammates at Staples Center for media day, which began with a glitch. Power within several blocks of the arena went out, cutting the lights shortly before the players took the court. Backup power eventually kicked in, allowing a small group of fans to meet and greet Griffin.

He comes to a team that has had two winning seasons in the last 30 years -- they were 19-63 last season amid a slew of injuries -- and just one playoff appearance since 1997.

Still, Griffin doesn't believe in a so-called Clippers Curse.

"I did some research on my own and there's not enough evidence for me to believe," he said, smiling.

The Clippers have focused their marketing campaign around Griffin, including a full-page color ad in the Los Angeles Times.

"I don't feel like a lot of individual pressure to go out and do this or that," he said. "We have guys that can do all this stuff. I just need to come in and contribute."

But coach Mike Dunleavy said Griffin will open training camp on the bench, with last season's starters -- Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton and Chris Kaman -- retaining their spots.

"If I have to come off the bench, I'm perfectly happy with that," said Griffin, who hasn't been in that position since getting hurt his freshman year at Oklahoma.

He was the consensus college player of the year after leading the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game while averaging 22.7 points last season for the Sooners.

The rookie forward strained his right shoulder during a summer league game in July, but Griffin said it was back to normal in less than a month though the Clippers kept him sidelined longer as a precaution.

Dunleavy liked what he saw from Griffin, who averaged 19.2 points and 10.8 rebounds in summer league play.

"He came in defensively and I don't think he missed a rotation, knew exactly where he's supposed to be and was there and was on time," the coach and general manager said. "For a rookie that really impressed me."

Griffin has amassed some LA stories since arriving the day after the draft.

"The one thing I don't like is the traffic. In Oklahoma, I'm used to getting somewhere," he said. "Here it's like, 'What time is it? I wonder if there's any wrecks?'"

Griffin was returning from lunch on foot with teammate DeAndre Jordan and as they waited to cross the street a woman's car stalled in the intersection.

"He was like, 'Hey, let's take a picture' and I was like, 'We're not going to go help?'" Griffin said. "So we pushed the car over to the side."

The woman, who had a young child in the car, didn't recognize the players. Jordan got his picture and promptly posted it on Twitter.

Dunleavy laid down the team's rules on the social networking site that Griffin, Davis, Jordan and newcomer Rasual Butler are especially active on.

"The minute you step on our property, there's no Twittering," he said. "Once you get into the stadium, there's no Twittering. Same thing with practice. If you're worried about sending messages to people who are not part of your success and what you're trying to do, it doesn't really make sense to me."

During the summer, Griffin hung out with Los Angeles Dodgers star Matt Kemp, a fellow Oklahoman, and when he, Davis and Camby were out on the town they turned up in the same club as Lakers star Lamar Odom.

Another time Griffin was eating at a Japanese restaurant when he noticed he was being photographed through the window.

"Somebody called me the next day and said, 'You were on TMZ,'" he said. "It's different."

Mostly though, Griffin's days begin at 7 a.m. with a five-hour workout, followed by lunch with Jordan ("People might wonder about that," he joked), running errands, dinner, shooting for two hours in the evening and then bed, often by 9:30 p.m.

"Kind of a loser when you think about it," he said, smiling.

As long as he helps the Clippers avoid another losing season.

[SuperNova854]

update right now

[SuperNova854]

Ralph Lawler - Monday, September 28, 2009 @ 4:37 pm

A big turnout Monday for the Clippers' 2009-10 Media Day at STAPLES Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The 18 players went through the obligatory picture taking, autograph signing and media schmoozing between 12 noon and about 3:00 pm. Local TV trucks were lined up outside the building and mic-toting reporters were everywhere.

Much of the attention, of course was centered on Blake Griffin, the college player of the year from Oklahoma who the Clippers tabbed as the first player chosen in the June NBA Draft. The personable 20-year-old rookie says he "Loves L.A." He noted that it was a "little bit bigger than Oklahoma City." I added, it’s a little bit bigger than Oklahoma!

Other tidbits: Coach Mike Dunleavy expressed pleasure at the players' overall level of conditioning. He really thinks that a healthy Clippers team can be in the playoff mix. The believes at least two of the eight spots in the West will be up for grabs this season.

New Assistant coach John Lucas is thrilled to be back in the league. He is especially high on what he’s seen of veteran point guard Baron Davis and 7-foot center Chris Kaman. Both Dunleavy and Lucas feel they can better utilize Baron’s enormous talent.

Davis himself looked more fit than he was at anytime last season. He claims total focus on the task at hand which is an absolute reversal of last season’s disaster.

Kaman has been in town for two months getting ready to rebound from last year, a season in which he missed 48-games because of injury. Chris is so happy to have access to the team’s new training center where he’s been scrimmaging 5-on-5 for the past two weeks. He says incoming power forward Craig Smith has been sensational in these scrimmages. Kaman thinks Smith and sweet shooting Rasual Butler were key off-season acquisitions.

I had brief "hellos" with returnees DeAndre Jordan, Marcus Camby, Al Thornton and Steve Novak. All are almost giddy in their excitement about the coming season.

Oh, and Craig Smith, who grew up in L.A., reminded me that he’s been listening to me since he was a little kid. Oh well, aside from that, it was a darn nice day.

Camp opens in Playa Vista with two-a-days on Tuesday. Things are looking good.

[SuperNova854]

Ralph Lawler - Tuesday, September 29, 2009 @ 1:15 pm

The Clippers 2009 Training camp opened Tuesday morning at their training center in Playa Vista.

17 players went through a series of conditioning and basketball drills under the watchful eyes of Head Coach and General Manager Mike Dunleavy and his staff. All things were good except for the fact that rookie gem Blake Griffin was sidelined with a minor knee bruise suffered in a pick-up game last week. He is listed as "day-to-day." Griffin spent his time on an elliptical machine and then went through some strenuous stretching exercises displaying truly extraordinary flexibility for a man his size.

Dunleavy seemed pleased with the opening session as he saw a better level of conditioning than he’d witnessed at camp a year earlier. He cited center Chris Kaman and shooting guard Eric Gordon as players who came to camp in top-notch shape.

There was a "buzz" among the players over the inspirational talk given them by veteran point guard Baron Davis at the camp’s tip-off dinner a night earlier. Baron really put it all on the line in promising a renewed commitment to winning. If Davis plays close to the top-15 NBA talent he possesses, there’s no telling how good this Clippers team could be. He knows there is a lot of weight on his shoulders and he seems fully ready to accept it.

It was clear on opening day that there are some shooters on this roster. Rasual Butler, Eric Gordon, Kareem Rush, Anthony Roberson and Steve Novak were knocking down shot after shot all morning long.

It’s good to be undefeated and full of hope. That’s what the opening of camp is all about. The guys will be back in the gym at 6:00 pm.

[SuperNova854]

Ralph Lawler - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 @ 3:19 pm

An uneventful day two at the Clippers' training camp. Young camp hopeful Taj Gray sat out the morning session. He was stationed on the sidelines next to fellow former Oklahoma star Blake Griffin, who is recovering from a bruised knee. Gray was sitting out with a sore right knee. Neither injury is serious.

Now you understand why they added four players to the team’s 14-man roster last week. Head Coach and General Manager Mike Dunleavy was still able to field three full five-man teams in spirited end-to-end action.

In a reversal from past years, the contact work is done in the longer morning session with the evening part of the two-a-days limited to non-contact work and largely to the repeating and repeating of the pages in the team’s play book. That work is done 5-on-0.

You certainly note the presence of new assistant coach John Lucas. The highly respected three-time NBA head coach fills the gym with his energy and enthusiasm. He and Tony Brown appear to be excellent additions to the Dunleavy staff that includes returnees Kim Hughes and Fred Vinson.

Add another player who has been making shots early on – Ricky Davis has been red hot in both half court and full court drills. He could be a bit of an X-factor this season. He’s a versatile wing player who has averaged as many as 20-points a game in a season during his 11-year NBA career. He seems to have his legs beneath him again this year and a resilient season from him would give the coach an unexpected added lethal weapon off a potentially very deep bench. Keep an eye on Ricky Davis, who is coming off the worst season of his career. He battled knee problems from start to finish last year and says he feels better now than he has in a long, long time.

Round two of the two-a-day regime begins at 6:00 pm.

[SuperNova854]

Hopefully Ricky Davis can do good this year

[SuperNova854]

Ralph Lawler - Thursday, October 1, 2009 @ 12:53 pm

Coach Mike Dunleavy sent his squad through a series of energetic scrimmages today at the team’s Playa Vista Training Center. It marked the first formal scrimmages during the team’s training camp, which opened Tuesday.

Kareem Rush knocked down a buzzer-beater to lead the white team to a come-from-behind victory in the first eight minute game. DeAndre Jordan dominated the boards throughout the three scrimmages where-in the blue team won two of three.

Among the stand-outs: inside play by Craig Smith, out-side shooting by Ricky Davis, Rasual Butler and Steve Novak and active scoring from Al Thornton.

The downside, back-up point guard Sebastian Telfair suffered a left ankle sprain minutes into the morning drills.

Telfair sprained his left Ankle early in Thursday AM practice. He spent the rest of the morning getting treatment. It is not believed to be serious as he is listed as day-to-day.

The guys lace ‘em up again this evening.

[mike3]

Articles are looking great, i agree, hopefully Ricky can improve this season

[SuperNova854]

Yea by the sounds of it Ricky has been trying real hard this year. I'm looking at doing a 3 man rotation at the starting SF spot this year. Between Thornton, Butler, and Davis.

[mfbmike]

rofl, just made me remember Ricky Davis going down for my entire season in Pacers chise with a torn ACL.

[SuperNova854]

Lulz, 2k9 ftl