How many days you out?10, you?
Season.
Dang...
If you're the Clippers, a Clipper fan, or have even a little bit of pity for the Clippers, you seriously have to be saying, "You gotta be kidding me." Blake Griffin, who was supposed to be playing his first game of the season next week, will instead undergo season ending knee surgery to repair his broken knee.
Of course this reminds you of Greg Oden. Of course you think of a Clipper curse. But here are some things Clipper fans can look at to fill that half empty glass to half full:
1. Blake Griffin broke his knee on a monster dunk after blocking a shot, getting the rebound and outletting to Sebastian Telfair for a nice fast break play.
Fun Fact - I was (un?)lucky enough to go to this game and this play had the crowd roaring.
He didn't hurt himself moving boxes in his house, or wrestling with an old teammate, or snowboarding and lying about it later (Artest, Glen Davis, Radmanovic). Blake Griffin works hard, lifts weights, and stays in shape. He's 6'10'' 251 lbs. To compare, Karl Malone was 6'9" 250 pounds, and he was a big PF. Blake Griffin, as big as he is, was still being considered to play Small Forward as well as Power Forward by Mike Dunleavy. I'm thinking of a reverse Lamar Odom (referring to weight) where he can out-run and cut through slower power forwards and post up smaller small forwards.
-Couple examples: Against the Miami Heat, he could post up Michael Beasley and Quentin Richardson. Against the Phoenix Suns, he could post up Grant Hill and can more than likely get around Amare's defense.
2. With said work out regime, if I'm betting on someone to take rehab seriously and work hard to come back, it's Blake Griffin.
3. The Clippers didn't have Blake Griffin last year and have still improved record wise so far this season. In 37 games last year, they were 8-29. Through 37 games this year, they are 17-20 with impressive wins over the Celtics and Lakers (the latter in which they really took advantage of their height, FINALLY). Although I stand by my post in that they were/are a good team but got riddled with injuries last year. Disclaimer - Telfair and Craig Smith have been nice additions to the team, despite their per game numbers. Rasual Butler has been an awesome addition, per game numbers and all.
But Blake Griffin is a game changer. He has a chance to be a star and much more than the supposed comparisons to Carlos Boozer. If I'm the Clippers, I'm not making any drastic moves as far as a Forward spot to replace Griffin. Cut your losses this year and if you make the playoffs great, if not, draft again and let Griffin come back and let this team finally start getting some winning seasons. Are we talking championships? Hell no. Are we talking about a new era starting at the grassroots? Yes. Clippers, please don't panic!
By the way, I have a lot to say about the Clippers as I am lucky enough to have season tickets. Buy low on those Blake Griffin rookie cards and jerseys my friends.
4 comments:
Clippers will be back! Although they say that every year...
The only problem with Griffin would be if he's the type that gets hurt EVERY season.
I tend to think this is a fluke. Griffin should bounce back. However, this IS the Clips we're talking about. Cursed, perhaps?
Well unfortunately I can't read the future yet, but I'm also thinking he's gonna be back. It's all about rehab and he was taking it seriously before the surgery according to his teammates. I don't see how that won't continue until the start of next season.
Cursed? well, it's pretty crazy that Marcus Camby has been healthy this year and the young gun hasn't!
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