Clippers forward Blake Griffin is showing signs that he is getting closer to a return, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. Griffin went through a “pretty extensive” pregame workout today without a brace or sleeve on his injured right knee. Griffin had minor surgery on the knee in December, and a report on Friday said he could be back in action by the end of the month.
There’s more news from the Pacific Division:
- The Clippers may soon have rookie power forward Brice Johnson back on the court as well, according to Woike (Twitter link). The 25th pick in the 2016 draft has been playing one-on-one games and is close to being ready for “true on-court activity,” says coach Doc Rivers. Johnson suffered a herniated disc in his lower back in October and hasn’t played yet this season.
- One positive in the Lakers‘ blowout loss to the Spurs on Thursday was the performance of rookie center Ivica Zubac, writes Mark Medina of The Orange County Register. Zubac, who was taken with the second pick of the second round in 2016, had a season-high eight points to go with four rebounds in nearly 15 minutes. Zubac has seen most of his action in the D-League this year, and the Lakers want him to drop weight to become more mobile. “When you can run more, you can do everything better on the court,” Zubac said. “It definitely helps to stay in shape. I’m not playing a lot with the Lakers. It’s easy to get out of shape. Playing in the D-League really helps.”
- Andy Furillo of the Sacramento Bee looks at the downside of possibly investing more than $209MM to keep DeMarcus Cousins in Sacramento. In addition to being the top player on a losing team for 6 1/2 seasons, Cousins checks in as the slowest player in the league, has had his shot blocked more times than anyone, is tied for first in technical fouls and is second in personal fouls, ranks sixth in turnovers and is only tied for 33rd in offensive rebounds.
I really don’t know how the Kings are not unloading Cousins to the Celtics. It would be trading most of their assets though, but they’d be trading for the best center in the game, under contract still.
Cousins for BKN 2017, Jaylen Brown, Demetrius Jackson/Terry Rozier, and Amir Johnson for salary match. Maybe they include Casspi too.
Separately, Rudy Gay trade for Vucevic. Go full re-build.
I’d take that as Boston. Maybe throw in Jerebko and Clips 1st in 2019 to get Rudy Gay. Not sure if that works for cap purposes, but Jerebko has a decent salary. Maybe Zeller if he’s got a higher salary.
Adding Zeller would work but they have to wait to make that trade, if they wanted to get Gay as well. However, how much of an upgrade is Gay really over Crowder? Offensively sure, but he will require the ball more and they’d already be adding Cousins who will require the ball a lot more than their current 5’s
It’s a decent upgrade, and I honestly just am not a huge Crowder fan in general. Plus Rudy Gay is in upgrade in terms of the rest of the rotation. Crowder would still get good playing time.
Leads the league in getting shots blocked yet is still fifth in league scoring.
Only constant on a team with 6 1/2 years of losing — because he’s the only star player on the team. It’s not his fault that ownership and management can’t put together a decent team.
Plus it’s no secret why he turned the tables and asked Furillo and Voisin whether he should stay in Sacramento. The two have been highly critical of him in the past. He could reasonably guess a column just like this one was coming.
Boogie isn’t perfect; not by a long shot. (And neither are Furillo and Voisin). But I think with the right front office going forward and a sound plan, the Kings would be better off building a good team with him than without him.
It is impossible to defend the Kings in any scenario unless you are talking hockey.
They have rebuilt around him since they got him and they have gone absolutely nowhere.
This is all Kevin Johnson’s fault.
2 years in a row the Clips have fared better without Griffin