Blake Griffin recently spoke to Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com and appeared on Fox Sports Radio to discuss his rehabilitation from last month's arthroscopic surgery, the Clippers' offseason moves, and his thoughts on the team's open general manager position. Here are a few of Griffin's notable comments, courtesy of ESPNLA and Sports Radio Interviews….
On his own recovery:
The surgery wasn't one of those things that took a long time (to recover from). It was just a matter of getting my strength back and we really took our time with it. I could have been back even earlier than that. I just needed to get the swelling out of the knee. That was the biggest battle. There's nothing that needs time to repair or heal. It was just reducing the swelling and getting the strength back in my leg and once I got that, I was out on the court every day."
On how injured teammates Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups are progressing:
"I talked with Chris yesterday and I think he'll be back for sure before the start of the season. Chauncey, I'm not sure. He looks great. He's been in working out and I've seen him the past couple days. He looks really good. He looks like he's ahead of schedule but at the same time, it's not worth it to rush it for him because we do have guys who can fill that void until he is 100% healthy."
On the Clippers' summer additions:
"I was very excited about them. A lot of the guys, we picked up Jamal Crawford, Lamar Odom and all of those guys are going to be great for us. Got a nice mix of veterans and guys that have a lot of experience winning games in the playoffs so I think that will be great for our young guys, myself included to kind of learn from them."
On the offseason moves by L.A.'s "other" team:
"It's huge for L.A. basketball. It's great for the Lakers and great for the NBA in general to have all those players on the same team. It's going to be fun to play against them and I'm looking forward to playing against them. It's going to bring a lot of excitement but they still have to play just like everybody else."
On Clippers director of player personnel Gary Sacks and the job he did this summer:
"He did an unbelievable job, Gary Sacks did, along with Coach [Vinny] Del Negro. I think they both kind of teamed up and I think we have a lot of respect for Gary. As far as the players go, we have a lot of respect for him and everything he’s been able to do. I know a lot of us are pulling for him to get that GM job and definitely hope he gets it."