Blake Griffin signed a long-term deal to stay with the Clippers this past offseason and when he signed on the dotted line, he became the undisputed face of a revamped franchise. Longtime point guard Chris Paul was traded to the Rockets, ending an era that saw the Clippers as perennial playoff contenders but also a team that never advanced past the first round.
In an interview with ESPN’s Sam Alipour, Griffin addressed the Clippers’ changed roster but said that change is not always a bad thing.
“I don’t know. You never want to blow up something like that — you have All-Stars in CP and DJ [DeAndre Jordan], great pieces like J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford,“ Griffin said. “But at the same time, we haven’t had success, so a shake-up doesn’t hurt.”
With a five-year, $173MM deal keeping Griffin in Los Angeles, he said that he will take on a stronger leadership role. Despite losing Paul, the team still has talent that can lead the team to the playoffs.
“Yeah, I led by example, but I’ll be more outspoken this year,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve learned that leaders aren’t always popular. You have to say things people don’t necessarily want to hear.”
Read up on other news coming out of the Pacific Division below:
- Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins became the latest players to sign maximum rookie deals and the Suns‘ budding star, Devin Booker, could be in the same boat next year, Scott Bordow of Arizona Central Sports writes.
- Veteran center Tyson Chandler has become a voice of reason and guidance for a young Suns team, Bordow writes in a separate story.
- Larry Nance Jr. has been the favorite to win the Lakers‘ starting power forward position but the play of Kyle Kuzma — who led the NBA with 104 preseason points — has made it a tougher decision, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes.
- The Lakers signed 19-year-old Can Pelister as the youngest international scout of all-time, according to basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link).