New Season Holds New Hope for Clippers
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
Los Angeles Clippers rookie forward Blake Griffin speaks to the press at Monday's media day inside Staples Center.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Last year's disappointing season is a distant memory for the Los Angeles Clippers, who spent today's media day talking about the upcoming year's potential.
There's reason for optimist. The Clippers bring back a team that looks strong on paper and add a promising rookie in top draft pick Blake Griffin. They should be strong, if they can just stay healthy.
They didn't last year, and the constantly changing lineup led to breakdowns in performance. Coach Mike Dunleavy hopes things will be different this season. "Give me a healthy team and fundamentally our team is going to be very sound and play very good defense and we'll be very competitive," said Dunleavy.
Clipper fans have put a lot of hope in Griffin, and the rookie isn't worried about team's performance last year. "Obviously there were so many injuries and it's tough to win games that way," said Griffin.
He's also not worried about any "Clipper Curse" putting his season in peril. "My job is to come in here and play like I've always done," said Griffin. "I'm not worried about what's happened in the past. I wasn't here, a lot of these guys weren't here."
Dunleavy has been very impressed with Griffin's work ethic. "It's not exagerated," he said. "He's really a guy that wants to get better and keeps improving." The coach said he's seen improvement in Griffin's shot since the team signed him and was most impressed by the 6'10" forward's ability to pick up defensive schemes during summer league.
That doesn't mean Dunleavy has Griffin penciled into the lineup just yet. "Our lineup is totally open," the coach said. "As far as the first day, I'll go with the guys who were starters at the end of last year: Baron [Davis], Eric [Gordon], Al [Thornton], Marcus [Camby] and Chris [Kamen]. From there we'll see what makes the best sense for our team."
The team opens training camp on Tuesday, and starts its preseason schedule on Sunday in Oakland. Their first home game is against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, October 9. The regular season opens on Tuesday, October 27, with a game against that other Staples Center tenant, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Brian on September 28, 2009, at 03:34PM – #1
Thanks for covering this - oh the Clippers ... today will be the highlight of the season unfortunately.
peenee on September 28, 2009, at 10:01PM – #2
"hope" and "the clippers" in the same sentence? now you are being irrational.
D on September 28, 2009, at 11:29PM – #3
This will be a good season for the Clippers. They have a young, talented team and will be vastly improved. If not the 8th seed, then at least pretty close. It will be fun to see the Clippers face the Lakers in the playoffs.
tornadoes28 on September 29, 2009, at 08:00AM – #4
The Clippers are the worst franchise ever. Not just in Basketball, but in all professional sports history. There is no worse franchise then the Clippers. Hope? There is no hope in Clipper land.
The only hope they have is if the change their name, change their uniforms, change their city, and change their owner.
peenee on September 30, 2009, at 09:44PM – #5
#4 yes, you are so right. i wonder if it's a tax write off... can it be done?