This week the Los Angeles Clippers announced a trade of the All-Star forward Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons. The move sent shockwaves around the NBA, but also to the legions of Clippers fans that have witnessed moments like this
Or these
And of course, this
Griffin won four high school state titles at Oklahoma Christian School and then played two seasons at the University of Oklahoma before entering the 2009 NBA draft. But the "Clipper curse" seemed to take effect when, during the final pre-season game of 2009, he broke his left kneecap, had surgery, and missed the entire 2009–10 season, forcing him to make his NBA debut the following season.
Take Two contributors
talked about Griffin's contributions to Los Angeles and the Clippers, and Brian started by looking back at that first official season.
Griffin began to generate an enormous amount of buzz, he averaged 22 points a game ... he made the All Star team that year, and that year it was played in Los Angeles ... And then the next year the Clippers were able to acquire Chris Paul ... and that gave the Clippers two legitimate superstars. They had this high-flying style of play with Griffin and DeAndre Jordan catching all these alley-oop passes from Chris Paul, and it was nicknamed Lob City.
Andy ended the conversation by talking about what Clippers fans may expect in the coming years.
It's difficult to rebuild by any measure ... but there is some speculation that the Clippers are trying to thread the needle by staying as competitive as possible while looking to rebuild, one foot in one foot out ... and that's very, very difficult to do.