Blake Griffin out with broken knee cap, could miss as much as six weeks.

[fairweatherfan]

ugggh, like we needed something more for Bill Simmons to say "I told you so" about...

Heh, dunno about that:

"I hate the lottery system because it puts good rookies on bad teams, then expects them to turn those teams around. Sometimes it happens; other times it doesn't. But those young players end up assuming an enormous amount of pressure during a point in their career where, actually, they'd be much better off blending in with a good team and easing along into whatever they end up being. Of the past 15 years of blue-chippers, only Duncan and Kobe were given this luxury. Griffin is the luckiest blue-chipper since them: not only does he play for a potential playoff team, but he doesn't have to fight with someone for minutes or carry the scoring load. He just has to worry about running the floor, rebounding and finishing. A cushy situation, to say the least. For once, it appears as if becoming a Clipper was the BEST thing that could have happened to someone.

(Note: Please don't e-mail this paragraph to me in three weeks if Blake is rolling around on the floor holding his right ankle. Thank you.)"

The line to email it to Bill starts to the right.

It's a shame about Griffin though, Simmons is right that he looks like a natural star out there, from the limited highlights I saw.  Hopefully the recovery will go well.

[Chris]

ugggh, like we needed something more for Bill Simmons to say "I told you so" about...

Heh, dunno about that:

"I hate the lottery system because it puts good rookies on bad teams, then expects them to turn those teams around. Sometimes it happens; other times it doesn't. But those young players end up assuming an enormous amount of pressure during a point in their career where, actually, they'd be much better off blending in with a good team and easing along into whatever they end up being. Of the past 15 years of blue-chippers, only Duncan and Kobe were given this luxury. Griffin is the luckiest blue-chipper since them: not only does he play for a potential playoff team, but he doesn't have to fight with someone for minutes or carry the scoring load. He just has to worry about running the floor, rebounding and finishing. A cushy situation, to say the least. For once, it appears as if becoming a Clipper was the BEST thing that could have happened to someone.

(Note: Please don't e-mail this paragraph to me in three weeks if Blake is rolling around on the floor holding his right ankle. Thank you.)"

The line to email it to Bill starts to the right.

It's a shame about Griffin though, Simmons is right that he looks like a natural star out there, from the limited highlights I saw.  Hopefully the recovery will go well.

Sure makes me happy that SG hasn't been gushing about the C's this year.

[indeedproceed]

ugggh, like we needed something more for Bill Simmons to say "I told you so" about...

Heh, dunno about that:

"I hate the lottery system because it puts good rookies on bad teams, then expects them to turn those teams around. Sometimes it happens; other times it doesn't. But those young players end up assuming an enormous amount of pressure during a point in their career where, actually, they'd be much better off blending in with a good team and easing along into whatever they end up being. Of the past 15 years of blue-chippers, only Duncan and Kobe were given this luxury. Griffin is the luckiest blue-chipper since them: not only does he play for a potential playoff team, but he doesn't have to fight with someone for minutes or carry the scoring load. He just has to worry about running the floor, rebounding and finishing. A cushy situation, to say the least. For once, it appears as if becoming a Clipper was the BEST thing that could have happened to someone.

(Note: Please don't e-mail this paragraph to me in three weeks if Blake is rolling around on the floor holding his right ankle. Thank you.)"

The line to email it to Bill starts to the right.

It's a shame about Griffin though, Simmons is right that he looks like a natural star out there, from the limited highlights I saw.  Hopefully the recovery will go well.

Bill wrote a pretty awesome article about why Blake should not play for the Clippers.

Run. Just start running. Run for your life. Run like the star of a horror movie. Don't turn around. Run and keep running.

I think you should play in Greece. Or Italy. Or Spain. Or anywhere else. You should play anywhere but for the Clippers. Your agents and advisors are in denial. They don't want you to seem like an ungrateful jerk. They want you to be as marketable and likable as possible. They have talked themselves into the following scenario: "If Blake can turn the Clippers around and become a star in the No. 2 TV market in the country, only good things will happen to him."

See, this is where they are wrong. The odds are overwhelming that bad things will happen to you until you leave. And you will. The Clippers are cursed. They have been cursed for 33 consecutive years. It's a real curse, not a "Curse of the Bambino"-type hex manufactured to sell books. There has to be a legitimate reason why the Clippers franchise has been falling apart like Jon and Kate for three-plus decades, right? We've seen too much losing, too much incompetence, too much bad luck, too many freak occurrences. There has to be an answer.

I studied the Clippers' mess for three days, put everything on paper and tried to figure out a common thread. Blaming Moses Malone was too easy. Why would Moses curse the Clippers? The man could barely speak. Blaming Bill Walton ignored three seasons of misfortune that came before him. Blake, this went deeper than one person. This was karmic. This was creepy. This was like … they'd been hexed. Like they had built an arena on a sacred burial ground or something.

[fairweatherfan]

ugggh, like we needed something more for Bill Simmons to say "I told you so" about...

Heh, dunno about that:

"I hate the lottery system because it puts good rookies on bad teams, then expects them to turn those teams around. Sometimes it happens; other times it doesn't. But those young players end up assuming an enormous amount of pressure during a point in their career where, actually, they'd be much better off blending in with a good team and easing along into whatever they end up being. Of the past 15 years of blue-chippers, only Duncan and Kobe were given this luxury. Griffin is the luckiest blue-chipper since them: not only does he play for a potential playoff team, but he doesn't have to fight with someone for minutes or carry the scoring load. He just has to worry about running the floor, rebounding and finishing. A cushy situation, to say the least. For once, it appears as if becoming a Clipper was the BEST thing that could have happened to someone.

(Note: Please don't e-mail this paragraph to me in three weeks if Blake is rolling around on the floor holding his right ankle. Thank you.)"

The line to email it to Bill starts to the right.

It's a shame about Griffin though, Simmons is right that he looks like a natural star out there, from the limited highlights I saw.  Hopefully the recovery will go well.

Sure makes me happy that SG hasn't been gushing about the C's this year.

Seriously, "intentional reverse jinx" or not, Simmons seems to be the SI cover for the new millenium.  Somebody buy Durant a bulletproof vest stat.

[twinbree]

How sad. I can't believe I'm feeling sorry for the Clippers organization. I hope for Blake's and the fans' sakes that he comes back quickly and has a great year.
Too many injuries before the season has even started. Takes some of the excitement out of it.

[celticsclay]

How sad. I can't believe I'm feeling sorry for the Clippers organization. I hope for Blake's and the fans' sakes that he comes back quickly and has a great year.
Too many injuries before the season has even started. Takes some of the excitement out of it.

The clips actually look decent right now without blake against the Lakers. Their second unit is outplaying the second unit for the lakers. They may have a good mix of stars or near stars (Kaman, B Davis, Camby's DNA) up and comers (gordon, griffin, thornton) and guys with something to prove craig smith and telfair (who looks solid).