There was a point at the start of the summer, way back in June, when you could picture the Clippers being better than the Lakers this season. The Lakers were what they were, the Clippers had young pieces like Blake Griffin that should be improving.
Then Steve Nash and Dwight Howard happened. And now in Los Angeles once again are an afterthought (at least if you read the papers or listen to sports talk radio).
Blake Griffin, he doesn’t care. He’s pumped about the Clippers — who added Jamal Crawford and Lamar Odom — and is not sold on the Lakers, as he told the Oklahoman while back at his alma mater.
Griffin said he’s “very excited” about where the additions have placed the Clippers but added that Howard’s arrival in Los Angeles have overshadowed those and others around the league.
“There’s a lot of great teams and a lot of good talent as well,” Griffin said. “It’s funny because the Heat have managed to somehow fly under the radar this summer and they added Ray Allen. So we can’t forget about all these other teams. We can’t worry about just the Lakers.”
The Lakers are getting all the buzz because that’s what the new teams get, and when it’s a superteam in a major market it is moreso. But Griffin’s point about the West is valid and he also used the common “on paper” comment about the Lakers.
“On paper it looks great,” Griffin said during a recent visit to Norman. “People said the same thing when we got C.P., Chris Paul. But they still got to go out there and play...
“I think there’s a lot of tough teams in the Western Conference. There’s one right here (in Oklahoma City) that the Lakers have to get over,” Griffin said. “The Spurs have been a good team for the past 500 years. And I think we’re preparing for that. So that’s kind of what you expect people to do. You expect them to hand out the trophy in the middle of the summer. So we’re not worried about that. We’re not worried about just the Lakers.”