Ga-ga over Griffin? Not exactly
The Clippers selected college superstar Blake Griffin with the top overall pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft.
The reaction in Los Angeles?
Crickets.
OK, that might be hyperbole, but not much. Griffin’s selection by the Clippers didn’t make much of a dent on the local scene in SoCal. Around noon on Friday, the top 10 most viewed stories on the L.A. Times website were:
1. Michael Jackson’s life was infused with fantasy and tragedy
2. Michael Jackson dead at 50
3. Lakers sell two draft picks with an eye on free agents
4. Student’s video puts school cuts on personal level
5. 2 violent episodes raise questions about safety at Angel Stadium
6. TV misses out as gossip website TMZ reports Michael Jackson’s death first
7. Ritzy Newport Beach mall goes on a spending spree
8. Assembly approves budget package, but Schwarzenegger says he’ll veto it
9. Fans worldwide grieve for Michael Jackson
10. The mullahs must go
That’s right — no Griffin, no Clippers. Their story couldn’t even beat out the Lakers selling a couple of their picks. That means a story about who the Lakers didn’t pick was more important than a story about who the Clippers did snag.
Like I wrote this morning, welcome to Hollywood, Big Blake.
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Comments
3 reasons Blake Griffin getting drafted:
1- He was drafted by the Clippers- not the Lakers.
2- It’s LA- there’s a ton more things to do or get involved with the last week in June besides the NBA Draft.
3- The Clippers don’t exactly have the best results when they have #1 picks- Blake Griffin’s prognosis is good, but he’s still unproven. There is no guarantee that Blake Griffin will become an All Star- much less a dominant player.
The clippers have a long standing successful business plan of keeping payroll low and making money by selling tickets for the opposing team. There are enough transplants in Los Angeles to make that work. It made them one of the most profitable franchises in sports for years and competitively one of the worst….ever. As a result everyone in Los Angeles expects one of two things to happen. Either he will be a complete bust or he will play 3 years and be on his way. In the second senatio he will probably only make the playoffs once and probably not win a series.
I’m happy to have him here and I’m excited to watch him live, but Clipper fans know far better than to think he could possibly bring a championship to our little clippies.
D Staley
Los Angeles
Griffin was the consensus college player of the year after leading the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game while averaging 22.7 points last season for Oklahoma. The Clippers said they would take the forward with the top pick just hours after they won the draft lottery last month, and never considered changing their minds.
Jenni, I lived in Los Angeles through the 80s and 90s and No One, I mean No One cared about the Clippers. Of course this was during showtime but sometimes I would even forget they weren’t still in San Diego. I hate it for Blake. If he holds out and refuses to play for the Clips then he’s a spoiled brat (like Ricky Rubio). Maybe he shouldn’t have been so hard on Michigan during March Madness or made Tyler Hansbro look so… normal. That way his stock might have fallen and he would have ended up anywhere but there.
good blog and accurate article.