James Harden #1 of the Los Angeles Clippers (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Blake Griffin knows what the problem is when it comes to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Griffin was the face—along with Chris Paul—of the franchise for many years, quickly establishing himself as one of the best players in the NBA. The former No. 1 overall pick won Rookie of the Year and was named to five consecutive All-Star games during his first five seasons in the league. Griffin led Los Angeles to six consecutive playoff appearances, the first and only time the franchise has accomplished that feat during its 55-year history.
A Lack of Future Vision
However, the Clippers failed to advance past the semifinals during Griffin’s tenure in Los Angeles. They’re going through similar struggles right now, having been eliminated from the first round in three consecutive years. That’s despite featuring a star trio in James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell. However, all three players are at least 31 years old.
Griffin says a lack of “setup” for the future is a big problem for the Clippers. He references the team’s trade for Paul George back in 2019, in which they gave up five first-round draft picks and two pick swaps, as changing the trajectory of their future.
George is no longer a member of the Clippers, and the team failed to advance past the conference finals during his tenure with the team. That was the same year Los Angeles also made a move for Leonard, but it failed to pay dividends all these years later. As a result, the Clippers failed to build through the draft with foundational pieces because of getting rid of their draft picks.
“There’s several things,” says Griffin in a one-on-one interview with RG. “Unfortunately for them, they don’t really have a setup to build for the future. Trading away so many (picks). Look at SGA in Oklahoma City. Look at five first-round draft picks for Paul George. Paul George is now on a different team year after year. Obviously, everybody’s getting a year older; that window’s sort of shrinking.”
Big Men Still Win Championships
Griffin says this year’s playoffs have shown that bigs are still very important and while Ivica Zubac is a good center, there’s obviously a difference between the Clippers and the other teams.
“I always think back to that Patrick Beverley thing when he was screaming, telling Steph the next five years was his, and fast forward, and he’s not even in the league anymore,” says Griffin.
“The championship window for the Clippers is so small; a lot of things have to happen. I think in the playoffs you’re seeing the bigs are still very, very important. The Clippers couldn’t get a rebound. Zubac is a great center. But having centers in the playoffs that can play meaningful playoff minutes is still obviously very important.”
The former Clippers star says Los Angeles’ strategy of putting together two star players and hoping to win with a championship model is outdated. That along with their age is an issue.
Griffin says that’s the issue the Los Angeles Lakers ran into when they lost in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening round. The Lakers’ lack of bigs proved to be an issue against the Timberwolves and their 7-foot-1 star Rudy Gobert.
“That’s what the Lakers ran into,” says Griffin. “JJ (Redick) was thinking, how are you going to play some of those lineups together? He had to sort of get creative, and it obviously didn’t work. We’re seeing sort of a shift in roster management and how GMs are putting rosters together, because you still have to build for the playoffs. That’s something that the Clippers are going to have to do.”
DJ Siddiqi
