Blake Griffin will compete with this year’s class for the ROY award in 2010-11. We caught up with Blake after a public workout with Jared from Subway and talked to him about his first year journey, who he would like the Clippers to pick, his choice of draft day outfit, and his advice for rookies entering the league.
Q: You’ve just finished working out with Jared from Subway as he prepares to run a marathon. What is the longest distance you’ve ever run and do you think you could ever run a marathon?
A: Man, the longest distance I’ve ever run? I have no idea…I’m not much of a long distance runner. Maybe 6, 7 miles?
Q: That’s not too bad…Conversely do you think Jared could ever complete a Frank Matrisciano workout in the sand, running up hills?
A: (laughing) I don’t know about that. That’s a bit of a different kind of workout.
Q: How are you feeling physically right now?
A: I’m feeling good. Just working out and getting ready for next season.
Q: This past year was it more difficult for you mentally to deal with the injury or physically to rehab the injury?
A: I think mentally really. Physically it was just working out every day. It’s something you get used to. But mentally it was just day in and day out, you know what I’m saying, just waiting and wondering when I was going to be ready.
Q: A lot of people are talking about this year’s top pick John Wall being Rookie of the Year. How about Blake Griffin as best newcomer?
A: I’m just looking forward to being able to play, just being able to get out there. When you miss a year it makes it that much longer.
Q: Take us back a year. How nervous or excited were you heading into the draft last year
A: I was very excited. It was a crazy week leading up to that point and for it to finally get there it was awesome and it was a lot of fun and something I’ll never forget.
Q: An important question heading into the draft is the outfit. I noticed you went pretty subtle with the suit but sported a purple shirt. How much input did you have with the outfit?
A: I picked my suit and they were like “how’s purple” and I just said sure. I didn’t put a whole lot into it.
Q: You didn’t go with the Joakim Noah or James Harden look?
A: No I definitely didn’t do all that much.
Q: At the eight spot in the draft there looks to be a lot of good small forwards available. With the core you have in Los Angeles (Eric Gordon, Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, and yourself) it would appear that small forward would be an area of need. Is there anyone in particular you would like to see the Clippers target?
A: Yeah, I like Al-Farouq Aminu and Luke Babbitt. I like both of them a lot. I think they are both good players and would fit into what we have already.
Q: With the core you have plus adding a top end prospect, do you have any predictions for next season?
A: I mean, definitely to make the playoffs is our goal. That’s what we will be pushing for every year and I think that it is a very plausible goal for us this year.
Q: There has been so much made of the 2010 free agent class. Have you been talking to anyone or have you been out on the recruiting path yet?
A: Not yet, but I’ll do whatever anyone wants me to do.
Q: Last question for you Blake, and thanks so much for your time. You’ve experienced some incredible highs (getting drafted 1st overall) and some lows (injuring yourself in preseason) in your first 12 months in the league. What advice would you have for first year players as they are about to embark on their rookie journey?
A: You just have to know there’s going to be highs and lows, just like that. You have to stay even keeled and not rise with highs and not fall with the lows so to speak. You can’t think everything is going to work out perfectly because it’s not. You have to stay with it since it’s a long season and make sure you take care of your body.
Q: Well congratulations on getting back to health. I’ve been a fan of yours for years and I’m looking forward to watching you in the NBA.
A: Thanks a lot man, I appreciate that.
Blake need to read the
Blake need to read the article I wrote on him.. Can anyone arrange that??
I can see Griffin being a
I can see Griffin being a landslide ROY winner. He is much more developed than Wall and on a team without the on- and off-court dramas the Wizards have. So long as Griffin can play 70+ games I see a ROY in his future. Wall isn’t in the right situation to win ROY as he’ll be fighting Arenas for the limelight and the rock for the whole time. This is assuming of course Agent 0 isn’t shipped off somewhere.