Clippers Gift Blake Griffin to the Pistons
Blake Griffin is headed to the Detroit Pistons. Just when you thought you have seen everything. Life has another curve ball up its sleeve. In the aftermath of having given away Chris Paul. Then signing Blake Griffin to a to a $173 mil contract. The Clippers have decided to detonate the current squad and look to the future. What people fail to realize is that the writing was on the wall long before now. The Clippers didn’t just lose CP3 over the summer. They also lost JJ Reddick and Jamal Crawford as well. That is 2 starters and a 6th man of the year candidate. With their backcourt gone and their SF situation was never stable either with Paul Pierce not really being the answer there. The Clips were just delaying the inevitable when the inked Griffin to that massive deal and cobbled together a new backcourt.
It could be argued that this was the plan all along when signing Blake to his deal. Secure their All-Star forward to a long-term deal and then trade him as soon as the opportunity presents itself for cap space and future assets. Griffin is an excellent player. But it would be hard to see him as the guy you build a franchise around. Also with his injury history you just never really know what you are going to get from one season to the next. It would also seem that the new regime is looking to distance themselves from the core that was assembled by Doc Rivers.
DeAndre Jordan has to feel some kind of way. After being held hostage in his own home to remain a Clipper. Only to see that same core of players jettisoned from the team not even a full two years later. Last man standing probably doesn’t even describe what he is feeling. Ironically, now Doc Rivers is the hostage as he was first demoted. Having been stripped of his GM duties and now has to watch in what has to be impotent fury as the team he assembled is dismantled like an old decommissioned warship. Did the ol girl still have some fight left in her? Sure, she did, but Balmer had seen enough. A team that did reasonably well during the regular season. Consistently had its wheels fall off due to injury, poor chemistry and questionable leadership during the playoffs year after year.
Chris Paul pretty much did the Clippers a favor when he wanted out. By his action setting and lighting a fuse for a demolition that was 2 years overdue. The cracks in the dam can probably be traced back to the culture implemented during the Donald Sterling days. That type of exorcism just doesn’t happen overnight.
Essentially with this deal the Clippers have created some future cap flexibility. Allowing them to jump head first into the “De-arms” race to try and lure LeBron James or Possibly Paul George in the offseason. There is no guarantee one way or the other that either them or some other top tier free agent will signup with the Clippers. But it’s a yearly ritual now in the NBA where teams court players like pimple face teens trying to get a prom date. But at the end of the day you never know unless you try right?
