On December 19th the Los Angeles Clippers made news when they announced that Blake Griffin will be missing three to six weeks after undergoing a minor knee procedure.
That could mean up to 20 games. Understandably the team is not too worried about his absence as they went 30-15 without him last year and it is routine surgery, but in the larger picture they should be.
This group’s window has closed and it all starts with Blake Griffin. Don’t get me wrong, he is extremely talented and there are very few things he can’t do on the basketball court, but take a quick look at his injury history.
He missed his entire rookie year with a broken knee cap, tore his left meniscus during USA training camp in 2012, incurred a staph infection in 2015, tore his left quad last year and broke his right hand in controversial circumstances.
These injuries have slowed him down and cost his team in the playoffs last year. He has become less dependable and it can be argued he has not taken his game to the next level which the Clippers will need if they’re ever going to enforce their will on opponents like the Golden State Warriors.
It was a next level they needed when they blew a 3-1 lead to the Houston Rockets in 2015.
Since then it’s sort of just felt like the Clippers will never break through and it’s unfortunate. They have an NBA All-Defensive team member/all star in DeAndre Jordan, all star point guard Chris Paul, sixth man Jamal Crawford, and sharpshooter J.J. Redick.
But alas Jordan can’t play fourth quarters because he can’t shoot free throws consistently and Paul is too short take over a ball game.
And then there is Blake, who we wish could become Karl Malone but it’s been seven years and he is what he is. Injury prone and an all-star but a not a superstar. A superstar is what it will take to beat the Warriors or the Cleveland Cavaliers four out of seven times in a series.
I think it’s time we throw our faith into another team who is building the personnel to dethrone these defending conference champions one day such as the Utah Jazz for example.
When the Clippers are hot they are a marvel to watch and tease us all into thinking they could actually threaten the Warriors but don’t get your hopes up anymore. They never will and the Warriors aren’t going anywhere.
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