Report: Blake Griffin says he's 'very close' to returning
Blake Griffin's No. 23 jersey was raised into the rafters at Oklahoma University on Tuesday, and afterward the Los Angeles Clippers' injured power forward told reporters that he was "very close" to returning from his fractured right hand and playing again (via Dan Woike of the Orange County Register):
That's welcomed news for the Clippers, who, despite being 22-7 since Griffin went down on Dec. 26, desperately need their five-time All-Star to compete with the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in April and May.
The initial projection was four to six weeks, according to the Clippers, which would peg Griffin as returning within the next week at the latest. Others reported that the real timetable was closer to eight weeks, if not longer, which would have Griffin returning at the end of March — just two or three weeks before the playoffs begin.
It's unclear what "very soon" means, and Griffin was sure not to specify an exact return date. And, of course, whenever he is cleared to play, Griffin will have to serve a four-game suspension because of how he broke his hand.
Much has been made of the Clippers' stellar record without Griffin and they certainly have played better without him this season. But Griffin was their best player before getting injured, which is a trend that dates back to the 2015 playoffs, when Griffin was also L.A.'s most dynamic player.
Chris Paul, Griffin's co-star and a fellow top-10 player, repeatedly has said as much during Griffin's absence, and recently told USA Today Sports that the Clippers need Griffin to win the championship:
“We can’t win a championship without Blake,” Paul said recently. “We’re playing for a championship, and there’s no championship without Blake Griffin.”
This comes just days after president of basketball operations and head coach Doc Rivers told Yahoo Sports that the Clippers never shopped Griffin, as he's too integral of a piece for them:
Q: What kept the Clippers from trading Griffin?
Rivers: “I love him. He’s a good player. He was only having an MVP year before he got injured. I laugh at some of the stuff about moving him. I’ve said from Day One he is not going anywhere. Of course, every team should call. That’s their job. That doesn’t mean we have to listen and we didn’t.”
Q: Were there a lot of inquiries from NBA teams about Griffin before the recent trade deadline?
Rivers: “There was some, but not a lot because we shot them down so quickly. Reading about some of these crazy rumors in the paper was comical to us. …
“You can take the call, but you don’t have to listen. We like our team. We’re in the job of trying to make our team better, but we like our team.”
There are several reasons why the Clippers are playing better without Griffin, but chief among them is the fact the Clippers basically have been playing small-ball for 48 minutes per night, slotting Paul Pierce or Wesley Johnson or Luc Mbah a Moute or now Jeff Green at power forward.
The additional space provides greater freedom to operate for Paul, J.J. Redick and DeAndre Jordan, and makes the Clippers' offense — already top-five with Griffin — that much more dangerous.
It's going to be difficult to figure out how to create similar spacing when Griffin returns — you don't want to turn him into Kevin Love and just park him at the 3-point line — but part of that, as Rivers said in the Yahoo interview, can be fixed by staggering Griffin and Jordan's minutes more.
The two still should play together — and one always should be on the floor — but if the Clips are more strategic with their rotation, they can have similar levels of efficiency with Griffin in the lineup.
Now, whether the Clippers actually can get by two of the Warriors, Spurs and Thunder remains to be seen. They're the last team to beat the Warriors and Spurs in the playoffs, respectively, and nearly defeated the Thunder in 2014. But there are no moral victories in basketball — especially in the postseason — and the Clippers have come up incredibly small in big moments.
At his peak, Griffin is their best player — an unstoppable offensive force capable of posting up, facing up, knocking down jumpers, going coast to coast, and finding open shooters and cutters. He's not always the best fit alongside Jordan, but if it really comes down to it, the Clippers can play Griffin at the 5 — as they did in the fourth quarter of Game 7 vs. the Spurs last year in the first round — and let him destroy slower big men.
The Clippers need him back. As soon as possible.
Jovan Buha covers the NBA for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @jovanbuha.
