Tilting at Windmills

A Clipper!

While it’s great to have a Sooner going #1 – big time stuff – the fact that it is the CLIPPERS makes it kind of like winning a free cruise on the Titanic.

Some advice for Blake:

Start scoping out a spot on the life boat ASAP.

Barring a plague of locusts or a river of fire, Blake Griffin will be a Clipper tonight.

For their part, the Clips are already saying they’ll take him. Blake is doing and saying all the right things and it appears as if he was even eager to get to LA before the draft lottery.

The glamour of New York isn’t lost on the always straight-forward Griffin, and when asked, he doesn’t hide the appeal he finds in landing in a major media market like New York or Los Angeles.

“Definitely. I would love to play in a big city like that.”

Good for you, Blake, and congratulations, but … dude, the Clippers?!? Can you not pull a last-minute Kobe or Eli and just refuse to go? It’s assured that by being the #1 pick, you’ll go to a shitty team. But, there are shitty teams and there are the Clippers.

ESPN’s Bill Simmons wrote a great open letter to Blake, begging him to save his career and eschew the Clips.

One of my favorite nuggets:

Summer 1981: Donald Sterling buys the Clippers from Levin for $12.5 million, embarks on a quest to turn them into the worst franchise ever … and succeeds. You’ll see him at home games, Blake. He’s the old guy who sits midcourt, dresses like a nightclub singer, surrounds himself with cougars, loves Koreans and enters the locker room once a year to scream at everyone. Keep your distance.

Yeah, that Donald Sterling.

Blake, consider your options. You have some.

Raise your glasses to half-full, y’all. It could be worse.

The Los Angeles junior varsity may have won the NBA draft lottery last night, but here’s hoping they do something stupid like not taking Blake with their first pick. Unfortunately for those of us who want to see Blake not only do well, but do it on a good, well-run team, we have to hope Blake falls to two or three. The Clips have a habit of not only making bad draft day decisions, but in the decisions they sometimes make in drafting good talent, they run it off.

Case(s) in point:

1985 – Benoit Benjamin, 3rd overall pick – You can go back almost 25 years to see horrible draft trends by this organization. Benjamin was picked third in 1985 behind Patrick Ewing and Wayman. He was never even remotely in the same class those guys, nor those drafted behind him – players such as Xavier McDaniel, Chris Mullin, Charles Oakley, The Mailman, Joe Dumars and Terry Porter. Benjamin played enough games for the Clips to be the franchise’s leading shot blocker, which is kind of like being the tallest guy at a midget convention.

1988 – Danny Manning, 1st overall pick – Maybe the Clips’ most productive first round pick, Manning ended up playing for five years in NBA Purgatory. Of course, owner Donald Sterling refused to put anything around him, so the Manning Clips sucked balls, which didn’t break a single Sooner heart.

1998 – Michael Olowokandi, 1st overall pick (the last time the Clips took the #1 pick) – Kandiman was a big, supposedly mobile guy out of Pacific U. That’s it. He’s widely considered to be the biggest bust in NBA history. LA owner Donald Sterling passed on Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Mike Bibby and Rashard Lewis to take this stiff.

1999 – Lamar Odom, 4th overall pick. The Clips looked like they had a bonafide star when they took Odom out of Rhode Island. The 6’10″ softie averaged 17 ppg his first two years and the Clips put him with emerging stars like Andre Miller, Michael Olowokandi and eventually, bonafide playmaker Elton Brand. Odom liked the herb more than he liked his NBA paycheck, though, and the NBA suspended him in November 2001. In the offseason, the Clips didn’t even whimper when the Miami Heat picked him up. He started 80 games for the Heat, then was dealt to the Lakers as part of the Shaq deal. Now playing for the real LA team, Odom taunts the Clippers in the same arena where he used to roll blounts made out of Sterling’s pay stubs.

2000 – Darius Miles, 3rd overall pick. Miles went from high school in 2000 to NBA All-Rookie in 2001. The Clips rewarded him by letting him bolt after two years. Miles has bounced around with three different NBA franchises since then, his most productive years coming in Portland. His career is in jeopardy now since, after being suspended in 2008 for violating the league’s anti-drug program (read: weed), last week when the Memphis po-po asked what that console thing was in his car, he replied “you put your weeeed in it.”

2001 – Tyson Chandler, 2nd overall pick. The only time Chandler even touched a Clippers jersey was when NBA reps called his name at the rostrum. Dealing Chandler immediately to the Bulls for Elton Brand was probably the Clips’ best draft day move of all-time, although that’s like saying the Soul is the coolest Kia ever built. Chandler started three of four years for the Bulls, but never averaged in double figures in either points or rebounds. Brand ended up leading the Clips to their first playoff series win since they moved to LA, although it took four years.

2005 – Yaroslav Korolev, 12th overall pick – He speaks English without an interpreter. He probably tears up the Russian league, but who knows. I wouldn’t know this guy if I literally ran into him. Worst foreign pick in the NBA since Uwe Blab.

So, what trends say is that the Clips will either draft Blake and he’ll languish on a bad team (Baron Davis’ knees notwithstanding) or Sterling will do something stupid like passing him up in favor of Ricky Rubio. The latter scenario would likely send Blake to Memphis, unless the Grizz brainfarts and take their coveted Thabeet. Put that perfect storm together and it’s hello Oklahoma City!

In what comes as no surprise whatsoever, Blake Griffin was named today as AP’s Player of the Year.

Blake received 66 out of 71 first place votes. Tyler Hansfraud, last seen in a cameo role in the “You’re My Bitch” episode from the hilarious sitcom “That’s My Daddy,” received two (2) votes, presumably from Dick Vitale ballot-stuffing.

Blake shook off arm tackles all day.

Eight teams are still alive and by the beard of Zeus (and aliens taking over Tony Crocker’s jump shot), OU is one of them.

This is where a lot of us thought this team would be. Not because we have some sense of entitlement (we don’t). Not because we thought this was a team of destiny. Certainly not because we thought we had elite guards that could get us to the Elite round.

We thought OU should and would get this far because …

Blake had to injure himself this time.

Blake once again made OU’s opponent look like one of the Sarah Connors that wasn’t John’s mom. This time it was the fearsome Big Orange from the Big bad East. Instead of the Sooners succumbing to Boeheim’s defensive genius and prose, the Sooners unveiled their own harassing, switching defense and unleashed the three-point hounds to win by 13, and it really felt like 30.

How did it happen?

Blake. Let me just say that when Blake’s not around, I’ll be a mess without him. I’ll miss his laugh. I’ll miss his scent. I’ll miss those times we sat around with a bottle of muscatel, some Dan Fogelberg on the hi-fi and talking about our feelings – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Blake made Jonny Flynn know the meaning of pain and degradation, first with a Thunder (see what I did there?) dunk over the helpless little child of a guard, then by following up Flynn’s weak attempt to throw one down over Taylor with another poster-sized, majestic and powerful dunk on the other end (suitable for framing). The rest you know.

Blake, dahling ... champagnya?

Tony Crocker. As you well know, we at TaW have been singing Crocker’s praises all season. We were the ones who said don’t worry, that he’s just in a slump and will return to his regular, three-point bombing form just in time to help us win a crucial game. Crocker proved us right yesterday. We feel vindicated.

The supporting cast. Every starter had a solid game, which is something we haven’t been able to say since … well, ever? Taylor was solid, as usual, with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Willie and AJ combined for 15 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. As they showed yesterday, the Sooners are literally unstoppable when they get production like that to take some of the load off of Blake.

Coaching. Just as he should have after the Michigan game, Joe Cash needs to open his checkbook again and pay Jeff Capel. That might not be enough. We might be naming a building after him by the time he’s done. Capel read all the clippings and heard all of the hype about Boeheim being the Mahavishnu of the zone defense. Capel one-upped him by switching defenses almost every Syracuse trip down the floor. One time they’d be in a straight-up man-to-man. The next time they might be in a tight 2-3 zone, daring the Cuse’s cold shooters to hit from outside. The next time they might drop into a 1-3-1 with Crocker prowling underneath the basket, waiting to take a charge from a Cuse slasher.

On the offensive end, instead of pulling Taylor or Blake out to the top of the key and running a high post game from there, he kept The Beast on the blocks and had Taylor flash to the free throw line, right in the middle of Boeheim’s zone. Taylor was like an option quarterback with choices of kicking out to a red hot Crocker, finding Blake over the top of a fronted post-up or taking it himself. His move in the first half where he deked a pass to the wing to make the defender lean that way, then putting it on the floor himself and scoring was straight out of Jamelle Holieway’s playbook.

They brought in Capel to run the wishbone.

Let’s bask in yesterday’s win and this great tournament run because they’ll never take it away from us. We’ll be telling our grandkids about Blake’s run in the 2009 tournament. This is just OU’s fifth Elite 8 since the tournament expanded to 64 in 1985 (H/T Wayman Tisdale and Keith Lee’s checking account). The Sooners are now 5-3 all-time in the Sweet 16 and have won 30 games for just the fifth time in school history.

OU is now in its third Elite 8 in the past 8 years. With a win over Sobbin’ Roy tomorrow, the Sooners will be in their second Final Four this decade.

Are the Sooners becoming an elite program? Maybe. Elite 8? Definitely.

Blake Griffin to the Thunder is probably a “pipe dream” at this point, according to the guys over at The Lost Ogle.

The irreverant Oklahoma City bloggers have taken a break from their coverage of Cardboard Jim Trabor’s and Gary England’s progress through Ogle Madness to write a nice piece on the diminishing chances that the OKC Thunder will get Blake in this year’s NBA draft.

TLO focuses on the obvious marketing boon to the city should Blake stay in his hometown, to the idiotic chagrin of OSU fans who just don’t quite get it.

Many people who post at OrangePower.com are probably cheering the inevitability of Griffin, who played his high school ball beneath the giant cross at LifeChurch before becoming a Sooner legend, being exported over state lines come Draft Night 2009. While I understand the sentiment, it is ridiculous. Anyone who wants the Thunder to thrive in this state, on the floor and off, should be praying that what minuscule hope remains of the ping pong balls falling our way are enough. The kid would be perfect in the blue and orange/red.

To the Thunder’s credit, they haven’t tanked the season like San Antonio did in 1997 when Tim Duncan was going to be available as the first pick in the draft and they knew they could pair him with The Admiral. After starting the season a horrendous 4-33, including going 2-14 in the month of November, the Thunder ripped off a 19-game stretch where they went 10-9. They’re officially out of the playoffs now, but far from the worst team in the Association. At 20-51, there are five teams with worse records who would have more ping pong balls in the lottery draft, were it to be held today (it’s actually on June 5).

The leaders in the Blake Griffin derby coming down the stretch? Start saving your money for a Sacramento Kings or Washington Wizards jersey. Now, it would be nice to have Blake in OKC, but the Wiz with Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and a healthy Gilbert Arenas would be a great place for him to land. The Kings, however, are a mess. They traded for, then promptly waived Drew Gooden earlier this season. 6’7″ wing Kevin Martin is having a nice season at 24 ppg, but their front line is young. Rookie Jason Thompson averages 10.5 ppg and 7 rebounds while second-year pro and seven-footer Spencer Hawes goes for 10.8 and 7 per night. Point guard Bobby Jackson hasn’t played a full, healthy season since Kid n’Play popularized The Fade.

Thoughts?