From David Thorpe’s Summer League Twitter Thread:

Once again, DeAndre Jordan is taking pride in setting screens.

Thrope mentioned this the other day and ever since, I’ve been making a point to watch DJ in screen situations.  You know what?

He’s right. Jordan is a completely different, more engaged player when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Last season, even when he played well, he seemed indifferent about what was happening on the court apart from “When am I going to get a chance to touch the ball?”

Watching Jordan the first few games, I sense that he’s a lot more attentive to questions like, “What am I supposed to be doing on the court, specifically, right at this moment?” Before, Jordan was playing an individual sport, now he’s playing a team sport.

Tonight’s ugly offensive performance notwithstanding, the Clippers have a legitimate frontcourt rotation player in DeAndre Jordan. Good, athletic, centers are rare finds. If you’ve got one, you’re in a lot better shape.  More...

From Marc Stein:

In more definitive transaction news involving the Clippers, L.A. has offered a coaching position to famed skills guru Tim Grgurich in hopes of convincing Grgurich to walk away from longtime boss George Karl. The Nuggets are working to convince Grgurich to stay.

In NBA circles, the notoriously taciturn Grgurich is considered among the foremost luminaries in the coaching world. Players hold him in the highest esteem. He holds an annual training camp for NBA pros in Las Vegas each summer. The event is strictly word-of-mouth, and the media aren’t allowed anywhere near Clark County to cover it.  More...

• DeAndre Jordan continues to impress. You always have to offer a qualifier in Summer League, because many of Jordan’s easy routes to the hoop won’t be there when long, speedy NBA help defenders in the regular season slide over to cut off DJ’s path to the rim, but here in Vegas, he’s winning every race to the basket — by a mile. His post moves are far more refined. He’s pivoting middle, bumping his defender with authority as he backs in, and isn’t rushing his shot. He’s shooting 15-for-19 from the field over the two games. Equally impressive? The defensive strides. DJ is communicating with his teammates. He’s not dropping back aimlessly on the pick-and-roll.

Last night’s showcase of Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon at the Thomas & Mack Center should have been the halcyon moment in the Clippers’ rebirth as a franchise. With the Clippers’ brass beaming on the sideline, the team’s featured 20-year-old offensive stars ran a clinic, establishing themselves as one of the league’s most potent big-small duos.

After the game, the G-Force’s mutual admiration society spoke glowingly. “It’s easy to work with [Gordon],” Griffin said. “All I have to do is set a pick and just wait. He’s so strong, he either gets to the hole, gets fouled, or passes it to me.”  More...

I’ll have more on Griffin’s debut over the next several hours. This is what I filed for TrueHoop:

Moments prior to Blake Griffin’s NBA debut, the Los Angeles Clippers’ brass was lined up courtside, smiling widely like expectant parents. And if the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas weren’t a smoke-free facility, they would’ve been lighting up stogies two minutes into the Clippers’ Summer League game against the Los Angeles Lakers.  More...

Blake Griffin: Scoring Every Which Way (Garrett Ellwood/NBA via Getty Images)