Quiet day in Playa Vista as the Clips wrap up their first week of training camp:
- Blake Griffin is day-to-day with a bruised left patella. He worked out and performed some shooting drills today, but seems generally frustrated as a bystander. He won’t play Sunday evening in Oakland when the Clippers’ take the court for their first preseason game.
- With Sebastian Telfair nursing a sore foot, Eric Gordon saw some sets at the point. “He still has a ways to go with that,” Mike Dunleavy said with respect to EJ’s point play. “He’s very good in clear and simple stretch court plays where there’s not too much congestion or traffic.” Gordon isn’t a natural point by any means, but having him at the 1 allows him to post against smaller defenders — something else Dunleavy likes to see from his guards. “He’s a strong kid, can finish well, and get to the free throw line,” Dunleavy said.
- The last player to leave the court today was Al Thornton. He worked on his post game with Sean Rooks and Clippers assistant coach Fred Vinson, taking several reps from each block, spinning both baseline and middle. Al isn’t a natural post player, but his numbers last year on post sets weren’t horrendous: 43% field goal percentage (though only 0.79 points per possession). According to Vinson, the challenge for Al in the post is balance. When Al is unsuccessful, he tends to drop his shoulders as he fades away rather than squaring up. For mere mortals, fading away effectively for a shot is daunting. How can you simultaneously drift backward and keep your shoulders squared toward the basket? It seems almost biomechanically impossible — which explains why Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant is Kobe Bryant.
