- Kevin Pelton ranks his Top 10 prospects at Basketball Prospectus, and DeAndre Jordan comes in at No. 4: “Because veterans Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman are ahead of him on the Clippers’ depth chart, Jordan is still a name to file away for the future at this point. However, when injuries struck the L.A. frontcourt last season, Jordan proved to much further along in his development than anyone expected after one disappointing season at Texas A&M. As it turned out, there was a reason Jordan was considered a likely lottery pick coming out of high school. He’ll get another year to learn before Camby’s contract expires, leaving Jordan to fight with Kaman for playing time in the middle.”
- The panel at ESPN.com offers up predictions for the 2009-10 season. The experts project the Clippers to finish anywhere from 7th in the Western Conference (J.A. Adande) to 12th (John Hollinger and Jemele Hill).
- The crowd at Staples last night was predominantly pro-Maccabi, but it’s important to note that the game was not included in the Clippers’ season ticket package and was marketed entirely to Los Angeles’ Jewish community. Los Angeles has the largest concentration of Israelis outside of Israel. Proceeds from the game went to Migdal Ohr, Israel’s largest orphanage.
- Top pick or not, Blake Griffin apparently isn’t exempt from rookie schlep duty. From Griffin’s Twitter feed: “Heading to krispy kreme for the team before shoot a round who wants one?”
- Staples has signed an unprecedented lifetime deal for the naming rights to the facility.
- Suffice it to say, Rasual Butler will be pulling for the Phils to polish off the Dodgers tonight. In the same story, Ralph Lawler contrasts Phillies fans and the Dodger faithful: “LA fans have been hypnotized by the mellow tones of Vin Scully, who has broadcast Dodgers games for 60 years. It’s not cool to care too much in Los Angeles, and these people just don’t wear their emotions on their sleeves as much as the fans in Philadelphia do.”
