Los Angeles Clippers rookie forward Blake Griffin underwent a CT Scan and MRI of the stress fracture of his left patella yesterday.
In addition to his continued strength and conditioning work, Griffin has been cleared to begin running on an AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill beginning today and is expected to begin running on a normal full-body weight treadmill next week.Based on expected progression, Griffin is expected to be cleared for a return to basketball related activity in approximately three weeks.
Three weeks would be January 13. Figure he’ll need a steady routine of 5-on-5 practices and drills to get him fully prepared for a regular season NBA game.
For instance, Griffin takes shooting practice as part of his rehab, but the regimen is largely free throws and stationary shooting. “I can’t really jump when I shoot,” Griffin said. “I mean, I can jump when I shoot, but I don’t.” He’s close, and some days feels absolutely ready to resume full-contact workouts. But Griffin has also come to appreciate that his injury requires a full recovery before he can unleash his full fury on the basketball court.
For more, please check out my piece at ESPN Los Angeles on Griffin’s eagerness to get back on the court.
19 Responses
Great news! My xmas wish came true!!!
Keep Rhino far away from Mr. Griffin
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
So Jan 13th plus 2 weeks? I guess no one knows, but is “basketball related activity” playing in an NBA game, or just 1 on 1 practice? Sounds like he’ll be back right before the all-star break.
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The anticipation for his debut is killing me. Hopefully when he gets back, we’ll go on a winning terror. Excitement and enthusiasm for the Clips is on the low side at the moment.
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Hopefully, it will not be late. Guys please read a story from Bill Simmons on ESPN about the future of the NBA. Of course, his favorite target is the Clippers.
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Curtis Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 1:12 am
You got a link?
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Ah, they tease us. Let’s be realistic. It’s early feb at best for his return and by then? Too late. Would be nice to play at .500 after his return to keep spirits up among the starters. Unfortunately the bench can’t score. Can we sign Jerry Stackhouse please? I hear Isiah Rider’s playing again…is he available? Here’s a crazy idea…how about someone from the NBDL???
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
From ESPN’s Simmons: I like the trade proposal with Portland.
L.A. Clippers (group A)
2009-10 payroll: $59.7 million
Projected 2010-11 payroll: $39.0 million
• VP’s Take: A frontcourt logjam looming with Blake Griffin coming back soon. Can’t mess with his minutes. He’s a stud. That means trading Chris Kaman (near impossible) or getting something for Marcus Camby (expiring this summer) while he’s healthy. And if they save money, that’s a bonus. Remember, they’re owned by the cheapest man alive.
• Mitigating Factor: Mike Dunleavy doesn’t see it that way, explaining their decision to keep Camby like this: “When you have a stock that’s going up, you don’t want to sell it. When it’s going down, nobody wants to buy it. So we just want to freeze, do nothing and continue to suck the soul from our fans.” Fine, I made the last sentence up. He said the other two, though.
• VP’s Verdict: Camby’s stock WILL go down. Time to sell. Right now. Today. We even have the perfect suitor: the Trail Blazers, who tragically lost both of their centers in a four-week span. What about …
Fake Trade 5: Camby to Portland for the Outlaw/Blake ECs and the rights to Victor Claver (Portland’s 2009 No. 1, currently stashed in Europe). Pretty good haul for the dirt-cheap Clips — they end up with a $4.5 million profit swing and a highly regarded European for someone who was leaving anyway.
(Important note: If the Clips had a real owner, they’d be shopping Kaman and offering the rights to Minnesota’s 2011 pick to get it done, just to clear cap space for LeBron and another big-ticket free agent this summer. Sadly, Donald Sterling’s skills lie in housing discrimination, not owning a basketball team. Too bad.)
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Why would Lebron James want to come here if we traded Kaman. Why wouldn’t he want to play with a legit center. I love how everyone thinks it’s impossible for LB to want to come here. Who would you rather play with Mo williams, some guy name Boobie and JJ Hicks or you could play with Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman? I don’t think LB is leaving the Cavs but come on people act like he couldn’t turn the clippers around if he came here. How bad were the Mavs before Dirk or Orlando before Howard or the Hawks before Joe Johnson. Seriously, One player can change a team in the NBA, now imagine if we had LB and Blake Griffin.
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bongstradamus Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Beyond money, theres a thing called happiness and another thing a championship. We have money, just dont seem to be flush on happiness or even close to a championship.
Kaman isnt a player that sells a superstar on a 5 year deal to join your team.
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Curtis Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Agreed bongstradamus, we have an enticing line up on paper, and LA would be an excellent venue for a player like LBJ, but there’s so many other factors to consider, like coaching, ownership, family, etc. It’d be nice to see him want to come here, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
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kenji Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 8:20 am
i don’t understand why everyone thinks that trading away a all-star calliber player just because he has a big contract (kaman) to free up cap space is the solution to landing a lebron. look at the knicks. they’re getting rid of anybody with a spec of talent just to have cap space to get 2 max contract players. Ok, so lets say they do that. what about the rest of the roster? they’d of spent all their money on 2 players that those two players are again surrounded by a bunch of scrubs becase the team couldn’t afford anything more than minimum contracts. So a lebron, for instance, is again stuck on a team that will not contend for a championship.
trading away kaman just for more cap room makes no sense. camby is gone after this season. so is it worth it to give up a guy like kaman (who has been a beast this year) just to have ROOM for lebron? we’d be losing our anchor inside with no guarantee that lebron would even be interested in the clippers. lebron is going to sign wherever he wants regardless of the offered contract, so everybody needs to stop wanting to dump any clipper contract larger than $5M 2yrs. let all these other teams with absolutely no realistic shot at lebron dump their quality players so we can scoop them up and build a great team.
if lebron was really a team player and focused solely on a championship, he’d forget about a max contract eating up his teams salary, and take a smaller dollar contract so that the team can afford to bring in the type of players he cries about needing to win.
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Chris McDougall Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 9:20 am
In my own imaginary world Lebron would sign with the Clippers just to spite the Lakers and Kobe. Now that he has an extremely solid team to back him up they’d take the championship. Clipper fans would finally be happy and show everyone once and for all that they aren’t crazy masochists. And LA will finally have no reason to ignore their “other basketball team.” Laker band wagoners would be very confused.
This is crazy and would never happen for all the reasons stated. The Clippers don’t necessarily NEED Lebron to start winning, at least on paper. But if he did sign with the Clippers they would definitely be championship contenders. He’s done it with Cleveland, afterall.
Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I do not know what is worst to be a Clipper Fan or ready Simmons stories. it does not make sense at all. At least we are lucky to have Kevin A.’s stories. I wish happy holidays to all of you.
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
i think simmons’ take on the clippers are usually pretty solid, but this is totally wrong. if we’re giving away Camby (who’s playing fantastic) why would we dump him for expiring contracts??? HE IS AN EXPIRING CONTRACT. a late first round european being stashed in europe? sounds like korolev 2.0.
if the clippers plan is to get a superstar player in the off-season, trading away your biggest expiring contract is the worst thing to do.
I’d only trade Camby if we’re getting a quality SF, like Battier or Ariza. then i’d use the cap space to build up the bench in the off season.
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kenji Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 8:21 am
here here!
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Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Wow! Come on Blake please get 100%. I enjoyed watching his power on the court in college and can’t wait till he arrives on the nba court.
The news about LeBron interested to join the Clips, exciting and thrilled.
A while back the Clips owner was ready to sign Kobe, I bet he is ready to get LB.
No question about it, and I bet he is planning with Dunleavy to do it.
Watch!! That is all I have to say.
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Posted on December 24th, 2009 at 12:20 am
I wonder how Griffin will affect the Clipper’s final record.
Looking at the Clipper Schedule, they have 19 games from now till Feb, given the 3 weeks till he’s “cleared” and then a few more weeks to really be affective. Eleven of those games are against winning records, but 2 of those are against Portland (19-12, with lots of injuries) and a 14-12 Miami team.
The Clippers are currently 12-16. Lets say they can go 9-10 in that stretch and be at 21-26. That leaves about 35 games in the season. If they just win all the games against teams with losing records (17 games) they could end the season 38-44.
IF Griffin has the huge impact that we’re all hoping for, maybe they could upset a few of those winning teams and end up .500. I don’t think an additional 3 wins a la Griffin are too much to hope for. But then again, maybe Griffin’s 3 wins will be among the 17 games that the Clippers are supposed to win.
What was the Clipperblog preseason predition on this year’s season? Is 41-41 too out of reach? Is 38-44 even doable?
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Posted on December 24th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Blake may be one of the best dunkers ever. This guy can elevate which is dangerous because most guys who dunk this powerfully usually get injured (stoudemire, mcdyess, carter) WE HAVE TO KEEP HIM HEALTHY when he gets back. Blake in the starting lineup we win games end of story. We really don’t need a player that is gonna stop the development of all the young players we got. In 1-2 seasons I see Gordon/Thornton/Griffin out playing any other combination of young players. Baron and Kaman anchor our half court offense and this is all we need to make the playoffs. We might want someone else to be a sixth man that can help out butler off the bench. Once Blake gets back hopefully we can defend the quick pfs in the league who have given us fits (Landry, Lee, Millsap) cuz we are better than those teams I think. This is all I really want for christmas!
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Posted on December 24th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I think simmons is spot on. He’s a jerk sometimes when it comes to the Clippers, but he’s usually right. I’m starting to hear that the cap is not go be as low as projected. If we trade Kaman for expiring contracts, plus move either Bassy or Thornton, we can be close to having room for 2 max contracts. I think Lebron would be more inclined to come to the Clippers if we go after him and Bosh. Rumors are Bosh wants to join a team with another superstar.I know other teams like the knicks for example will try to go after 2 max contract superstars, but they won’t have a cast like the Clippers to offer. Gordon and Griffin + Lebron and Bosh with Baron at the point. How can ANY team make a better offer than that? We would have to get a new coach most likely though!
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Posted on December 24th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
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