Blake Griffin’s introductory press conference at the Clippers’ training facility on Monday attracted an assortment of media, corporate sponsors, VIPs, and a few lurkers — including Clippers’ second-year guard Eric Gordon. Wearing a Clippers’ tee and sweatpants, Gordon lingered in the far back of the gym, resting on a training table, as the Clippers’ executive team welcomed their #1 pick to the organization. After the official proceedings, Gordon sidled up to the buttoned-up Griffin as the press lobbed questions at both of them.

There were times last season as a shy, undemonstrative 20-year-old when Gordon appeared uncomfortable off the court in front of a media scrum. Today, he beamed alongside his new teammate.  When a Clippers’ PR rep motioned to him that he didn’t have to take questions at Griffin’s event if he didn’t want to, Gordon was unfazed — that’s because he was having a blast as the grizzled vet at Griffin’s party. Eric Gordon could finally talk about something other than the burdens and undertakings of…Eric Gordon. All he was asked to address were the prospects of one Blake Griffin — and he couldn’t have been any cheerier.

Did he have any advice for the rookie?

“It’s a loooong season,” Griffin said emphatically. “Looooong. Especially when you’re a rookie. You got to think about Summer League, then preseason games. It’s long.”

While Griffin ceremoniously answered questions about where he might like to live and whom on the Clippers’ current roster he’s spoken to, Gordon presided confidently as the guy who’s been through it all. “I would say training camp is when it all hit me and I felt settled in and knew what I was doing.” Gordon said when asked how long it takes a rookie to acclimate to life in his first pro city.

Gordon made a personal no-hazing pledge to Griffin today. “I ain’t going to do that,” Gordon said. “It ain’t my style.”

Apparently Mike Taylor has no such compunction. Before Griffin even took the podium Monday, the second-year guard was already on the rookie. “He was out here working out and I was trying to get ready,” Griffin said. “He made me go get him a towel.”

Although the event was undoubtedly about Griffin, Gordon’s presence lent a real-world and unscripted context to an otherwise produced event. Griffin’s accomplishments in his rookie year will invariably be judged on his ability to integrate. The Clippers have enough individual talents, they need players who can create alchemy with guys like Gordon.

Griffin seems to recognize that. So does Gordon. Asked how he planned to utilize Griffin in a two-man game, Gordon smiled.

“Throw it up in the air,” Gordon said. “That’s all, because you know he’s going to catch one.”

(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBA via Getty Images)

Griffin addresses the media immediately following his announcement as the #1 pick:

Draft day is finally here! Thanks to Matt Moore, creator of the supremely entertaining site Hardwood Paroxysm, you’ll be able to follow along right here at Clipperblog as the TrueHoop Network live blogs all of today’s happenings.

TrueHoop Network NBA Draft Liveblog-O-Rama-Rama

• Joined the Blake Griffin scrum this afternoon at the Westin, and asked Griffin whom he’s spoken to on the Clippers roster. “I talked to Baron. He was in the gym when I was there for my workout. He said if I come there, ‘We’re excited about it. We’ll look forward to playing together.’ I talked to Eric a little bit. I’ve talked to DeAndre Jordan a lot. I’ve known him for a while. He’s a funny guy.”
• I continue to speak to basketball development and executive types who believe that, until he develops a jumper, Griffin is better suited to play the 5 spot in a halfcourt scheme — albeit with the ability to cross-defend power forward as need be.  Once Griffin emerges with a true face-up game, the Clippers will have additional options. The suggestion that Griffin could play the 3 is met with eye-rolling or its rhetorical equivalent.
• Blake Griffin plays H-O-R-S-E with Subway pitchman Jared Fogle, and delights the banana pepper lobby.
• Bill Simmons, showing his work, echoes the sentiments of Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman.
• Chris Broussard at ESPN.com is reporting, “Chris Kaman and Tyson Chandler are being shopped and could have new homes tomorrow.” Andy Katz is less bullish on the prospect of Kaman’s being moved.

I had a chance on Tuesday to look at some advanced numbers from Blake Griffin’s sophomore year at Oklahoma, and posted about it at TrueHoop:

• The first thing that jumps off the page in Griffin’s report is the percentage of his offense that comes from post-ups — 44%. To put that in perspective, Al Horford came ouf of Florida with a 43% number, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many amateurs who get out of the 30s. Horford was a bit more efficient than Griffin on the block (1.11 vs. 1.00 points per possession), but Griffin’s number is still very strong. As the Synergy report states, “Blake’s proficiency in this area will not only produce a high percentage shots for his team when he goes to work on the block, it will also create open shots for his teammates when players are forced to leave their men to help defend Blake’s post-ups.”
• Baron Davis, take note: Griffin’s numbers indicate that he moves as well off the ball as any big man we’ve seen in recent years. He recorded a whopping 1.5 points per possession on cuts. The reports says it all, “This indicates that Blake is active, has good hands, and knows how to score the ball attacking the rim. This is a valuable asset that produces easy scores and cause the defense to track yet another offensive threat. Combine a good passing point guard with Blake and his team will burn the defense in this type of offense.”
• Griffin will need to spend a lot of time developing his jump shot. He generated only 0.64 points per possession on spot-ups. At Oklahoma, those opportunities accounted for only 2% of his offense, but at the pro level, he can’t be an elite power forward without some range.
• Griffin is a terrific big man in transition, where he chalked up 1.32 points per possession. The comp here is Brandan Wright, who had similar success on the break at Carolina in 2007-08. If the Clippers can get stops and control the defensive glass (two big ifs), they’ll be able to use Griffin to get out of the offensive efficiency cellar — they finished 30th in the league last season.

There’s some other interesting stuff in the data. Griffin is an efficient scorer on both blocks. He works from the left block 51% of the time, and the right block 41% of the time, averaging 0.99 PPP and 1.01 PPP respectively. Once he gets the ball, Griffin prefers to spin baseline — which makes sense given that he hasn’t yet developed a face-up game. Expect to see defenders to cut off that baseline in his rookie campaign and force him to shoot from the middle of the lane.

When we talk about Griffin’s development as a pro, we spend most of our time discussing his shooting — but learning to play pick-and-roll basketball will be another vital piece to his maturation as a big man. Pick-and-rolls accounted for only 3% of his offensive possessions at Oklahoma last season, which isn’t abnormal at all.  Only a few college programs — like Texas and Ohio State in recent seasons — run a pro-style offense. Griffin has the quicks, athleticism, and body to be a phenomenal PNR player. Watching him cultivate that part of the game will be even more satisfying than watching him refine his jump shot — particularly as he and Eric Gordon establish a two-man game.

Nothing earth-shattering:

• Dunleavy could see Blake Griffin playing the 5, which makes a whole lot more sense when you consider Griffin’s skill set. Dunleavy concedes that Griffin won’t be as effective as a 3 until he refines his outside shot. This is somewhat of a revision of Neil Olshey’s comments from the initial press conference following the lottery.
• In any trade, the Clippers would be looking for perimeter depth (Go figure).
• DeAndre Jordan’s development, according to Dunleavy, is coming along nicely. Jordan’s ceiling? Tyson Chandler.
• Dunleavy anticipates that the 2009-10 team will run more.
• Off to New York.

The video:

The infectious Mr. Griffin:

Part One of the series:

The Clippers have posted some good video of Blake Griffin’s workout last Saturday on their Youtube channel. Griffin’s athleticism jumps off the screen, and he moves confidently, even away from the basket. The part of Griffin’s game that needs to most work — by his own admission — is his jump shot. There’s a heaviness and lumbering quality to Griffin’s shooting form that belies his agility as a big man, something he’s already working to improve.

David Thorpe has worked with numerous top pros and prospects at the Pro Training Center at IMG. I sent him the video of the workout to find out how he’d instruct Griffin to polish his shot:

First of all, the good news: He really has no idea how to shoot the ball, save a few small but important details. That’s good news because he’ll still make shots thanks to his natural talent and feel. It’s clear he has not taken many jumpers in his life, also good news, because he’s too good racking ass in the paint. Without doubt, and with hours of practice, there’s every reason to believe he’ll be a fine shooter, and perhaps an excellent one. With a work ethic as strong as I hear he has, the hours of practice, a prerequisite for success in shooting for most players, seems a given.

Now the details:

For starters, he hunches his back before he catches the ball. Undoubtedly because he’s been taught to (it’s not natural). But bent knees are important, not a bent back. The straightening of the back during the shot is not optimal, nor is the movement of the head going backwards either, as it most assuredly does when the back goes from bent to straight. The vision center in our brain is in the back of it, and moving the head backwards risks sending the brain (sitting in fluid in our skulls) into the skull. At worst, it’s very disorienting (try moving your head back and forth a few times, or once quickly), and at best it can not be of any help. Better to have a stabilized head and therefore, brain. This is easily fixed.

On the catch he always sets the ball first, dropping it down and getting his hand on top of it before bringing it back into his shooting pocket and starting his shot. It makes for a very slow release, and a tougher one to repeat exactly the same every time. Of course, it also makes it easier to deflect for the defender. It’s best to try and get the shooting hand below the ball on the catch and get right into the shooting mechanic.

Next issue is his overall balance. Rarely does he land the same way twice, and oftentimes he actually leans backwards on the shot (think Vince Carter). That is fine when he needs to add a slight fade, but it does not appear that was his intent on the clips I watched. Straight up and down is the goal. Landing off balance typically means he started off balance. He needs to work on getting set with his feet and legs and then lifting straight up. And I like guys landing with what I call active legs, not heavy ones. Bouncing in place once or twice even. It helps with balance issues and also with utilizing the legs to begin with (most missed shots are missed short, and most of the time it’s a leg issue-with good shooters anyway).

He did a poor job directing his shooting arm and hand directly towards the rim, instead it went to the right. It’s a common problem, amazingly enough. I’ve had to work with Earl Clark and DeJuan Blair on this issue.