Clippers hope to turn around Draft luck with Griffin

The last time the Los Angeles Clippers held the No. 1 pick was in 1998 when they took Michael Olowokandi.

It wasn't a very strong Draft.

Raef LaFrentz went No. 3 and Robert "Tractor" Traylor went No. 6. But, the fact that the Clippers selected Olowokandi, who went on to average just 8.3 points and 6.8 rebounds over his nine-year career, with the top pick when future All-Stars Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki were on the board pretty much sums up the luck that the Clips have had as a franchise.

Blake Griffin is supposed to change that luck.

L.A. only had the third-best chance of winning the lottery but the ping pong balls bounced its way and Clippers coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy didn't waste time declaring his intentions, telling a reporter over the phone on the night of the lotto, "Clearly, we're taking Blake Griffin."

The Clippers welcomed Griffin, the consensus national player of the year, to a workout recently. In front of approximately 100 season ticket holders, sponsors, media members and Clippers staffers, Griffin drew oohs and ahhs just by running up and down the floor as the 6-foot-10, 250-pound rippling muscle of a young man that he is.

Dunleavy called him an Adonis. Griffin said he tried to tear the rim down on his dunks just like Shaq. When it came to the jump-shot portion of the program, the cheers turned to cringes as Griffin, a 65 percent shooter as a sophomore at Oklahoma, clanked more midrange jumpers than he hit.

If the shooting display was any cause for concern for Dunleavy, he didn't show it.

"He's a tremendous talent and an even better kid. He's got major hops, he's got big hands, he finishes and he's strong. He was just terrific," Dunleavy said.

Griffin, who led the nation with 30 double-doubles and a 14.4 rebounds per game average, is still clearly the pick of the litter in this year's Draft, even if his jumper looked a little wonky in his workout.

Ricky Rubio, a point guard out of Spain, and Hasheem Thabeet, a center out of the University of Connecticut, are Griffin's closest competition but they both have their limitations. Rubio has the body of a boy and Thabeet is considered raw at best and lost at worst on offense.

So if Griffin is the can't-miss pick, then there's no way the Clippers would consider trading the top spot, would they?

"You can never say never about anything," Dunleavy said. "Obviously if the word 'LeBron' was spoken by anybody, somebody's door would open, clearly. There are a few guys in this league that wouldn't get moved. Most of the times that you're in the case of a pick like this, 99.9 percent of the time you keep it."

That 0.1 percent twinge of doubt is warranted when you look at the Clippers 10 top-three picks since the franchise moved to L.A. in 1984.

Before Olowokandi was a bust, Danny Manning (No. 1 -1988) had to shut it down in January of his rookie season after tearing his ACL. Danny Ferry (No. 2 -- 1989) went to Europe rather than playing in his rookie season. Antonio McDyess (No. 2 -- 1995) and Tyson Chandler (No. 2 -- 2001) were both traded before ever playing a game with the team. Shaun Livingston (No. 4 -- 2004) tore up his knee a couple years ago. Darius Miles (No. 3 -- 2000) made headlines for off-court incidents instead of on-court play. Lamar Odom (No. 4 -1999) left to blossom with the Heat and the Lakers, as Reggie Williams (No. 4 -1987) had his best years with the Nuggets. The only top-three pick relative success story with the Clippers, in terms of matching expectations, is Benoit Benjamin (No. 3 -1985) who averaged 11.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in his 15-year career.

Dunleavy said he plans to play Griffin primarily at power forward, but believes he has the versatility to play small forward or the center position too. On a team that already has major minute eaters in Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby at the five, Zach Randolph at the four and Al Thornton at the three, Dunleavy will have to make a move to free up some playing time for Griffin.

The No. 1 pick is the Clippers' only selection in both rounds of the Draft, but Dunleavy said that he still plans on working out other prospects even though he's already stated his desire to draft Griffin. That's not a reason to worry about L.A. backing out of Blake, but rather reason to believe that Dunleavy will try to trade one of his excess frontcourt men for another first rounder.

"They have a great cache of veterans and a great group of young guys. I think if I'm here we can definitely turn it around and start winning," Griffin said.