Re: Training Camp/Preseason News

[scratch21]

Craw is a 6th man. He should not start

[TheNewEra]

Comments about defense are always a welcome from Blake just have to step it up from everyone

[mkwest]

BG said he dropped a little body fat, and lost about 5 lbs over the offseason. "I normally play at about 258, I'm about 253 right now"

Eric Patten

@Scratch_21 Odom said his conditioning is not where he wants it to be yet, but camp will give him time to prepare for the season.

Eric Patten

Thanks Scratch

ODOM SPEAKS HIS MIND AFTER PRACTICE



On Blake Griffin developing as a jump shooter:

“It’s important for him [Griffin] to take them [jump shots], especially in this environment, in this atmosphere. Because it will help him, just the confidence from taking shots will help him on the free throw line as well; just having the threat. I can remember, Charles Barkley, at one point in his career used to get the ball off the glass, go coast-to-coast, one leg, two-hand dunks. Karl Malone, everything was inside, but later on their careers they started to establish a perimeter shot. I think if Blake could try to establish that earlier in his career, not only will he make himself better, but make his team better.”

“It just takes time. He’s great at being an athlete. He understands the game and he understands what he needs to do. He’ll be a Hall of Famer one day.”

On playing with Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups after lining up against them for most of his career:

“You know, I used to hate Chris Paul, but now I love him. I used to hate playing against Chauncey Billups. I remember one game we were playing against him, he hit like 10 threes in the second half or something like that, but when we went to the World Championships [in 2010] I loved him. You know, those relationships don’t carry on off the court that’s the beautiful thing about the league.”

On what made Paul get under his skin as opponent:

“The way he competes. He was what we would call an ‘M-Fer.’ If the ball was on the floor, he’d be diving, kicking, scratching, whatever he needs to do to win. Those are the guys you…hate ‘em.”

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

[og15]

I like to hear about defense, I like to hear that a lot

[mkwest]

Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan work on their range

To shore up this problem, the Clippers hired renowned shooting coach Bob Thate, who has been working with Griffin and Jordan since June. Thate was the New Jersey Nets’ shooting coach from 2005 to 2008 and has worked with Jason Kidd and Vince Carter.

The first thing Thate did was breakdown both players’ shooting form before building it back up, which wasn’t an easy process.

“The first couple of weeks I didn’t like it at all,” Jordan said. “I’m going to be honest with you. I didn’t like it because I was too cramped in shooting the ball. But when he recorded it and I saw it, it looked like a good shot.

“Before when I would shoot the ball, I really didn’t have control of the ball. I thought I did, but he broke it down. The first two weeks I was taking the ball and putting it on my forehead just to get used to it. Now I’ve put everything together and I’m working with him every day.”

“A lot of times when I would shoot I would fade back a little bit unnecessarily and sometimes I would hang and keep the ball up high for a while and we’ve pretty much gotten rid of all that,” Griffin said. “Now it’s a matter of getting reps and shooting the same way every single time.”

Jordan also worked out with Clippers assistant coach Marc Iavaroni most of the summer on developing a more refined post game.

“I’ve worked on go-to moves and got as many reps as possible,” Jordan said. “Left-hand jumper, right-hand jumpers, counter moves. I really wanted to work on that just in case if I got the ball in the post. I really wanted to be a force in there for us this year.”

Arash Markazi, ESPN Los Angeles

DAY 2: DEFENSIVE PROGRESS

The team spent a majority of Saturday evening working on defense with players constantly talking and clapping up hustle plays. The same energy carried over to Sunday morning when they broke into small groups and rotated between three defensive drilling stations.

The most positive sign thus far, according to Griffin has been the level of communication between defenders.

“We had trouble at times [last season] communicating on rotations,” Griffin said Sunday. “The best part about this [year] is we’re having a full training camp to really get this down and not just two weeks or whatever it was last year.”

“We’ve got to work through a lot of stuff,” Del Negro said. “Mixing different lineups in, trying to see who works well together, and the chemistry, and just kind of building a foundation for what we want to do at both ends of the court.”

Bledsoe will likely start at point guard in Paul’s absence, with former Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, Hill, and Barnes all vying for playing time next to him. It helps that Crawford is more than capable of shifting down to play the point, and that starting small forward Caron Butler could also play shooting guard in certain situations.

Del Negro has said on several occasions that the team’s depth, and potential fight for playing time, is a “good problem to have.”

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

[playaloc916]

Good to hear that DJ has been making improvements. He's had a lot of time to improve, so this year I hope we see dramatic improvement. He just needs to stick to his go to moves and keeps getting his reps in and he should be fine. But again, his most important role is to be the defensive anchor of the team. As long as he's doing that job, any sort of offense is an added bonus.

And I'm also really excited about this season too. I thought we had depth last year, but it was a bit lopsided due to having a lot of similar type players (ie undersized guards and undersized centers). Now we have more prototypical players, so the depth is even better than last year.

[mkwest]

This season, Griffin will have even more of a shooting interest

"It's not one of those things where people are going to be like, 'Oh, wow, it's completely different,'" Griffin said. "For me, it's much more compact than it was. I feel like there's less chance for error. But, still, I've got a lot more work to go."

He worked so hard to score down low, taking a physical pounding in the process.

A mid-range jumper, Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said, will give Griffin another weapon.

"Well, it opens up everything," Del Negro said. "Not only for him, but for everyone. There is the spacing factor and he doesn't have to take as much pounding."

But there is a more important factor for Griffin.

"I think his confidence is better," Del Negro said. "But it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take some time. Everybody wants it now. But there's a process involved. He's putting in all the time and effort he can. You're going to see some more consistency there and improvement."

Brad Turner, LA Times

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4do2jwFPKa0[/youtube]

[scratch21]

all talk till the season

[mkwest]

all talk till the season

We'll get a look in a few days

Every Spur also mentioned the Clippers when talking about the best teams in the West. They have a ton of respect for them.

Yannis Koutroupis (HoopsWorld)

DAY 3: GRANT HILL SURPRISED BY JORDAN AND BLEDSOE

Grant Hill would be hard-pressed to be caught off guard on the basketball court.

The 17-year veteran and two-time NCAA champion has been through practically any situation imaginable, so on Monday morning when Hill said the two most surprising players thus far in camp were youngsters Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan, the comment carried some weight.

“I really like Bledsoe,” Hill said following the first of two practices Monday. “I think his ability to attack the screen-and-roll. I think his decision making, we all know he’s a great athlete, but he looks like he’s put a lot of time in working on that this offseason.

“DeAndre, I didn’t realize he could post like that, but he’s really been catching the ball in the post, being really decisive, making really powerful moves, the right read. I didn’t recall him posting a lot last year, but it looks like he’s worked a lot at that and he’s confident and the team has confidence in him.”

Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro sees Hill as an integral part of that.

“He’s been very healthy and we’ve just got to manage his minutes,” Del Negro said. “He is just such a valuable, versatile player. He’s a winner.”

After spending the previous five seasons with the Suns, the 39-year-old Hill now finds himself as a somewhat of a new kid.

“The guys who have been here have been really good to us new guys, so it’s been comfortable,” Hill said. “We’ve only been together for a short while, but you’re starting to get to know the guys and have fun with each other. I think that’s big, it carries over onto the court and just helps build that trust.”

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04cs4bYL5iU[/youtube]

[mkwest]

Barnes happy to be back on court

"I'm a competitor," Barnes said. "I'm looking forward to getting a chance to guard Kobe Bryant for real again instead of in practice. I wish those guys nothing but the best, but I'm happy to be here."

Before Barnes signed his one-year deal with the Clippers, he called Blake Griffin to make sure there was no lingering hard feelings from last year when Barnes pushed Griffin to the floor during a preseason game and called him a "flopper."

"I look at my teammates like my family," said Barnes, who worked out this offseason with MMA fighter John Marsh. "Like sticking up for Steve Blake two years ago when Jason Terry went at him. I look at my teammates as my family and I'll do anything for my family. That's the discussion Blake and I had when I signed here. People thought we had a beef, but we didn't have a beef. I just explained to him how I look at the game and approach the game and he understood that. I let him know that I'm his teammate now and people aren't going to take him down and getting away with it anymore."

Arash Markazi, ESPN Los Angeles

[mkwest]

[mkwest]

Vinny Del Negro to me after practice today: "You were probably with the Lakers. Kissing their --- as normal."

Arash Markazi

Huge props to Vinny for this I cannot stand Arash.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7STS43Orso[/youtube]

DAY 3: EVENING UPDATE

The Clippers wrapped up their second two-a-day practice of training camp with a little more than an hour of work Monday evening.

They broke into positional shooting drills, which consisted of three stations spread between their two practice courts. Blake Griffin, Matt Barnes, and Lamar Odom were together in one group taking a variety of jump shots from the baseline and elbow areas.

Later, the team ran through brief offensive sets, worked on defensive rotations in five-man units, and finished with free throws, per their usual routine.

“We’re just going to build every day,” Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said. “It’s all got to come together. It’s great on paper, but it’s all got to come together as a team.”

The Clippers are back on the practice court tomorrow morning before Wednesday’s open scrimmage at USC’s Galen Center.

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

[mike3]

First look at Griffins 'new' jumpshot in that video, didn't look a whole lot different but I didn't expect it to. It did look more fluent and not have the bump in it though.

Lamar seems happy with us, looks like he's enjoying his time so far. Good to see for him. Now for him just to get back in shape.

[kombayn]

I really like what I see out of training camp right now, our roster is a HUGE upgrade from last year and Vinny seems to have everyone's backing on the team right now. I think Neil Olshey may have been a problem towards the end, BG backed-up Gary Sacks and it seems that the Clippers front-office really looked for our players opinions in roster moves. Right now, our team is deep and ready for any kind of injury and Vinny has all the pressure on him to make them win but the thing is he's winning them around, he's in the Spoelstra area because of the talent he has to work but no-one will call for Spoelstra head now that they've won and Vinny showed he still had the team after the crazy losing streak also won the series against the Grizzlies in a Game 7 on the road. I'm believing in him now after that comment to Markazi about the Lakers too. Only negative is Lamar Odom right now, I don't really expect anything out of him until the Christmas break because he's extremely out-of-shape right now.

[mttwlsn16]

blake needs to go back to the buzzcut of the days at OK. not a fan of the mini fire-fro hes been sporting.

[TheNewEra]

Rep for Vinny holding the team down.

[jflipclip]

Odom really does look fat. I like Hill's comments because those two (Bledsoe & DJ) are two players I expect a lot from. I really like Bledsoe and hope he plays a big role this year.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

OK then I guess it wasn't just me who thought Odom looked big. Seeing all the players at the training facility has me excited for the up coming season. We really have a talented roster and I can't wait to see us play.

[mkwest]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVqY7Eo7UnQ[/youtube]

DeAndre on discovering importance of patience: "As long as I take my time and don't rush [things], I know I'm going to get something good."

Eric Patten

JORDAN COULD PLAY MORE LATE IN GAMES

As last season progressed, Jordan, who started 77 games for the Clippers (66 regular season, 11 postseason), was relegated to 5.5 minutes per game in the fourth quarter, including 24 occasions when he did not appear. According to both Jordan and Head Coach Vinny Del Negro, this was primarily due to Jordan’s shortcomings at the free throw line where he shot 52.5% in the regular season and 33.3% in the playoffs.

“When you’re playing the top teams and you’re in the playoffs, possessions are huge,” Del Negro said after Tuesday morning’s practice. “If teams are going to foul us, we have to make them pay at the free throw line. And if you’re not able to knock free throws down on a consistent basis then it’s going to change things. We need DeAndre out there and Blake [Griffin] and really all of our big guys on the defensive end to control the glass and get possessions back for us.”

Jordan said the addition of Assistant Coach Bob Ociepka is also making a difference.

“We’ve got a new defensive coach Bobby O. He’s great and I love him,” Jordan said. “He’s teaching us some new schemes and he’s going to help us out a lot.”

Still, the real game-changer could be Jordan.

“Everybody wants to play late, everybody wants to be clutch,” Jordan said. “I feel like my ability to play defense [can impact the game] because you have to get stops. We have a lot of scorers, but when it comes down to it you have to get stops. Free throw [shooting] was a big deal and I worked on it this summer. This year I’m feeling confident that I can play down the stretch and help us get wins.”

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

ODOM LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK

“We expect him to be the player that he was throughout his career,” Sacks said. “He’s a guy I think can be a Sixth Man of the Year again. He’s done that and he’s versatile and he can do a lot of things on the basketball court that can help us. We didn’t have that versatility in the frontcourt last year. I expect him to be every bit as good as he’s ever been and I think he’s going the fit in with our team, with these guys perfectly.”The Clippers are counting on Odom, who has one year remaining on his contract, to regain a semblance of his former self. Vice President of Basketball Operations Gary Sacks, who along with Head Coach Vinny Del Negro and President Andy Roeser helped orchestrate the deal to bring Odom back to Los Angeles, believes Odom will.

Odom expects the same. “People ask me, what Lamar are we going to get, the Lamar in Dallas or the Lamar who put like a six or seven or eight year string of consistent ball together?

“[You’re going to get] the Lamar who put the six or seven or eight year string of good ball together,” Odom answered. “I mean, I’ve played well more than I’ve played bad, but people tend to remember what happened last.”

Lawler, who has known Odom for more than a dozen years, added: “He (Odom) will be the brightest light in the locker room. I virtually guarantee he will be the most popular player in there amongst his teammates. He’s a wonderful guy, so I was thrilled when I heard they (the Clippers) were bringing him back.”

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

Injured Clippers guard Chauncey Billups is practicing patience

He has been excited to join Chris Paul in the backcourt with the starting team at practice during some drills and offensive sets. However, Billups has been low-key about this because he knows he isn't ready for full contact because he's not fully recovered from left Achilles' tendon surgery.

"I think if I was younger it would be tougher," said the 36-year-old Billups. "But I'm not fighting myself off at all because I know how severe this injury really was. And I'm not going to compromise all the hard work that I've put in all summer ... to get back a week earlier."

"I'm kind of at the end the last phase of my rehab, which is the explosive type of stuff," Billups said. "So I'm not quite where I need to be."

Billups said he is running full speed and cutting. He just can't explode the way he wants.

"We've got some guys that know how to play," Hill said. "It's sort of a new environment for all of us with the concepts. We've kind of seen them all before, done them all before. But, yeah, for a team that has a bunch of new faces and [reserve] unit, for the most part, us coming together for the first time, it's going better than I thought at this point."

Brad Turner, LA Times

[jflipclip]

I'm liking this whole DJ progressing. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but everything sounds good. Usually big guys that get a big contract, you don't hear this type of thing coming from them. Remember, DJ was the third guy painted on that skyscraper mural-- it means the organization invests and believes that he may play an integral part of this team's future. Looks like he's buying into it too. Let's just wait and see if it all plays out in the regular season. =]