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PLAYA VISTA, Calif. -- Blake Griffin did a lot as a rookie last season. He's got a whole lot bigger agenda this year. Like, say, making the Los Angeles Clippers into a destination franchise.


"I'm not even thinking of it like that," Griffin said when asked whether he was making the Clippers his team this season. "I'm just trying to do my job and my part to make this a team that people respect."

"I want to put expectations on our team that are high," Griffin said after a voluntary workout at the team's training center Monday. "That's kind of the way I've always been and I want to put those expectations on our team as well. Our goal is the playoffs and we think that's very attainable."

"I've been talking to Mo (Williams), DJ (DeAndre Jordan) and Eric (Gordon), Ryan (Gomes), Randy (Foye) all those guys all summer about setting the tone the tone for our year," he said. "Making sure that everybody knows that we're not going to be a team that's OK with losing. The biggest thing I think is: 'It's OK to care. It's OK to want to win and to be that team. To be upset when we lose.'


"We can't have the mindset of becoming complacent with losing. It doesn't happen on purpose. But when you start out the way we did, it doesn't make losing easier, but when you've lost six in a row and you get a win, that next game it's like, 'Oh, we won our last one.'


"It's got to be one of those things where that can never be OK. I think that's the direction we're going. That's got to be our mindset."

"I'm confident," Griffin said when asked if he thought Jordan would return. "I think that's somewhat of a main thing for us, as Neil has said. But as a friend of DJs I think he needs to do what's best for him. I think he thinks this might be, and I think we feel the same way."

Ramona Shelburne, ESPN Los Angeles