Dime: Blake Griffin Is Challenging Kobe For King Of L.A.

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DeAndre Jordan on his BFF, Blake Griffin

“Blake’s a funny guy,” says Jordan. “He’s a great friend, a great teammate and he’s a hard worker on and off the court. He’s really always there for you. He’s a big kid; he’s definitely a big goofball.

“Blake Griffin’s one of a kind, man.”

Blake on the growth of public interest in Clipper games

“I think that’s part of being an exciting team,” says Griffin. “I think we have an extremely exciting team, and I think that (exposure) helps; it helps people want to come watch an exciting team.” But building a winner takes time and Griffin knows that.

“Change the perception, change the culture,” he continues. “You know (I want to) make it one of those programs that is a winning program every year and not a team that people have to guess about.”

Dwight Howard on Blake's play

“Just from watching him play, he doesn’t care if he misses shots, he doesn’t care about anything but just going hard for 48 minutes,” says Dwight Howard, directly after handing the rookie a 94-85 home loss in mid-December, but not without Griffin ripping the Magic for 27 and 16.

Blake on meeting the expectations

“No, I don’t think they become too much,” says Griffin. “I don’t really feel the expectations, I have expectations of myself and I set high goals. It’s something that I always want to do; you can’t be afraid to not reach ‘em. If you set an extremely high goal and you don’t get it, then you’ll probably still be somewhere up there. I’d rather always set my goals too high or expect more out of myself than I think might be possible.”

Jack Jensen, Dime Magazine

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Blake is going to be as popular as Shaq in his Lakers days if this continues