For SBN’s Clippers blog, Clips Nation, it feels like deja vu all over again; a promising young talent sucked into the injury vortex. From Clips Nation:
SBN’s Clips Nation: Here We Go Again
Six weeks. If we take that at face value, it’s 22 games. Oh, and then there’s the week of non-contact drills after he’s cleared to play. And then of course he’ll have to practice after he’s cleared for contact before he can get in a game. Oh, but the NBA schedule just doesn’t allow a lot of time for practices, so he won’t be able to get practices in with the team. Any of this sound familiar? Does six weeks mean six weeks, or does it mean All Star Break?
The Clipper certainly don’t want to rush Griffin back to the court and risk further injury, but the bigger question for Clippers fans is what does this mean for the team’s outlook for the season? Again, from Clips Nation:
Can the team overcome this injury? If everyone else is relatively healthy (and bear in mind that Baron Davis is still a game time decision for tomorrow), it’s still a better team than last year. The depth we’ve been discussing will just get tested early. Certainly the way that DeAndre Jordan and Craig Smith have played in pre-season the team will have some options in the front court. It’s not like we’re talking about giving major minutes to Nick Fazekas. […] It seems entirely possible that they could ride that early soft schedule to a respectable record during Blake’s absence. If he’s actually back on the court in six weeks, and the team is around .500 (and 11 wins seems reasonable given the number of home games and weaker opponents on the early schedule), then the boost of getting him back might be able to carry them through the tougher stretches that lie ahead.
If this were any other team, this would be a plausible scenario. But this is the Clippers. A franchise with a history so woebegone that even Bill Simmons cannot overstate their suffering. Even rational people (read: not Joe Buck or Tim McCarver) are beginning to wonder if there might really be some type of supernatural bad luck at play here:
As for the Clippers curse, obviously, that’s ridiculous and there’s no such thing… but seriously, what the hell? So, just in case, if any of you know of any ceremonies that break curses, let’s hear them. I don’t personally want to be involved in sacrificing a goat, but I’m sure someone out there would step up if that’s what it takes.
Things are bad Clippers fans, but trust us, you don’t want to do that. It’s a lot less cool than it sounds. A lot less.
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