Lob City is becoming Defense And Halfcourt Offense City, so says Blake Griffin.
"Lob City doesn't exist anymore. Lob City is done," Griffin said, via ESPN LA. "We're moving on and we're going to find our identity during training camp and that will be our new city. No more Lob City."
Not that the Clippers won't still fly high and finish above the rim. But what Griffin is saying is that they don't want their identity to be that anymore. With Doc Rivers assuming control and bringing his hard-nosed defensive approach to the team, there's a facelift happening.
"Our offense is going to have a totally different look this year," said Griffin. "Our offense is going to have a lot of movement and floor spacing. I'm looking forward to it."
The Clippers were 19th in pace last season, which conflicts with the idea that they were an extremely up-tempo team. What the Clippers did though, was rely heavily on transition points. The Clippers ranked eighth in the league in fast break points per game at 15.4, meaning about 15 percent of their total points each night came on the break.
And that didn't translate well in the postseason when games grinded more into a halfcourt slog. The Clippers found themselves relying entirely on Chris Paul's wizardry, hoping he could make something happen out of mostly nothing.
So Lob City is dead. You can burn your t-shirt now.
"People will still wear T-shirts," Griffin said. "I can't really go to people's houses and take their T-shirts and cut them up. But we [will] have a new identity as a team and that's going to be what we work out during training camp.
"We'll take about two or three weeks and really come up with something good."
What, you didn't like my name?