When the Los Angeles Clippers signed Chris Paul, Blake Griffin renamed the team, "Lob City." Paul's point guard skills paired with Griffin's dunking abilities were to create an explosion of high-flying plays. It worked perfectly as Lob City was thriving. However, now under the new direction of Doc Rivers, Griffin says Lob City is officially closed.
"Lob City doesn't exist anymore. Lob City is done," Griffin said, via ESPNLA.com. "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."
That new identity consists of more defense and less video-game style plays. With DeAndre Jordan at center, Rivers is hoping the new identity of the Clippers becomes focused around their protection of the rim and aggression on defense. Griffin agrees that things will look much different now both on defense and on the offense.
"Our offense is going to have a totally different look this year," Griffin said. "Our offense is going to have a lot of movement and floor spacing. I'm looking forward to it."
Griffin put in a lot of work during the offseason to create a better long-range shot. While he is known for his high-flying dunks and being a champion of the All-Star dunk contest back in 2010, Griffin is changing his offensive game to fit the plan of the Clippers. Rivers intends on spreading the ball out more, no longer having a game plan that involves tossing the ball up to Griffin to slam into the hoop. He believes the fans will keep Lob City alive despite the offense no longer reflecting that.
"People will still wear T-shirts," Griffin said. "I can't really go to people's house and take their T-shirts and cut them up. But we 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."
Since getting hired, Rivers has had nothing but praise for Griffin. The offensive change is not a knock onto Griffin's style of play, but more so an effort to fix areas of weakness. Rivers intends on making the team better in transition and better at shooting and defending the three pointer. He believes that Blake can be a cornerstone to that effort.
"The areas where we struggled were huge. One is transition. With the athleticism we have, we should be a better transition defensive team," Rivers said. "And then guarding the 3-point line. We were 26th or 27th in the league in 3-point defense. And in a league that shoots 3s, we have to get better at that."
