A little over a week ago, I wrote a piece about the Chris Paul to the Rockets trade. Today I want to take a deeper look at the obverse of that same coin; the Clippers. When the Clippers resigned Blake, they were in a tough spot. In a city where they wrestle with the Lakers to even be like by Los Angeles natives, it’s not unreasonable to say that the Clipper franchise would not be able to survive a rebuild if they wanted to stay in Los Angeles. The Clipper signing of Blake Griffin shows that they’re not interested in a rebuild, they want to retool. The Chris Paul trade set the Clippers up perfectly to retool; they added quite a bit of depth and a few pieces to incorporate into their new Blake Griffin-centric offense. Unfortunately, Blake Griffin’s injury history could very well lead to a rebuild anyways.

I’m sure Clippers fans are tired of hearing those words. The words “Blake Griffin” and “Injury History” are almost synonymous with each other by now. I’ve almost never heard anyone bring up Blake Griffin without somebody else saying, “Well you know Jim, the guy did have two toe injuries…” But is it really that bad? Is it impossible for Blake Griffin to ever play another complete season? Well, I sure hope not, because if Blake Griffin plays healthily on these new Clippers teams where he is the boss, we could see some truly monstrous seasons from him.

The Clippers trade to the Rockets finally gave them something that they had so desperately coveted almost all of the Lob City era; depth. The Clippers always had their four guys, Blake, Paul, Reddick, and DeAndre, but past that, their fifth man to the bottom of their bench was always a pressing issue. Now, they’ve got a great back up center in Montrezl Harrel, the good wing that they’ve always needed in Sam Dekker, a Sixth-Man of the Year calibur player in Lou Williams, and one of the best defensive point guards in the league in Patrick Beverly. They also went out and added Danilo Gallinari on a albeit a tad overpriced deal, but it will add even more depth to their wing position (again, something they’ve tried and failed to do all of the Lob City era). In other words, the Clippers did one hell of a job of minimizing the loss of a Hall of Fame point guard.

But one of the real flaws with the past iterations of the Clipper teams, and ironically what might be the downfall of this new Rockets team, was the fact that Blake Griffin and Chris Paul didn’t really fit all that well together. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul’s skillsets sort of infringed on each other, and because Chris Paul is, well, the point god, it was always Chris Paul that had the ball in his hands. When you think of Blake Griffin, it seems ridiculous that he could run an offense. I’m sure you just think of an unskilled brute who just stuffs dunks, catches lobs, and occasionally makes a mid range jumper. That’s because Blake has been marginalized when playing with Chris Paul for so long, that we’ve forgotten how skilled at ball-handling Blake really is. The guy is 6″10 and 251 lbs, so it’s natural that we think of him as a typical big man. But he’s just not; Blake can run just as fast as any wing in the league, and he can handle the ball just as well as most of the point guards in the league. Watching him run the transition is quite simply incredible — you’re watching a two hundred and fifty pound hunk of muscle sprint down the court like he’s Tiny Archibald or something, and then proceed to get to the hoop like any other guard in the league. It’s almost Lebron-esque in a way (!). For those who are unfamiliar with Griffin’s ability to handle the ball, this video is a very good microcosm of the way he plays with the ball in his hands.

Furthermore, the deck is perfectly stacked for Griffin to assume the role of point forward next year. The Clippers don’t really have anyone that can assume the role of playmaker for them. Austin Rivers has always been a shoot first guy, and Patrick Beverly is much more useful off the ball than he is on it. And that’s just the thing — the team is perfectly built around this idea. Austin Rivers is great at making plays off the ball, Patrick Beverly who played next to James Harden all year last year knows exactly how to play off the ball, and Danilo Gallinari is a great spot up shooter. Of course the roster is not without issues, and we’ll get to that, but this is as close to a system that is built for Blake’s success that they’ve ever had. Of course there is no way Griffin will average a triple double, but it would not be unfathomable to see him post a statline like 22 – 9 – 7, or something absurd of that calibur.

Of course there are issues. DeAndre Jordan still doesn’t quite fit with Blake Griffin. Blake’s jumper has improved a bit in recent years, but not enough so that defenses will come out onto him at the three point line. Since DeAndre cannot shoot threes, there’s absolutely no incentive for defenders to guard either of them past the midrange, making it very easy to suffocate the paint against this offense. This was why the Clippers always saw limited success despite their large collection of talent — they’re skillsets overlapped and didn’t really compliment eachothers in any way. However, one cog of that busted machine has been removed, and if the Clippers see that Blake can stay healthy, moving DeAndre might be the right move. But that really is the main issue in all of this — Blake’s health.

Blake Griffin’s toe injury puts him out until December of the coming season. I might have made some long shot prop bets on a Blake Griffin MVP candidacy if not for that little wrinkle. But that raises serious concerns, and all this talk you hear people say about Griffin’s injury history is not just talk — it’s a real concern. Granted, there have been no serious recurring issues like a ACL tear or some other knee injury of the sorts, but the fact that a guy has a healing plate in his foot is a concern to say the least. I don’t think it would be crazy for Blake to play more games than people think. I’m a bit higher on his durability just because of the fact that all of his injuries have been things like a toe injury or a broken fist — stuff that doesn’t necessarily hinder you as your career goes on. But the fact of the matter is, he’s been under surgery 9 times. Yikes, that’s a lot.

So, in summary, is it possible Blake Griffin only plays a hundred games over the next four seasons, Gallinari is a flash in the pan, and the Clippers are absolutely screwed for the next five years? Yeah it is, but is it also possible that Blake Griffin is a lot better than people are giving him credit for, and the Clippers have some of the funnest seasons of all time ahead with a liberated Blake stomping the competition and returning the Clippers franchise to glory as he was prophesied to do when the Clippers used their number one pick on him oh so long ago? Yes, yes it is.

But maybe that’s all just wishful thinking. Guess only time will tell.