NBA players have been enjoying their offseason for a couple months now. Some players went to Rio for the Olympics, others took vacation. However, since these are professional athletes who need to stay at the top of their game, they don’t get to take the entire summer off. That’s especially true for Blake Griffin, who feels like he didn’t deserve a summer break at all.
Griffin was on his Clippers teammate J.J. Redick’s podcast recently, and he talked about what he’s been up to in the offseason. He gave a big financial gift to the University of Oklahoma and hosted a show at Montreal’s “Just for Laughs” festival. Mostly though, he’s been priming himself for the upcoming season, hoping to bounce back after what was a disappointing season for him.
You probably recall that Griffin only played 35 games last season due to injuries and a suspension. One of those injuries and the suspension were tied together as Griffin hurt his hand punching a Clippers staff member. However, it was mostly his quad injury that slowed him down, and that’s also what ended his season early.
Griffin’s summer has mostly been dedicated to healing that quad. “I took a week off after I had surgery and then started rehab a week after that, and I’ve been going all the way through,” he said. “I actually just got back from vacation, so I took a week off there, so basically two weeks (off) this whole summer. I kind of had in my mind, I’m just going to go all the way through. In my mind, I didn’t deserve a summer break.”
It’s understandable why Griffin would say he didn’t deserve a summer break. He’s a competitive professional athlete who just came off what is a discouraging season. There are murmurings that Griffin might not be with the Clippers much longer, so it’s a big year for him. Getting himself back to full health was clearly important, and he seems to have really dedicated his summer to that. Now we have to see if it pans out.
(Via NBA.com)
