On Wednesday night, the Red Bull Midnight Run made its way to L.A. Blake Griffin, who has been one of the faces of Red Bull basketball, stopped by to assist the Dime crew in picking the top eight players to travel to Brooklyn for the Red Bull Midnight Run finals.
During a break in the action, we caught up with Blake to talk about his involvement with Red Bull, his favorite Jordans (he wore Joker 3s on this particular night), and what he’s been doing to prepare for the upcoming NBA season.
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Dime: What are your top five favorite Jordans?
Blake Griffin: That’s a tough question. I’m really a fan of them all but if I had to rank my top five, I’d probably go with the Vs first, then the XIs, the IVs, I love the IXs, and probably the Is. Those are my top five right there.
Dime: Who has the better Jordan collection: you, or CP3?
BG: Oh man. CP’s been with brand Jordan for like 8 years now so he’s got the upper hand on me for sure.
Dime: What’s it like being a part of the Red Bull team so far?
BG: I love it. I think Red Bull is very unique because it has its hand in so many different areas and they’ve done so many different things. So it’s been a blast being able to be a part of the Red Bull team because not a lot of other stuff would allow me to come out and do something like this.
Dime: What do you think about the Midnight Run?
BG: It’s great. I don’t really get a chance to see the local talent in L.A as much as I would like to. So it’s really cool to be able to come in the gym and get a chance to see what these guys got. Also the King of the Rock is out here at the end of September too so those things are all really fun for me because I’m just a fan of basketball. Whether I’m playing or not I’ll always be a fan of the game. So it’s awesome to be able to come to these events and be around other players.
Dime: What city do you think has the best talent?
BG: I’ve gotta go with L.A., of course. Especially after seeing these guys out here today. But obviously there are good players everywhere. Chicago and New York are two of the most well known cities for that so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. I think L.A. has the talent to win it all but it’s really going to come down to how they play together. Every city has talent so it’s going to come down to who can blend that talent together the best
Dime: Your newest commercial with Jordan Brand was a really big hit. How fun was it shooting that?
BG: It was fun man; it was a lot of fun. The concept alone is great. I was immediately drawn into it. Also the kid that they got to play “Dr. Drain” was amazing. He did a great job. The entire production of the commercial was great and it came out really well.
Dime: Is that your favorite commercial that you’ve shot so far?
BG: Yeah, it’s one of them for sure. I have a couple favorites, but it’s definitely right up there because it was so hands-on and heavily involved with actually playing basketball. It was a really creative idea, and I though it was just extremely well done.
Hit page 2 to hear if Blake thinks he could be a better football player than LeBron…
Dime: What have you been doing to prepare for the upcoming season?
BG: Really just focusing a lot on my offseason workouts. I’ve been doing a lot of shooting stuff. Sitting down with our new coaching staff and understanding where my shots and where my offense is will come from. We’ve also been doing some defensive stuff. Everything is different now. Our coverages, our schemes and rotations are all different. So just kind of relearning all that and just trying to be as prepared as possible.
Dime: Are you satisfied with the Clippers’ ESPN preseason ranking of number two?
BG: To be honest I could care less about what we’re ranked. It’s one of those things where if you look back however many years and look at the preseason rankings they never turn out to be real accurate. The rankings come out two months before training camp even starts so they really don’t mean anything. I didn’t even know we were ranked No. 2 until you just said it, so that shows you how much we pay attention to that stuff.
Dime: Are you excited to play for Coach Rivers next season?
BG: Oh yeah I’m very excited. I’m just excited for this season in general. We’ve got some new teammates and guys that have taken less money just to be a part of the team. That’s the ultimate sacrifice so when guys are doing that it just makes you really appreciate your teammates. So I’m just really looking forward to what we can put together with coach Rivers and our new team and really just hit the ground running. I’m excited about what we can accomplish together.
Dime: Do you think the playing style is going to change a lot under Coach Rivers?
BG: It’ll be different. I mean obviously a lot of our main pieces are still the same but I think his offense will be completely different. He’s got a great offensive mind and he has some great ideas on how to keep things fresh and not allow us to get stagnant on offense. And I think the biggest change you’ll see is defensively.
Dime: Recently Dez Bryant from the Cowboys said LeBron James would make a “beast” NFL player because of his size and athleticism. You’re a pretty big guy with freakish athleticism also. Do you think you would make a better football player than him?
BG: Ha, I don’t know that’s a good question. He’d probably be pretty good. I don’t know if I would be better, but I definitely wouldn’t mind a shot at it.
Could Griffin play in the NFL?
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