Lob City is dead. Long live Lob City.
The Los Angeles Clippers — who have resembled a high-flying circus act in recent years, with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan serving as ringleaders — will take on a very different look under the tutelage of new head coach Doc Rivers this season.
The Clippers’ highlight reel-friendly style of play has made Griffin a superstar, but the 24-year-old seems eager to craft a new identity for himself and his team.
“Lob City doesn’t exist anymore. Lob City is done,” Griffin told ESPN’s Shelley Smith earlier this week. “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.
“People will still wear T-shirts. 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.”
Rivers, who left a rebuilding Celtics team to head up the mid-level Western Conference contender, would not officially delcare the death Lob City. He is, however, encouraged by his stud forward’s desire to become more than just a SportsCenter star.
“We want to be a basketball team,” Rivers said. “We want to win. That’s one thing we always talk about. I’ve told them that lobs are great, but winning is better. Let’s try to get them both, but I understand what he’s saying. I think the message there is people look at us as a showtime team and not a winning team, and we want to be a winning team, but you can do both.”
The Clippers open their preseason slate Monday in Portland.
