National Basketball Association

Griffin says Clippers' youth could be advantage

Published Dec. 6, 2011 2:36 a.m. ET

foxsports

Blake Griffin is ready to put his off-court pursuits on the back burner and begin making good on teammate Mo Williams' guarantee that the Los Angeles Clippers will reach the playoffs.

Griffin worked out Monday with a handful of teammates ahead of Friday's opening of training camp, the prelude to the NBA's lockout shortened 66-game schedule that begins Christmas Day when the Clippers visit Golden State.

Griffin said he found out that a labor agreement had been reached shortly after Thanksgiving.

''I couldn't go back to sleep,'' he said inside a Subway restaurant near the UCLA campus in Westwood. ''I've been good to go since August.''

Last week, Williams said that ''one thing I can guarantee'' is the Clippers will make the playoffs, something the star-crossed team hasn't done since 2005-06, also the last time they finished with a winning record. They went 32-50 last season, when Griffin emerged as an All-Star, the league's rookie of the year and winner of the slam dunk contest.

''I'm behind him because as a team, we all believe in every single one of our guys. That's our goal as a team and we have to believe that,'' Griffin said of Williams' boast. ''Right now we're healthy and we got a lot of good pieces and I think we're confident from where we were last year.''

Griffin was the only Clipper to play all 82 games last season while teammates such as Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman lost significant time to injuries. The shortened season will get under way after two exhibition games, with the Clippers playing both against the Lakers, their Staples Center co-tenants.

''I love where all our guys are at and the condition we're in and how excited everybody is,'' he said.

Griffin thinks the abbreviated schedule could benefit the Clippers.

''The more practice and the more time we have together gives us obviously more of an advantage,'' he said, ''but at the same time being youthful and having all those games in such a short amount of time, hopefully it works to our advantage having fresh legs and younger guys.''

Griffin said he was never really worried about whether there would be a season.

''Towards the end there, it looked bad, but at the same time I kind of always felt like would play and get something done,'' he said.

Asked about the deal that calls for players to receive no more than 50 percent of basketball-related income after they were guaranteed 57 percent in the old collective bargaining agreement, he said, ''It's better than the two previous ones the players rejected. I'm glad that it is better, but at the same time, it's not what we had.''

During the 149-day lockout, Griffin mixed a variety of activities with his daily workouts, including shooting commercials and an internship with the Funny or Die website.

''Comedy's over,'' he said. ''I'm back to basketball. It was fun while it lasted.''

His appearance at the Subway restaurant provoked 20 minutes of frenzy among store employees and customers, mostly UCLA students who crowded inside to snap photos on their phones of Griffin spinning a basketball on his right middle finger while squirting mustard on 6-inch sandwiches to kick off the chain's customer appreciation month. He gave away free gift cards and sandwiches, too.

Griffin said he was a customer at the store whenever he worked out at UCLA during the lockout.