'Senior editor' Blake Griffin pens first article on The Players Tribune
Blake Grifin is an All-Star for the Clippers. A thrilling dunker. A poetry reader.
Now you can add senior editor to his resume.
Griffin penned his first piece for the "The Players Tribune," a company founded by retired star Derek Jeter, and it was published Thursday morning. Griffin's piece centered around former Clippers owner Donald Sterling and details ugly experiences with Sterling, including a time at one of his Malibu parties in which Griffin wrote that Sterling led him around by the hand.
The 25-year-old star had good things to say about new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. He wrote: "Steve is a good dude. He's like a cool dad who gives you candy. Donald was like a weird uncle."
Griffin's piece was his initial one for the website that gives first-person accounts on a variety of subjects from athletes. Griffin gave an example of how Sterling wouldn't OK an expense for the training staff that would help chart the progress of players.
"Ballmer wants to win no matter the cost," Griffin wrote. "Donald Sterling didn't care if we won -- at least if it meant he had to spend money."
In the article, Griffin said the Clippers training staff long asked for sophisticated computer software. The staff now has that software.
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"... When I walked into the trainer's room, the staff was going crazy," Griffin wrote. "The showed me the new body scanning software. Ballmer signed off on it on Day 1."
Griffin, speaking before Thursday's practice at the Clippers training facility, said he didn't have a timetable of when he would write articles.
He said he thought about the article on Sterling for a while and worked on it for a while as well.
"I don't know if that's a very public, popular story as far as people knowing about that," Griffin said. "And I think now that everything's settled, it's kind of in the past. It was kind of like my farewell to that world."
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he hadn't seen the story yet.
