I doubt the skies overhead have ever been quite so justifiably blue for a team 13 games under .500 in the middle of February before. I'm somewhat reminded of the 04-05 Warriors following the trade of Baron Davis when they went from 16-40 to 34-48 (10 games over .500) over the final two months of a lost season and everyone knew that the team would be capable of accomplishing something special very soon.

Knowing the history of Baron and the fact he was already an often injured 26-years-old, the expiration date was already attached even before the 1-8 Dallas massacre.

Ironically enough, Baron is around for this one too but he is collecting checks, building a Hollywood resume and being a Blake Griffin bystander like the rest of us.

The Clippers won the 2009 NBA lottery and drafted the kind of player one should expect when drafting first overall, with all apologies to the Raptors, Wizards and Clippers in 1998. Griffin needs to develop his post offense and jumper in order to become legendary when his athleticism disappears, but you don't typically see a workhorse in the form of a show horse like this very often.

Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan are excellent complements to Griffin to comprise the core and both players match him in age and fill a niche that is difficult to fill.

Armed with the tradable Chris Kaman and Minnesota's 2012 unprotected pick, the Clippers should be able to upgrade the obvious position of need at small forward. Ryan Gomes does a lot of things well that appear on film more than the box score, but you would ideally want those things to come in 20-minute per night bunches as opposed to 30.

The Clippers would ideally trade for an established small forward that can create his own shot off the dribble, but is able to be effective without dominating the ball. I would prefer a three in the Granger mold more than Iguodala because stretching the floor will be critical to prevent Griffin from getting killed constantly jumping over three defenders sagging into the paint.

Desperation Meter: We have reached a point where even Donald Sterling cares about not screwing this thing up. Fortunately, it would almost take sabotage to do so because the Clippers have enough easily convertible assets into a passable supporting cast to turn the Blakers into a perennial top-four in the Western Conference. Griffin is that good and will work exceptionally hard at improving individually into a top-five player in the game.

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