Although the LA Times doesn't cover the Clippers, ESPN.com has his grinning face on the front of their NBA section today. LA based Sam Alipour conducted an informal interview with the injured Clipper star. Nothing really earth-shattering came out. Here are some highlights:
- Elton is optimistic. He thinks the Clippers are "going to surprise some people" and although he's not setting a time table, he says "I'm confident I'll be back."
- The Rock is a sissy. Apparently the Rock said "There's no pain like the Achilles pain" when he tore his filming "The Game Plan." Elton disputes that assertion, as do I. Rupturing your Achilles is really freaky (you're not sure whether you hear the pop or simply feel the pop), and it hurts, but for me anyway, it was less painful than myriad other injuries. A bad ankle sprain hurts much more. I walked to the subway and back to my apartment the night I ruptured mine.
- The Clippers will play uptempo this season? OK, I'm inferring here, but check out this quote from EB.
I also think you'll see some things you haven't seen in the past. I'm not going to give away our strategy, but I think with our athletes, we'll put a fast team out there. I think coach [Mike] Dunleavy will change our strategy as he sees fit, but I can see it changing some.
I'm a big fan of the uptempo, but I find this idea a little strange. If you're not going to play uptempo with Livingston (a greyhound who is a genius in the open court) and Brand (sure he's great on the low block, but how many fours could run with him?), why would you do it without them? More Maggette and the addition of Al Thornton make the Clippers more athletic, but they're still not going to be mistaken for the most athletic team in the NBA - not with Sam Cassell, Cat Mobley and Brevin Knight as the top three guards. So I'm taking this one with a grain of salt. Of course athleticism would be the biggest reason to keep Guillermo Diaz over Jared Jordan so maybe there is some truth to it.
I'll also point out what was NOT discussed in this interview. No talk of the supposed tension with Clipper management over the question of PEDs. Good. The less said about that non-story the better.