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Clippers' Griffin is top rookie

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-06 08:00

LOS ANGELES - Blake Griffin played his entire rookie season like a man making up for lost time.

Now that the Los Angeles Clippers' dynamic dunker has been named the league's top rookie in a landslide, he's already thinking about ways to improve on a delayed NBA debut that was well worth the wait.

Griffin accepted the Rookie of the Year award on Wednesday, becoming the NBA's first unanimous choice for the award in 21 years.

The No 1 overall draft pick out of Oklahoma in 2009 missed all of the 2009-10 season after breaking his kneecap in the Clippers' final preseason game. But Griffin returned with one of the most impressive debut campaigns in a generation. Griffin frequently thought back to that season in limbo while picking up his award during a party at the Clippers' training complex.

"To miss my entire first year and then be able to be up here today is definitely satisfying," Griffin said. "When I got injured, I just decided I had to come back even better. I had to keep improving even while I couldn't play, and I dedicated myself to that."

Griffin received every first-place vote from a panel of 118 media members, easily outdistancing Washington's John Wall. The Clippers' 22-year-old power forward is the first unanimous choice since San Antonio's David Robinson in 1990, and just the third in NBA history after Ralph Sampson in 1984. New Orleans' Chris Paul came close in 2006, missing by one vote.

Griffin led all rookies in scoring and rebounding while playing in all 82 games for the Clippers, finishing 12th in the NBA in scoring (22.5) and fourth in rebounds (12.1) while ranking second among rookies in assists (3.8).

The 6-foot-10 (2.08m) Griffin was the NBA's first rookie all-star since Yao Ming in 2003, and he won the dunk contest at All-Star Weekend in Staples Center with an iconic leap over a car.

Although Griffin's aerial acrobatics made him a staple of nightly highlight reels with more than 200 dunks of varying viciousness, he's already at work in the offseason rounding into an even more complete player.

"He's a highlight at any second of the game, but he's also smart enough to know that the fundamentals are the part that will make him better and help this team," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "He handles it very well. He has great humility and great character."

Associated Press