Clippers’ Blake Griffin is ready to score some second-chance points

He did an admirable job of trying to camouflage his feelings, really. But what looked like the sharp-dressed man was actually one majorly irritated power forward, desperately hoping his knee would catch up with a healthy body.

Rookie Blake Griffin was not designed to be the sharp-dressed man on the sideline watching everyone else block shots and dunk. Yet there he was at almost every Clippers home game last season, in his suit, watching and waiting, an endless loop of hoop purgatory.

“After a while, it was like, ‘This is horrible,’” Griffin said the other day after practice. “There were plenty of times I didn’t want to necessarily be there. It was rough. Some days were bad, worse than others. It could be one little thing. I tried to control it as much as possible and be aware of it. Make sure you’re positive.”

Staying positive in an ocean of negativity was close to impossible after Griffin suffered a stress fracture of his left kneecap in the Clippers’ final exhibition game last year. The injury ended his rookie season before it began and later required surgery.

It has also put him in a fascinating, and odd, position on the eve of the NBA’s regular season.

Rookie, redux.

Someone not in close touch with the NBA, glancing at a season preview before the Clippers’ opener Wednesday, might be wondering how Griffin could be favored for rookie of the year . . . again.

Not that Griffin is overly concerned about ROY sweepstakes.

“I would, in a heartbeat, give up that trophy for a playoff run,” Griffin said.

He added, for emphasis: “In a heartbeat.”

Negativity almost cast a spell on Griffin, challenging and angering him at the same time along the rehabilitation trail. There was, and is, a push-pull thing going on in revealing introspective moments.

Griffin mentioned he didn’t like being sent a link to a story saying he was forgotten last season. Still, he acknowledged he wanted to read it and to know what was being written, realizing motivation is motivation, no matter where it comes from.

This discussion somehow put the interview on a different track, winding around and leading to the late Michael Jackson. Griffin has been thinking about the King of Pop, who died the day Griffin was taken No. 1 overall in the 2009 NBA draft.

“You have to take what people say with a grain of salt,” Griffin said. “[What] society really does to somebody like Michael Jackson. They basically tormented him, followed him around and all this stuff in the later years in his life.

“He passed away and he’s remembered as like the greatest thing. People are crying in the streets. It’s almost hypocritical a little bit. People will try to tear you down as much as possible and when something like that happens, it goes away.”

Put it this way: Griffin is not likely to forget one-liners about the Clippers should they emerge from the basketball abyss any time soon.

“I take that personally,” he said. “I take that very personally. I couldn’t stand last year, having to sit and hear all these jokes about Clippers this, Clippers that.”

That is what endeared him immediately to teammates and long-suffering Clippers fans. Griffin walked into the gym sans noticeable swagger or artifice, showing up early and staying later than anyone else, and that hasn’t changed.

He endured a long season of rookie hazing without the benefit of playing, toting around the pink Dora the Explorer backpack without complaint. (A blowup of Dora hangs in the window above the practice court as a reminder, and Griffin joked about feeling like someone is watching him shoot free throws.)

Longtime season-ticket holders became giddy once they watched Griffin soar above the rim, again, this preseason, when he averaged 17.3 points, and winced when he hit the floor hard. Teammate Ryan Gomes was saying that in an autograph session after an exhibition game, fan after fan kept telling Griffin they were concerned about his getting hurt. Griffin assured them he had it under control.

Expectations are more difficult to manage. ESPN’s Bill Simmons declared Griffin to be the best rookie since LeBron James. And Griffin’s face seems to be all over Los Angeles.

New Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro, knowing his player missed a full season of development, is smart to turn down the hype machine ever so slightly when talk turns to Griffin leading the Clippers out of the wilderness. A one-man rescue party doesn’t work in the NBA.

“It doesn’t work like that, very rarely does it,” Del Negro said. “And it’s not fair to Blake. Anyone that does that really doesn’t know the NBA very well or basketball in general.

“There’s a lot of things that Blake does. He’s got a long way of maturing, a long way of developing. It’s not going to happen overnight. There’s going to have to be some patience and some growing pains.

“. . . Like I always say, he’s a great athlete that plays basketball. We’ve got to make him a great basketball player who’s athletic, and that just takes time.”

The longest-tenured Clipper, center Chris Kaman, made a point of having a word or two with Griffin.

“I feel a little unrest for Blake because they are plastering him everywhere. They are putting him everywhere,’ Kaman said. “. . . He’s a great player. He’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.

“I’m going to do the best I can. I told him, ‘I’m going to do the best I can to take a lot of pressure off that. To try to help you become a better player, if I can.’”

Griffin has had no shortage of inspirational quotes to help him along, taking care of the mental game. He has put some up on his Twitter feed and spoke about a recent one someone sent his way, holding a special meaning.

“The penalty of fame is to be bored by the attentions of those who formerly snubbed you,” Griffin said. “I loved that quote.

“It was so funny and so true. I’ll always remember that one.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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