1) BLAKE GRIFFIN: While recovering from a quad injury that has sidelined him since the day after Christmas, Los Angeles Clippers All-Star Blake Griffin punched Clippers’ equipment manager Matias Testi during the team’s recent road trip to Toronto, resulting in a broken hand that will sideline Griffin for up to two additional months. Not that the Clippers should care as they’ve gone 15-3 since playing without Griffin. Frankly, Griffin should be a permanent Stiff List resident for making us sit through those awful / unintelligible Kia commercials during NBA broadcasts.
2) PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: Not only are the Philadelphia 76ers on pace for just 12 wins, but through two straight overtly tanking seasons they’ve managed to miss out on Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker in the NBA Draft. Actually, they could have drafted the game-changing Porzingis (who was selected fourth overall) last summer but opted for Jahlil Okafor instead with the third overall pick. Or … could they have? According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Porzingis’s camp wanted nothing to do with the 76ers and wouldn’t even grant the franchise a meeting, physical, workout, etc. Not that anyone can blame Porzingis for that.
3) THE NBA: Even though longstanding league protocol calls for the head coach from each conference’s best team to coach the February All-Star Game (unless that coach coached the previous year’s All-Star team, in which the second-best record coach coaches), the NBA erred in naming Cleveland Cavaliers‘ head coach Tyronn Lue to coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars over the Toronto Raptors‘ Dwane Casey. Lue has coached the Cavaliers for all of five games since his predecessor David Blatt was fired after taking the team to a 30-11 record this season and the NBA Finals last season and Casey’s Raptors, who are hosting the All-Star Game, boast the Eastern Conference’s second-best record anyway. Moreover, the Cavaliers and the NBA clearly didn’t read my “Why do ex-Lakers make such bad NBA coaches?” column from 2014. (Although in fairness to the Cavaliers, I must admit that the team does look a lot better thus far under Lue.)
4) JOSH SMITH: Realizing it wasn’t a great idea to have two cancerous tumors in their locker room, the Los Angeles Clippers opted to trade Josh Smith (and keep Lance Stephenson … for now) just over a week ago back to the team he played for last season: the Houston Rockets. After winning their first three games with Smith back on board the Rockets have lost three straight, including a 31-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
5) KOBE BRYANT: With a crummy team, a crummy coach and his own crummy shot selection ruining his “retirement season”, Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant has been reduced to cheering on his opponents as there’s certainly nothing to celebrate in Lakerland these days.
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REMINDER: STIFFS NIGHT OUT WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD
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