Blake Griffin stood on the top row of the rickety bleachers at Oklahoma Christian School. Perched on the edge, 10 feet off the ground. He steeled himself and leaned forward. He couldn’t let his 9-year-old older brother beat him again. Not this time. Taylor beat him at everything. So it was now or never. Time to prove this son, too, also rises. The coast was clear. There were no grown-ups around. He sprang from the bleachers and hung in the air for an eternity. It was just a sibling rivalry. He was just a boy. But when he touched down it would reveal everything about who he would one day become.

With the playoffs done for the Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin has set his sights to playing for the United States in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain according to Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles.

The Clippers built a "Big Three" around Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, but they may have to come to the realization that the team isn't good enough to compete with the league's elite while having its core made up of those three players.

Los Angeles Clippers president of basketball operations and coach Doc Rivers loudly and vigorously declared recently, "Blake is ours." But that didn't stop rival executives from making calls about the availability of Blake Griffin in advance of Thursday's trade deadline. Amid a flurry of reported proposals and discussions, Rivers hoped to silence the speculation once and for all Tuesday, when he told reporters Griffin was staying in Los Angeles.

Blake Griffin is still a long way away from returning to the court as he recovers from a broken hand he suffered when he punched Matias Testi, a Clippers equipment staffer, in January.