Today In Sports History: The Los Angeles Clippers Get the #1 Pick

Well it was a long time coming for the Clip-show, that's for sure.

On May 19th, 2009 - and for the first time since 1998 - the Los Angeles Clippers won the #1 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Olowokandi is often considered one of the biggest draft busts of all time.

Since their 1998 #1 draft-pick - who if you remember was Michael Olowokandi - the Clippers were always in the bottom echelon on NBA teams. They recorded several miserable seasons, as outlined below.

1998/99: 9-41 (which led them to the #1 overall pick)
1999-2000: 15-67
2000/01: 31-51
2001/02: 39-43
2002/03: 27-55
2003/04: 28-54
2004/05: 37-45
2005/06: 47-35
2006/07: 40-42
2007/08: 23-59
2008/09: 19-63

So ya, not a lot of great seasons since drafting "The Kandi Man."

So after winning the #1 pick, the Clippers held onto it until the Draft on June 25,2009 and selected Blake Griffin, the sophomore forward from Oklahoma. The top-10 of the Draft are below.

1. Blake Griffin- Los Angeles Clippers
2. Hasheem Thabeet- Memphis Grizzlies (I bet they wish they had that pick back)
3. James Harden- Oklahoma City Thunder
4. Tyreke Evans- Sacramento Kings
5. Ricky Rubio- Minnesota Timberwolves
6. Jonny Flynn- Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Stephen Curry- Golden State Warriors
8. Jordan Hill- New York Knicks
9. DeMar DeRozan- Toronto Raptors
10. Brandon Jennings- Milwaukee Bucks

Griffin was named the Summer League MVP and all looked good for the Clippers, until the last game of the pre-season, where Griffin landed wrong on a dunk and suffered a stress fracture in his left knee. This injury would lead to him missing the entire 2009-2010 season.

As I have previously written, Griffin made his comeback the next season, starting all 82 games and averaging 22.5 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists per game. These numbers led him to be named the 2010-2011 NBA Rookie of the Year.

Griffin now currently resides in Detroit playing for the Pistons.