If you didn’t know much about recently-signed Boston Celtics big man Blake Griffin, it would be easy enough to assume he’s been with the team for years now based on how at home he has seemed with his new teammates, and how they have embraced his arrival the same way he has lauded their singular focus on winning.
Griffin recently spoke about his initial impressions to that effect at the Celtics’ annual Shamrock Foundation fundraiser, lauding his new ball club’s work ethic and environment — while perhaps also throwing some subtle jabs yet again at past stops of his career.
“The first thing that I really realized almost right away was how serious this team is and how mature this team is, and how much they care about winning,” said the six-time All-Star via NBC Sports Boston.
“If you heard everybody speak right here, they talked about working, they talked about building a foundation, they talked about getting to that point,” he continued.
“I think I’ve been fortunate enough to play with a lot of good players and been on some good teams. Every team in the NBA wants to emulate the result of success and not every team wants to emulate the process of achieving success.”
“And that’s the thing I noticed about this team is every day when we go to practice — I’ve only been here 10 days — but every single day, these guys come to practice,” added Griffin to evident laughter from the crowd.
“It starts at the top with (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown), Marcus (Smart), Al (Horford) all these guys, but they come to practice and there’s a purpose,” he added. “You’d probably be surprised to know that in the NBA, that doesn’t happen every day.”
“So that’s what’s been very eye-opening to me and refreshing. I’m here to be a part of that, to help that, and to help us stay on that course.”
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire