Los Angeles Clippers Relying on DeAndre Jordan's 'Huge Voice' More Than Ever
LOS ANGELES — Watch a Los Angeles Clippers game, be it on TV or in the stands at Staples Center, and you'll see plenty of DeAndre Jordan.
Flying through the air like few 7-footers ever could; catching lobs with the bear claws he has for hands and finishing over defenders with furious flourish; swatting away shots like mosquitoes on a hot summer day.
Nowadays, close your eyes and you'll hear plenty of Jordan, too: calling for the ball as he glides down the court; barking out directions on defense like the world's most jovial GPS; balancing levity and alertness with every breath.
"I’m DJ," Jordan told Bleacher Report. "I’m a big personality. I’m a huge voice."
After eight seasons in L.A., and a near departure to Dallas over the summer, Jordan's voice is bigger than it's ever been. During a chippy preseason game against the rival Golden State Warriors, it was Jordan—owner of 27 technical fouls over the past three seasons—who not only avoided getting whistled but also brought a sense of calm to the chaos.
"I laughed at that," said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. "I thought that was, 'Oh, this is new. This is nice.' He’s maturing, he’s arrived, he gets it. I don’t know what else you can ask from a guy."
That's tough to say, now that Jordan is every bit as important to the Clippers as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
"He's officially one of the Big Three," said Jamal Crawford, a fourth-year Clipper.
Jordan's never lacked the talent to be a franchise cornerstone. He was a Parade All-American and a top-10 prospect coming out of high school. During his senior year at Christian Life Center Academy in Humble, Texas, he nearly averaged a triple-double (26 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks) while setting a school record with 20 rejections in a single game.
Jordan carried the Cougars to a 42-8 record and a spot in the 2007 semifinals of the National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA) championship tournament but not just with his tremendous impact at the rim. When the grind of a grueling, continent-spanning schedule took its toll, Jordan was the one lifting his teammates' spirits.
"With him, he made it fun," said Carlos Wilson, Jordan's coach at Christian Life Center Academy. "It didn’t feel like work. It felt like he was always ready to go, just a bright personality and a fun character."
Long before Brandon Armstrong became a YouTube star, Jordan made a habit of impersonating his teammates, mimicking and mocking their basketball moves. During one game, Jordan broke huddle—after Wilson drew up a play in a crucial moment—with his shorts pulled up past his navel like he was Steve Urkel.
But even at the age of 18, Jordan knew when to separate the silly from the serious. He used his voice to lead, to instruct, to galvanize, and his teammates followed.
"One of the things I think is required from leaders, not all leaders, but most leaders—you’ve got to have talent and you’ve got to have work ethic," Wilson, now an assistant coach at Arkansas State, explained. "Then guys are acceptable of your leadership once you display those things. And he’s definitely super talented, definitely a great player, but he works hard."
Every drop of sweat that Jordan's put into his game will come in handy as he looks to bring his offensive repertoire up to par with his defensive dominance.
On a Clippers squad loaded with veteran talent, he could have a tough time finding enough touches to become a bona fide go-to scorer. Paul and Griffin need the ball to keep the Clippers offense humming along at a league-leading rate. When Jordan does find the ball, he'll need J.J. Redick's sharp shooting to stretch opposing defenses toward the arc and open up the floor.
And with Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith joining Crawford on the bench over the summer, the Clippers are knee-deep in skill and experience.
"We’ve got seven guys on our team who could average 20 points if they wanted to," said Jordan. "So, I mean, there’s definitely going to have to be some sacrifice."
Even so, the Clippers expect Jordan to be a bigger factor on the offensive end than he ever has.
"We’re going to give him a little bit more on his plate," said Griffin. "It’s going to be good for us."
He'll get more touches on the block this season but not just to put the ball in the basket himself. Jordan's job will be to leverage his long, strong build to open up scoring opportunities, be they for himself or his teammates.
"He’s making the right plays, he’s making the right reads," Crawford said. "He’s a really underrated passer."
If Jordan succeeds in his quest to become a more complete offensive player this season, it'll be because of the time, energy and effort he put into his frame and his game during the offseason.
He spent the summer working out in Houston, both on his own and with longtime trainer Robbie Davis at home. He also worked out in Las Vegas with USA Basketball and in L.A. with Clippers assistants Armond Hill and Dave Severns. There, he focused on finishing around the rim with more finesse, honing his low-post game and, yes, getting up shot after shot after shot from the free-throw line.
"I didn’t change anything. Just shooting it the same way," said Jordan, whose career mark from the stripe (41.7 percent) is among the worst in NBA history. "I think it’s just confidence and just being patient. It’ll come."
Whichever of Jordan's new skills do or don't take, the Clippers can count on his protecting the rim and cleaning the glass like few in the NBA can.
Last season, he was named to the All-NBA third team and the All-Defensive first team. The media voted him third for Defensive Player of the Year, but his peers recognized him as the league's "Best Defender" at the inaugural National Basketball Players Association Awards in July.
"He makes everybody’s jobs easier back there," said Clippers wing Wesley Johnson. "It gives us that security not to really rely on him, but we know if we do have a fault, he’s always there to make up for it."
Added Crawford: "He’s always been our defensive anchor and defensive leader, but now he’s officially one of the better players."
He's far surpassed Griffin as Lob City's leading dunker and rebounder in each of the last two seasons, all while captaining the defense of a team that's won at least 56 games three years running. What's more, he can already claim back-to-back rebounding crowns (2013-14 and 2014-15), yet somehow, thanks to the big-man hegemony in the loaded Western Conference, he's still seeking his first All-Star selection.
Ask Jordan what spurred the leap from promising talent to top-tier performer, and he'll tell you it was Rivers' arrival in L.A. Since joining the Clippers in June 2013, the former Coach of the Year has gone out of his way to pump up his star pupil with praise. At times, Rivers has compared Jordan to Boston Celtics great Bill Russell (per Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com), eye rolls be damned.
"Once he instills something in you, it’s on you to keep it and want to strive for it," Jordan said of Rivers. "It’s cool to have somebody put you up there because you know what you want, to keep working, to not let that person down or to not live up to that, but it’s good. It’s a good pressure."
Pressure and expectations are nothing new for Jordan. Neither is his positive response to them.
In high school, there were 6 a.m. individual workouts with Wilson, followed by team practice, with weightlifting thereafter. Once those activities were through, Jordan would hop in his car, drive to his old neighborhood on the south side of Houston...and continue training.
"It was basketball basically 24 hours a day," said Wilson. "He could’ve easily rested on being one of the top centers in the country, but he was on a mission to be something much more than that."
That sense of purpose carried Jordan through turbulent times at Texas A&M, a drop into the second round of the 2008 NBA draft and early struggles in L.A.
All the while, he kept working, kept talking.
Now, he's the longest-tenured Clipper on the roster. If Jordan maintains his league-leading "ironman" streak—coming into the 2015-16 campaign, he'd played in 322 straight regular-season contests—he'll surpass Randy Smith as the team's all-time leader in games played about halfway through the third year of his new four-year, $88 million deal.
The same one he signed shortly after reneging on his commitment to the Dallas Mavericks.
"He’s not a Dallas guy, you know what I’m saying?" Wilson said. "He’s a Los Angeles Clipper. Blake Griffin is one of his best friends on earth. And I just think, once things settled down and he realized the magnitude of his decision, he went with his heart."
Now that he's back in L.A.—or, rather, that he never left—Jordan is doing his part to welcome in the eight new faces the Clippers will carry on their roster to start the season.
"Just making them feel at home as much as possible," said Jordan. "I’ve been here the longest, so it’s like, I know the culture, I know what we want to do."
Among teammates old and new, he's as chatty as ever. What's changed is the weight of the words that flow so freely from his mustachioed lips.
"He’s always talking, always animated," said Johnson, "so he gives you all the confidence to go out there and play hard."
That noise you hear coming from Jordan in games? That's his sending strong signals to his teammates, and their taking those signals to heart.
All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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