It's great to be Blake >>> SoonerSports.com

[OUHoops]

Source: SoonerSports.com | Blake/Trophy Photo Gallery

It's Great to be Blake

Reigning college basketball player of the year has been a busy man.

NORMAN, Okla. - It's safe to say not many people have had a busier summer than Blake Griffin.

Since being selected No. 1 overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in June's NBA Draft, the former Sooner has been jetting across the country, participating in a seemingly endless number of interviews and publicity shoots, inking endorsement deals and making purchases with money from the lucrative contracts he's signed.

And then there's the matter of spending hour after hour in the gym, trying to improve upon the skills that landed him every national player of the year award last year as an OU sophomore (check out a photo gallery of Griffin and all of his trophies below).

So when Griffin, who will wear No. 32 as a rookie, made a quick trip back to Norman this past weekend to speak at an OU basketball camp, SoonerSports.com jumped at the opportunity to catch up with one of Oklahoma's all-time best and to engage him in the following Q&A session. After all, it might be a while until anyone sees him again in the Sooner State due to his crazy schedule and the fast-approaching Clippers training camp.

Read how the power forward is adjusting to California life, find out where he lives, what he's driving, what he misses about Oklahoma and what he thinks about this year's Sooners squad.

Q: How would you sum up your last four months?
A: "Extremely hectic but a lot of fun. I've gotten to do a lot of cool things and meet a lot of cool people. It's been crazy, but it's one of those things that you might never be able to experience again so you want to cherish it."

Q: How does the amount of publicity stuff you're doing now compare to the large number of interviews and photo shoots you did at OU?
A: "I've been doing quite a bit. The difference is that now it's kind of part of your job. It's a little more intense and lasts a little bit longer, but I'm also getting paid for some of it. So it's a little bit more fun."A: "For the most part I've been in San Francisco or Los Angeles. It's been L.A. for the last two months."

Q: Where have you spent the majority of your time the last few months?
A: "For the most part I've been in San Francisco or Los Angeles. It's been L.A. for the last two months."

Q: How many times have you been to New York City?
A: "I've been to New York four times since April. That's a long flight -- five-and-a-half hours there and about 15 minutes longer coming back."

Q: What's been your daily routine?
A: "I wake up at about 7, eat breakfast and hit the gym a little before 8. I'll work out from 8 to 12, grab some lunch, go to meetings or whatever I have to do and then go back to the gym for a couple of hours. Then grab dinner and hang out."

Q: Who are your meetings with?
A: "Just different companies, talking about endorsements and stuff. I also went through a process where I met with a bunch of people before I picked a financial advisor and a financial manager."

Q: How many of your Clippers teammates have you met?
A: "I've met them all. A lot of them weren't in in July, but most of them are in now. Everybody's been great so far. We've got a good core of veterans that should help out, really teach the younger guys and show us the way."

Q: When does training camp start?
A: "Training camp starts September 28th and we'll have five days of practice before our first exhibition game. Our first exhibition game is October 4th."

Q: What are your thoughts about opening up against the Lakers?
A: "It's going to be exciting. It's going to be a huge stage and I'm excited. Those are the games you love playing in and for that to be our first game is huge."

Q: How have you adjusted to L.A. life?
A: "It's not too different. I do the same things (there) every day (that I did in Oklahoma). I'm always in the gym, or I'm at home or I'm hanging out with teammates. So it's not real different for me. The best part for me is the weather and the beach. I live about four minutes from the beach, so I go there a lot and hang out when I have some free time."

Q: Did you buy a house?
A: "I'm renting a loft in Playa Vista, which is part of L.A. It's close to our practice facility. My first year I wanted to be close to it because I have to be there so much. It's a convenient area."

Q: How far is your place from the Staples Center?
A: "It's about 15 minutes without traffic, which means it's about 45 minutes or an hour with traffic."

Q: How's that traffic adjustment been?
A: "It was really bad at first because I didn't know how to take back streets or anything. But now that I've gotten used to it I can take those back streets. It still takes a while. When you get on the freeway anytime between 4 p.m. and 7:30 or 8, it's just non-stop, six lanes and back to back to back."

Q: Have you purchased a new car?
A: "I got two. One's a Lexus RX450h SUV. It's a hybrid -- trying to think about the environment. The other is a black Mercedes sedan."

Q: Who's the biggest star you've seen in public? Or not in public?
A: "I always forget the people I see. There have been a bunch. Let's see, Justin Timberlake, Mike Tyson, T.O. (Terrell Owens), Jessica Biel, Ozzy Osbourne come to mind. Mike Tyson was the coolest."

Q: Any earthquakes?
A: "No earthquakes, thankfully. It hasn't rained since I've been there. It's always nice, always sunny."

Q: Do you miss Oklahoma?
A: "Yeah I do, I definitely do. Just miss being at home. I was talking to one of my friends a couple weeks ago about classes starting soon and it really hit me that I'm not going to be doing that. So it makes me miss it. I'll miss hanging out, going to that first football game and to OU-Texas. It'll be a while before I get to do that again."

Q: You knew you were going to go No. 1 in the NBA Draft, but what was it like to actually hear Commissioner David Stern call your name?
A: "It was a relief, it was exciting. No matter how much anybody tells you that's what's going to happen, there's still doubt -- at least there was in the back of my mind -- that something could happen here or there. For everything to be set in stone, it was comforting."

Q: What were your thoughts about Taylor signing with Phoenix last week?
A: "Oh, that was awesome. When I got drafted I was happy but still a little uneasy because we didn't know what would happen with him. Then he got drafted and that was great. But then we weren't sure what was going to happen with the Suns. Finally they offered him a contract and that was a great feeling, just because I know how hard he's worked. A lot of people didn't think he could do it, so for him to be where he is is amazing."

Q: Are your parents going to stick around in Oklahoma City?
A: "Yeah they'll be here, they'll stay at home. But they'll also be out to see us quite a bit during the season. I kind of want them to stay in Oklahoma so I can always have a place to come back to -- you know, home."

Q: You're familiar with just about everyone who's going to be on this year's OU team. What are your thoughts on the 2009-10 Sooners?
A: "I think this year's team is extremely talented, especially with the freshmen coming in. They bring a lot of talent and athletic ability. And also the guys we have coming back like Tony Crocker -- this is his last year and it's going to be a big year for him. Obviously, Willie Warren -- he has the ability to be the best player in college basketball. So if everything goes well and they put everything together, they're going to be a tough team to stop. I'm looking forward to following them."