His teammates constantly encourage him, doing all they can to keep Clippers center DeAndre Jordan engaged.

They have all seen Jordan’s development on offense, so now the idea is to get him the ball more than the Clippers did last season.

“I know that he worked a lot on his offense all summer,” said Clippers guard Chauncey Billups. “You’ve got to throw DJ a bone or two. You’ve got to make him feel like he’s involved. And if you do that, he’s going to play extremely hard on the other end. I know that about him.”

“DJ has a chance to be special,” Chris Paul said. “He is unbelievable on both ends of the court. I think this year, obviously he’s highlighted a lot more, probably more than he’s ever been highlighted in his life. We’re running plays for him three or four times in a row.”

The idea now is to keep Jordan’s head in the game, his teammates say.

via Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times