First aid for Clippers

The Clippers, riddled with bad news, finally got some great news last Tuesday as they landed the top pick in this year's draft through the lottery. Even they can't mess this up.

Griffin, the Oklahoma power forward, is a can't-miss prospect, and his arrival will likely lead to the departure of one of the Clippers' big men: Camby, the ex-University of Massachusetts star, Chris Kaman, or Zach Randolph.

"Griffin is a tremendous young talent who has a bright future in this league," said Camby. "As far as the depth we have at the big man position, it remains to be seen how or if we can all coexist."

Entering this season, the Clippers were expected to be a playoff-caliber team.

They had signed Baron Davis to a five-year, $65 million deal in the offseason. They had basically acquired Camby for nothing from Denver. They had talented young frontcourt players in Kaman and Al Thornton. They also drafted heralded guard Eric Gordon.

But in an injury-riddled campaign, the Clippers won just 19 games. They fired longtime general manager Elgin Baylor, who is suing the team. Coach Mike Dunleavy and Davis had issues all season long. Davis was on the trading block already and was nearly dealt to Houston.

"Last season was terrible and frustrating because I know we have the talent," said Camby. "We just weren't healthy."

The Clippers entered the draft lottery with the third-best odds for the top pick. Dunleavy was in Spain scouting Spanish sensation point guard Ricky Rubio. But once the ping-pong balls bounced in the Clippers' favor, Dunleavy told the Los Angeles Times that they would be drafting Griffin and that Rubio was an afterthought.

Griffin was the Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds as a sophomore. The 6-foot-10-inch, 245-pounder will sell tickets and jerseys, while bringing a much-needed star presence to the Clippers.

"He's athletic, he's strong, he's a terrific person," said Clippers president Andy Roeser. "I think any franchise would be happy to have Blake Griffin."

But now it makes no sense for the Clippers to have Camby, Kaman, and Randolph, as well as Griffin. Don't be surprised if Camby is the odd man out.

The 7-foot, 255-pound Kaman, 27, has a reasonable $33.9 million remaining on his contract over three years.

Randolph, 27, is a talented post player, but his off-court issues and his contract (two years and $33.3 million) would likely keep other teams at bay.

As for Camby, he has a contract paying $12.1 million next season and $13 million the following season. He is 35 and averaged 10.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks this season. San Antonio, Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta surely have to be interested.

But Camby would be a great mentor for Griffin and he hopes to be part of the beginning of the Griffin Era.

"I like what we are building in LA with the addition of Blake," he said. "And with the depth and experience we have, we should be able to make a playoff push."

Rivers's son has summer camp plans

Rivers, a 6-foot-3-inch, 175-pounder, is ranked the No. 1 junior point guard in the nation by Scout.com. The Winter Park (Fla.) High star has already committed to play for the University of Florida.

While Rivers is one of 11 from the Class of 2011 slated to attend, the camp includes 24 of the top 25 players in the country as recently ranked by Scout.com. New Englanders expected to attend include Hotchkiss (Conn.) forward/center Jason Morris, St. Mark's forward Nate Lubick, Tilton (N.H.) guard Gerard Coleman, and Central Catholic forward/center Carson Desrosiers.

The camp will include five hours of court time per day and programs that include mentoring, personal development, sex education, stress management, and dealing with recruiting.

Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul- Jabbar will deliver a keynote address on succeeding in basketball and in life. Several current NBA players interested in coaching after their playing days are over will serve as camp coaches.

The camp's alumni include Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal, Richard Jefferson, Udonis Haslem, Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, Rashard Lewis, J.R. Smith, Eddy Curry, and Jason Richardson.

Etc.

Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and Glen Davis are among the 24 players invited to take part in USA Basketball's minicamp in Las Vegas July 22-25. Participating players will be candidates for the team that plays in the World Championship in Turkey in 2010 and the 2012 London Olympics. Those who decline to participate this summer will probably not be considered.

While Davis has accepted the invitation, it's uncertain whether Rondo (family reasons) and Perkins (left shoulder, prior commitments) will take part.

"I don't know," said Rondo. "I got to decide."

Other expected invitees include David West, Brandon Roy, Danny Granger, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Derrick Rose, and projected No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin.

WWE was scheduled to have "Monday Night Raw" at the Pepsi Center in Denver tomorrow and sold about 11,000 tickets. But a scheduling conflict cropped up when the Nuggets advanced to the Western Conference finals and were slated to play Game 4 against the Lakers there on the same night.

Once the basketball schedule was announced, Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which owns the Nuggets, told WWE its event could not take place there. With plane tickets already purchased and a fleet of 16 trailer trucks already en route to Denver, WWE was furious.

"We do 300 live shows per year and this is the first time this happened," said Rob Zimmerman, WWE vice president of public relations.

Zimmerman said there were no contract provisions about conflicts with NBA games and the contract was finalized three days before the playoffs began. KSE executive vice president Paul Andrews declined comment on the contract terms.

While the Nuggets offered to have the wrestling event a day earlier, WWE opted to move the show to the Staples Center in Los Angeles tomorrow and Tuesday and will return to Denver Aug. 7 at the Denver Coliseum. Vince McMahon, chairman of WWE, made several strong comments against Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke and KSE.

Zimmerman said WWE turned down a request from KSE to make a joint statement and talk about Kroenke in a very positive and apologetic light if an agreement was reached. But Andrews said KSE and WWE had agreed to move the show to tonight, and KSE was also surprised about the WWE event moving to Los Angeles.

Andrews added that McMahon asked for five tickets to attend Game 4, where he could apologize to Kroenke. Andrews said it was "sad" for Denver fans that WWE chose to move the event to LA, especially considering the initial agreement to move it to tonight.

"We believed we had a deal as of Tuesday late in the day. We were shocked," Andrews said. "We learned by the press conference that Vince had second thoughts that we verbally agreed to. We were going to move it to Sunday. We didn't hear from them and then he announced it's moving to Staples Center."

Marc J. Spears can be reached at mspears@globe.com