The Clippers have long been expected to select Blake Griffin with the first overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft.

Griffin, who surprised people by going to Oklahoma, isn't worried about the team's sad past.

"A lot of people, when I committed to Oklahoma, asked me, 'Why did you commit there? Why didn't you go to Kansas or Duke or somewhere like that?' " Griffin said Tuesday. "I just said, 'You'll see in a couple years.'

"I'm a big believer in not always following the most popular thing to do. Make your own path. Do you own thing."

It might take longer than a season or two to turn around the Clippers, but Griffin is optimistic.

"It doesn't bother me at all," Griffin told The Associated Press. "All that stuff happened in the past. That's exactly what it is: It's in the past. No one can do anything about it now. If I am with the Clippers, it's going to be all about the future. No disrespect to anybody, but I could care less what happened 20 years ago, 15 years ago."