NEW YORK — Blake Griffin heard the doubters who wondered why he was joining a college team coming off a 16-15 season.

"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?' " he recalled yesterday. "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 your own thing."

Griffin won't have a say in which team he joins in the NBA, with the Los Angeles Clippers expected to select him with the top pick in tomorrow's draft. But good thing he enjoys forging a new path. He'll have to do just that to rewrite the history of a franchise best known for its blunders on and off the court.

"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."

Or this past season, when the Clippers went 19-63. But Griffin has made good on a guarantee of a turnaround once before. Oklahoma went 23-12 and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament his freshman year. By his sophomore season, the Sooners were 30-6 and advanced to the national quarterfinals before Griffin turned pro.

Still, Oklahoma wasn't exactly the Clippers of college basketball. The Sooners were a recently successful program sidetracked by NCAA violations, not one of the professional sports franchises most associated with ineptitude and misfortune.

Or maybe the Clippers just need a talent infusion. Griffin prefers to focus on the impact one well-timed draft pick can make on a team, recalling that the Cleveland Cavaliers were 17-65 before they received the top choice in 2003.

"Getting a guy like LeBron changes everything," Griffin said. "I'm not trying to compare myself to him. But there's been a lot of teams that were not so great, and you have to start somewhere. You have to grow from somewhere."

BOBCATS

MAY A FREE AGENT

The Charlotte Bobcats will not make a qualifying offer to forward Sean May, allowing the former first-round pick to become an unrestricted free agent.

General manager Rod Higgins didn't rule out trying to re-sign May. But Higgins said yesterday that the team determined the one-year qualifying offer of $3.7 million was too high to make May a restricted free agent.

May was the 13th pick in the 2005 draft, but has played only 82 games of a possible 328 in four seasons because of lingering knee and weight issues.

BUCKS-SPURS

FOUR-PLAYER DEAL

San Antonio acquired scoring swingman Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee in a four-player deal yesterday, giving the Spurs the extra offensive punch the aging former champions sorely needed.

The Spurs sent veterans Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto to the Bucks in exchange for the 29-year-old Jefferson, who averaged 19.6 points in his one season with the Bucks.

Milwaukee then dealt Oberto to the Pistons for forward Amir Johnson. The trades give the Bucks more financial flexibility, the Spurs a proven scorer and the Pistons a veteran big man at a lower cost than Johnson.

Milwaukee unloaded Jefferson's contract, which has two years and $29.2 million remaining. Jefferson became the Bucks' best offensive threat after Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut went down with season-ending injuries, but the Bucks' tight financial situation made a move necessary.