I’ve changed my mind about the L.A. Clippers picking Blake Griffin.

I almost wrote this column back when the Clippers first won the draft lottery last month, because I was very upset that Griffin would be going to a team that obviously didn’t deserve him.

I felt that way because I saw (and still see) Thursday’s draft as basically a one-man show — meaning, as with every draft, solid pros will emerge later, but there is only one obvious “franchise” guy in Griffin.

Part of my bitterness was due to the fact that my hometown Sacramento Kings — with the league’s worst record last season at 17-65 — were supposed to claim the rights to Griffin, had the ping-pong balls fallen according to the odds.

I also would have been OK with Griffin going to Oklahoma City, because it would have been fun for those fans to root for a hometown building block to play alongside Kevin Durant.

(Can you imagine? Try it, it’s fun.)

But when it was the Clippers ...

I have a hard time with the Clippers being in the lottery year in and year out in the first place, because the whole point of the process is to pick enough good players with the top picks that you shouldn’t have to be in it very often.

Here’s a Utopian example of what the lottery system can do for a team down on its luck:

Early in the 1996-97 campaign, the San Antonio Spurs lost superstar center David Robinson to a season-ending injury.

They signed aging-but-still-exciting Dominique Wilkins to sell some tickets that tough winter, and when late spring rolled around, the Spurs beat the lottery odds and won the rights to Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan.

They have not been back to the lottery since — but they have won four championships.

OK, that’s a pretty extreme example, but it shows that it is possible.

Then you have the Clippers, arguably the worst franchise in pro sports (though my Detroit Lions are close).

Let’s see, the last time L.A. picked first overall was 1998.

Just in the top 10 picks alone, they passed on (in order) Mike Bibby, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce.

They took Michael Olowokandi ahead of all those guys.

In 2000 they took Darius Miles third overall.

In 2002, they actually had two lottery picks, No. 8 and No. 12, and took Chris Wilcox and Melvin Ely.

Amaré Stoudemire was drafted one pick after Wilcox.

In 2005 they took Yaroslav Korolev.

Yes, THE Yaroslav Korolev.

Now, to be fair, they made some pretty good picks in 1999 (Lamar Odom), 2001 (Tyson Chandler) and 2003 (Chris Kaman).

But they let Odom go as a free agent to Miami and traded Chandler to Chicago.

Odom just won his first ring with the Lakers, and Chandler is the pivot man on a perennial playoff team in New Orleans.

Kaman is a solid big man still with the team, but the 2004 lottery pick, Shaun Livingston, suffered a terrible knee injury and is trying to make his way back to pro ball. Not their fault it didn’t work out, but still ...

And OK, the last two lottery picks, 2007 (Al Thornton) and 2008 (Eric Gordon) have been pretty darn good so far.

But are you getting the point here?

Since having the No. 1 pick in 1998 — like Griffin, supposedly a franchise-changing player — they’ve still been in the lottery every year except 2006 (when they didn’t have a first-rounder).

Every year!

Aren’t they supposed to be good by now?

Look what Portland has done with its lottery picks just the last three years — LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden ... and surprise, they made the playoffs this season.

Heck, it works in other sports, too.

The Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Evgeni Malkin second overall in 2004, Sidney Crosby first in 2005, and Jordan Staal second in 2006.

Those three guys were Pittsburgh’s top scorers this season, with 113, 103 and 49 points respectively.

It can be done, and that’s why I’m actually glad the Clippers took Griffin last night.

On paper, Griffin joins a dominant-when-healthy Baron Davis, the aforementioned young studs in Gordon and Thornton, and a couple of above-average big men in Kaman and Marcus Camby.

Even without Griffin, that should be a playoff team, and with him in the mix, I shouldn’t have to do another one of these columns any time soon.

There won’t be any excuses anymore.

Even for the Clippers.

Sports Editor Randy Johnson can be reached at rjohnson@napanews.com or 256-2222.