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I've been trying to find video of Blake playing basketball the last 6 months. Couldnt find much.

Below is an August tweet and he looks normal. Obviously its just shooting around and having fun. But he isn't limping at least!

So how injured do you think he will be when Pistons start playing in two weeks?

My guess is: He actually starts the season looking pretty good! But gets hurt again, as usual, before he can be traded. Hope thats not the case, but thats my guess.

Have you seen other video evidence that he isnt on crutches still?

No dunks.

I think he is relatively ‘healthy’, but his new normal will be a lot closer to how he played last season than how he played 2 seasons ago.

We won’t know until we see him in games (plural).

How much point forward has he played for pistons? I’d like to see him focus on that role. Hopefully he’ll opt out of his last year and sign a 3 year deal somewhere else if we can’t eventually trade him for a pick

Will probably be about 98% healthy and 96% in terms of physical conditioning, but will consciously operate at around 80-85% only for the first few weeks capped at 30 mpg. If he makes it to Feb still in great shape, then he'll probably start moving towards 2017-2018 stat levels in preparation for the trade deadline.

How injured Blake is isn’t a matter of opinion, literally. Especially since none of us are his doctor or trainer.

It isn't but the OP is soliciting guesses as to what people think his health is at; which is likely to differ from reality.

I think the OP title could have been better to include it but the poll title in the first post makes this clear.

We will find out in about a week.

Invictus88 wrote:It isn't but the OP is soliciting guesses as to what people think his health is at; which is likely to differ from reality.

I think the OP title could have been better to include it but the poll title in the first post makes this clear.

Yeah, I get that. I was looking at it from the standpoint of none of us having actually seen him play.

bstein14 wrote:We will find out in about a week.

When do the pistons start playing?

Spider156 wrote:

bstein14 wrote:We will find out in about a week.

When do the pistons start playing?

Friday

I mean, is anyone on here willing to bet a lot that he's going to have a fully healthy season?

That pretty much says it all for me. He's going to be on a minutes restriction more than likely and we'll probably show case him a lot after 30 games in if he starts rolling after all the rust

edmunder_prc wrote:I've been trying to find video of Blake playing basketball the last 6 months. Couldnt find much.

Below is an August tweet and he looks normal. Obviously its just shooting around and having fun. But he isn't limping at least!

So how injured do you think he will be when Pistons start playing in two weeks?

My guess is: He actually starts the season looking pretty good! But gets hurt again, as usual, before he can be traded. Hope thats not the case, but thats my guess.

Have you seen other video evidence that he isnt on crutches still?

Read on Twitter

From the standpoint of a guy at a gym shooting around, he looks great. Unfortunately an entire NBA season is a totally different beast, even for 25 year olds in the prime of their health (stating the obvious.) At this point, I think it's just the accumulation of stress from years of his high-wire act. As a Clipper fan we've been dealing with Kawhi's rest days (which I don't think is a big deal), ironically this would probably be best for Blake now too.

Anyways, I hope for the best for Blake and the Pistons this year. One thing that stands out in the video (that we also knew) is how much he's improved his on-ball skills and shooting over the years. I hope he is able to show it off this year.

Here's a clip of Blake sliding to the floor to get a loose ball yesterday. Seems pretty healthy.

https://youtu.be/FbSMqm_9Qok?t=65

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honestly if blake can play at a 2019 level i think it instantly makes the pistons a playoff contender. whether you think that is good or bad for the team long-term, it definitely makes them more enjoyable to watch and gives the rookies experience in games with pressure.

also, if he plays at an all-nba level (or close to it) like he did in 2019 and we load manage him enough so he stays healthy, he will be 1000 times easier to trade. even if the team decides to hold on to him and rose through the season and push for playoffs, a healthy blake would be much more likely to decline his player option with us because he would get a good deal on the market.

basically however this season/next off season play out, a healthy blake griffin is very good news for the pistons.

whitehops wrote:

Read on Twitter

honestly if blake can play at a 2019 level i think it instantly makes the pistons a playoff contender. whether you think that is good or bad for the team long-term, it definitely makes them more enjoyable to watch and gives the rookies experience in games with pressure.

also, if he plays at an all-nba level (or close to it) like he did in 2019 and we load manage him enough so he stays healthy, he will be 1000 times easier to trade. even if the team decides to hold on to him and rose through the season and push for playoffs, a healthy blake would be much more likely to decline his player option with us because he would get a good deal on the market.

basically however this season/next off season play out, a healthy blake griffin is very good news for the pistons.

I agree with all points other than that being a playoff contender, i.e. contending for a playoff spot, makes them more enjoyable to watch. Certainly it's only my personal preference but I don't enjoy watching a team that beats the bad teams, loses to the good teams, plays around .500, gets a 7-8 seed and gets molly-whopped in the first round. I've seen too much of that already.

I'd rather see the team be a playoff contender in spite of Blake, i.e. the kids got that good that quickly. THAT would make being a playoff contender enjoyable to watch, not because Blake dragged the team into a playoff spot. Given a choice between those two I'd rather have the higher draft pick in 2021 than more value for Blake. And hopefully it will be both--Blake stays healthy, plays well but is load-managed so he doesn't cause too many wins, and the team still loses a lot of games. The Pistons get a top 5 draft pick and some team desperate for some bench big scoring during a run at a championship either this year and/or next and throws a first and second rounder at the Pistons to get Blake for help this year and/or next and be an expiring. That for me is the ultimate win.

We gotta hope Hayes looks good and then land a top3 pick to pair together before trying to go anywhere near playoffs.

We've had a better look at Blake. What's the prognosis, doc?

He has no lateral movement. I've seen him look a little gimpy after going to the hoop. Do other people see that? Like he is favoring a leg, shuffling, hobbling.

He cant hit longer shots, lots of hitting the front of the rim. Those are dead legs, either injured, weak or tired after training camp.

He took a few charges, so he isnt scared of putting himself into harm's way. Thats a positive.

He will not close out on three point shooters, which is bad. As soon as teams see this (I have to assume NBA teams know more than I do), it just takes moving the ball around one full rotation and then whoever Blake was supposed to run to last, that guy is sitting completely open. For teams with shooting bigs, going to be career days for them.

On back to backs, I'm predicting he sits on half of them. Or he will end up injured again, which would end his career.

This team has the potential to run, with Jackson, Svi, Hayes, Rose, Sekou, Bey - they all want to get out as fast as possible. Blake wants to move as slowly as possible. That wont work.

He's had a year to recover, and it appears to me that injuries have once more lowered his ceiling.

Casey will lavish minutes and usage upon him and run the offense around him anyway, development be damned.