Blake Griffin, Kyrie Irving and Great Expectations

[mkwest]

Blake Griffin knows a thing or two about the tumultuous nature of our affection. After missing his original rookie year due to injury, Griffin got the professional equivalent of a medical red-shirt. Once healthy, Griffin let loose the hounds of war on a league he’d had a chance to study for a year while sitting on the bench in Los Angeles. He became one of just 23 players in the 3-point era to post a Win Shares/48 minutes greater than .150 in his rookie season. If there was one criticism to be leveled against Griffin, it was that his dominance was largely predicated on his otherworldly athleticism. Of course he was efficient, the thinking he went — all he ever did was dunk the ball and jump over everybody for rebounds! If he was ever going to become a superstar, he would need to broaden his game. Add a jumper. Work more from the post. Move the ball when the double team came.

Setting aside the absurdity of criticizing a player for taking high efficiency shots and making them at an obscene rate, it was a worthy process for Griffin to undertake. And he has, with atypical aplomb for a player of his relative level of experience. Griffin has improved every year that he’s been in the league. Though he’s added a jumper to his repertoire, his True Shooting Percentage has increased year over year in all three seasons. He’s taken to working with his back to the basket, especially against smaller defenders, and his footwork is something to behold. Perhaps most noticeable has been his work as a passer. Griffin is one of only 22 forward in the 3-point era to post an Assist Percentage greater than 19% in one of his first three seasons (last year, he was at 19.9%). He understands NBA defenses, how they’ll approach defending him and where the holes and seams will be as the defense goes through its rotations. And he’s finding the open man in turn. It’s been a spectacular upward trend for Griffin so far as he continues his ascension to superstardom.

Yet you’d never know it according to many, because his counting stats, in terms of points and rebounds especially, have gone down every year since his highlight reel rookie season. Some of that is due to a decrease in playing time as the Clippers have improved and been less dependent on him, but even his per-36 numbers are down ever so slightly. As a result, it’s become easy for many to ignore the growth in Griffin’s game. It’s a facile task to point to the box score and use it as evidence that he’ll never become more than what he was as a rookie. To those who choose to ignore the incremental development in his abilities and decision-making, Griffin has stagnated as a basketball player. To those who dabble in reality, he’s a far better player today than he was in his first year. And he was really, really good as a rookie!

Andrew Lynch, Hardwood Paroxysm

[TheNewEra]

Blake has to simply play with the aggression of his rookie year using all the skills and knowledge he has gained. Blake has to look to continue to be a dominant option which will open the flood gates for everyone one else.

[Juscius]

Agreed.

So far it looks like Blake regressed....again.
Lets be honest guy, I am Blake fanboy since his first nba game and I will be watching every nba game with him but...

In this preseason it looks like he lost even more aggression, most of his shots are jump shots. He is not terrible at them. But he is not doing what he used to do in the past.

Now he looks like average Joe that does everything OK but nothing very well

[Neddy]

So far it looks like Blake regressed....again.

care to explain?

[mkwest]

Agreed.

So far it looks like Blake regressed....again.
Lets be honest guy, I am Blake fanboy since his first nba game and I will be watching every nba game with him but...

In this preseason it looks like he lost even more aggression, most of his shots are jump shots. He is not terrible at them. But he is not doing what he used to do in the past.

Now he looks like average Joe that does everything OK but nothing very well

Right now, he's shooting a bunch of jump shots because he's putting what he practiced over the summer into use in an actual game setting. Doing it out of a set play with your team is a bit different than attempting it in a scrimmage over the summer.

When the games start to matter, his level of intensity should go up. Expect improved defense, more assists, better overall shooting (mid-range and free-throws). Is he going to put up 25 points? Probably closer to 21 imo. Due to our lack of quality depth in the front court and a new coach, he'll probably log more minutes than he did last season at the very least. More minutes should equate to higher raw stats which most of his critics seem to focus on.

My biggest beef with him has been his rebounding. It's something that has decreased any way you look at it. He is playing further away from the basket offensively as are most PF's these days, but he has to do a better job of hitting the boards imo. He put up 11.4 rebounds per 36 (12.2rpg) in his rookie season and he needs to be closer to that number.

[mike3]

The thing I have with Griffin above everything else (someone already mentioned it) is him wanting to be that dominant player, he's gotta look to dominate the way someone physically as gifted as him should

I honestly would rather him go back to 'only dunking' and crashing every pack aggressively getting 10+ boards with his 20+ points as opposed to how he's been playing lately/late last season

I swear everyone's focusing on too much how he's scoring/playing instead of his numbers as much

[Quake Griffin]

IDC what anybody says about Blake. He's my boy.
IDC what anybody says about Kyrie...he's annoying...and hasn't won an important game since high school.


i just want those 12 rebounds per game back.