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Blake Griffin discusses what's next

PM: About this ESPN The Magazine Body Issue, all the people in it are elite athletes, obviously, in a variety of sports. And you're talked about as an elite athlete by your peers, fans and observers in general. What do you consider elite about your athletic ability, and what do you attribute that to?

BG: I don't really think about it in those terms, but it's obviously our jobs to be able to perform at a high level. My job is to be more and more explosive, to be more and more athletic. I think that's what makes us elite athletes, dedicating most of our lives to being that way.

PM: When you look at this upcoming year, what are you setting out to prove to people? As I'm sure you're aware, the common criticism of your play last year was that you were all athlete and no basketball player. Then you started to silence some of that in March and April when you began to knock down open jump shots and things like that. And how much does all of this play into your workout routine?

BG: That's something I work on every single day. I really work on my shot, ball-handling, all those things. People see the dunks and they think that that's all I do. But me being able to handle the ball and being able to shoot and pass are part of being a good basketball player. I think people get caught up a little bit too much sometimes on just being able to shoot, but at the same time that's something I'm working on and something I can definitely make improvements with in my game this year.

Pedro Moura, ESPN

scratch21 wrote:PAUSE