Blake Griffin, Kyrie Irving and Great Expectations
Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:01 am
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