Players' Tribune:

[mkwest]

Honestly, they had a point. My first few years in the league, I was relying on my athleticism to get me by, because that’s what got me to the NBA. The problem with that is, you end up getting really, really tired by February. My rookie year I tried to get out of bed on a road trip near the end of the season and I was like, Am I physically able to walk right now? I went out on the floor that night and ran up and down just trying to look like a real NBA human.

So you were correct, haters. You became, as the kids say, my motivators. I needed to work on my mid-range game. You can print that.

So we’re on version five now, and still some days I wake up and I’m like I am a bad basketball player today. I cannot shoot a basketball like a professional basketball human. But overall, it’s definitely helped me take advantage of what defenses are giving me. That’s the thing. It’s not like I’m going out every game thinking, “Well, if I shoot 17 shots tonight, I need to make sure 40 percent of them are from mid-range.” It’s not about proving a point. It’s about making defenses respect me from everywhere on the floor.

Even with all the mechanical tweaks that have gone into improving my shot in the past few years, the biggest challenge is always going to be the mental. The hardest part about basketball is constantly training myself to have a very short term memory and to forget about the last missed jumper. Even if it goes off the side of the backboard, you have to believe the next one is going in. There’s a quote I really like that describes the mentality you need to have in this league in order to keep your sanity: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Brick by brick, you guys.

Blake Griffin, The Players' Tribune

[Forte IV]

Guys, it’s hurtful. It’s hurtful when you say that I didn’t mean to do this. Just look at me coming out of the huddle, down two with two seconds left on the clock. You can see the game plan right on my face, like “Yeah, I’m about to post up at the three-point line, catch it with my back to the basket at a real funny angle, fake like I’m going to pass it to CP3 (nah, son), spin around behind the line with a hop-step and launch the trey before stumbling back into the front row.”

[MartinToVaught]

Sweet timing on this article with the latest soft disappearing act from him tonight! He's not a superstar playing this way, period.

[QRich3]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

[Quake Griffin]

I've never liked the way the GSW players (Bazemore and Landry) made a huge thing about him bricking it off the side of the backboard.


I don't mind trash talk but I do mind the theatrics that came along with that.
Have some class. We get it. He's flop griffin. everybody hates him. Nobody is going to slam you for doing it….but have some class.

[KDRE]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

I'd take Danny manning over Blake anyday

[QRich3]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

I'd take Danny manning over Blake anyday

I mean, I get it if you say that because of sentimental reasons, but Blake's already a much more accomplished player than Manning ever was, and he'll still be here for a long time hopefully.

[KDRE]

I think calling Blake the greatest Clipper ever isn't saying much at all really. If he is then this team has a ton of work to do

[Forte IV]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

I'd take Danny manning over Blake anyday

Sure you would buddy

[KDRE]

Not trying to be funny. I honestly don't remember his effort being questioned. He just went out and played and consistently did whatever it was he did.

That statement was not about who has more talent. It takes more than that alone of course. Im tired of seeing Blake look scared and not know what to do and pass the ball away when challenged instead of pushing it down the defenses throat.

That's what the greats did.. Karl Malone, Barkley , Kemp, freaking Anthony Mason. I just expect this guy to not show mental signs on unsurity just like he did a couple of years back.. like he should be growing beyond that stuff man. Its definitely a frustration.

[Quake Griffin]

I think calling Blake the greatest Clipper ever isn't saying much at all really. If he is then this team has a ton of work to do

We know this franchise has work to do.

But it's not a bad deal to have him be the best Clipper ever.

We could be like the Suns and have Nash and Barkley…but they aren't even career Suns. Good for them. But not as cool imo.

[KyletheDingbat]

Blake is at a cross-roads in his career and he'll come out of it as an awesome player. Just in a tough transition period. He's a sure fire HOFer and absolutely can go down as one of the greatest PF's all time.

[mttwlsn16]

Sweet timing on this article with the latest soft disappearing act from him tonight! He's not a superstar playing this way, period.

viewforum.php?f=19

[Neddy]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

I'd take Danny manning over Blake anyday

i dunno... before Danny's knee injuries? maybe. post injury Manning was really a tweener. not exactly nimble enough to be a SF and not quite strong enough to be a true PF. Danny did have a decent size tho. he was a legitimate 6-10, not like Blake who is 6-10 with shoes. Danny had some long spidy arms too. i just was never a fan of his underhanded tap shots. when he did that at the end of the first half of the All Star game, I thought it was the lamest move in all basketball for a signature move of an NBA all-star since Rick Berry's underhanded free throws.

[MartinToVaught]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

I like Blake, just frustrated by the soft way he's been playing this year. He was absolutely deserving of the superstar label with the way he was playing last year, but the farther he drifts out to the perimeter, the less he resembles the guy we were expecting with the #1 pick.

[KDRE]

lol I don't care what everyone says, I really like the guy's personality. He can be snarky without being too self-aware. He's always been a hard worker and I'm sure he'll keep expanding and improving his game until the end of his career. I can't understand how any of you can not love him, even if he has a few shortcomings. He'll probably be the best Clipper of all time by the time he retires.

I'd take Danny manning over Blake anyday

i dunno... before Danny's knee injuries? maybe. post injury Manning was really a tweener. not exactly nimble enough to be a SF and not quite strong enough to be a true PF. Danny did have a decent size tho. he was a legitimate 6-10, not like Blake who is 6-10 with shoes. Danny had some long spidy arms too. i just was never a fan of his underhanded tap shots. when he did that at the end of the first half of the All Star game, I thought it was the lamest move in all basketball for a signature move of an NBA all-star since Rick Berry's underhanded free throws.

His game was ugly lol man... but that junk always seemed to go in man smh

Pre knee injury for sure...

[Neddy]

I'd take Danny manning over Blake anyday

i dunno... before Danny's knee injuries? maybe. post injury Manning was really a tweener. not exactly nimble enough to be a SF and not quite strong enough to be a true PF. Danny did have a decent size tho. he was a legitimate 6-10, not like Blake who is 6-10 with shoes. Danny had some long spidy arms too. i just was never a fan of his underhanded tap shots. when he did that at the end of the first half of the All Star game, I thought it was the lamest move in all basketball for a signature move of an NBA all-star since Rick Berry's underhanded free throws.

His game was ugly lol man... but that junk always seemed to go in man smh

Pre knee injury for sure...

man you sound like you are one of my generation, and if you are, you sure do remember pre-injury Ron Harper who was going by the name "hollywood" long before he was even traded to LA. my god young Ron Ron was something special. I can't believe how long of a career he had even after tearing both knees in two different occasions.

there are't much left since Ron's early days pre-dates internet, but this is one of his signature moves... his 360 turn around for either a dunk or a layup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym6jyIk-2iM" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

[mike3]

Surprised so many of you are so ignorant to the other side of Griffin's development. I've been one of the harshest critics of his game this season. But this article HAS to make you respect and understand why we've seen such a different Blake this season:

He's a basketballer, he wants to be the best player he can possibly be. Not the 'one trick pony' he was when he first entered the league. As fans all we want to see is the amazing slams, the aggressive drives and 'hero' plays. Fact is, and you'd understand this if you played any spot, he can't be doing that every possession like his rookie year, he even said that in this article, he stated he couldn't get out of bed one morning.

I've been hating on his transition this year but this article really made me respect why he now plays like this. And it's still a process, it's not complete yet, everyone has to understand that. Blake next year will have figured out how to mix up his game with his jump shot and athleticism a lot better.

The best thing I got out of this article is how much I like Blake's attitude. He's got balls to be so honest.

Think we need to ease up on the guy that changed how franchise.

[QRich3]

Im tired of seeing Blake look scared and not know what to do and pass the ball away when challenged instead of pushing it down the defenses throat.

I like Blake, just frustrated by the soft way he's been playing this year [...] the farther he drifts out to the perimeter, the less he resembles the guy we were expecting with the #1 pick.

Honestly, I know I'm gonna look like a pompous dick saying this but I don't even care, I'm tired of listening to the same BS over and over. It's sad to read uninformed comments like these from fellow Clipper fans (or whatever M2V is, in his case). Those are lazy observations that show a lot of ignorance about what is winning basketball nowadays. Lebron used to get a lot of those stupid cliches from casual fans, and Dirk too. What you guys call "soft" and "scared" is actually being clever and playing intelligent basketball, and quoting his FG% or his raw rebounding numbers, like it means anything, is not gonna help your argument.

Zach Lowe did a big exhaustive article on Grantland yesterday that details the nuances of the Clippers offense, and it'll probably help some of you understand the reason behind Blake's evolution outside the paint, if you're able to pay attention for a few minutes and read something beyond the 4 or 5 usual catchphrases.

Among a lot of other things, it has a couple videos that show why Blake needs to play more outside the paint, and why it's a lot better for us that he acts as a playmaker from the high post, rather than him trying to bully defenders inside. We have a lot of problems with spacing, and our offense just does not work with both DJ and Blake trying to score inside, specially when defenders ignore Barnes to collapse in the paint.

For instance, this is what happens when he tries to score inside and DJ is in the game:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K30udwX3EM[/youtube]

Defenders clog the paint and there's just no way he can do anything in there.

But if he's playing with a shooter like Hawes, there's some space inside and he can do stuff like this:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCIe5fYumSY[/youtube]

That'd be really nice for our offense if we could play Hawes all the time and have all that space, but he's a really bad defender and we don't have anyone that can protect the rim if DJ's not on the floor

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_HkgzvzU3U[/youtube]

That's why, all things considered, the best for this team is (clearly imo) to find a balance where Blake takes a lot of jumpshots and can make plays from just inside the 3PT line. That way, oblivious people like you lot are gonna keep calling him soft but the team is gonna have the best offense in the league. He is gonna have a lower shooting % but guys like Redick and Barnes are gonna have career shooting numbers. Meanwhile, Blake is having one very best passing seasons ever for a big man, and you lot will keep moaning about him "passing the ball away when challenged".

SMDH

Read the freaking article, it explains all this in a much better way I'm gonna be able to, and he's much more unbiased and can give you some real ammo to complain, since he mentions a lot of the things we don't do as well.

[Quake Griffin]

Q up in here eatin up this thread.