Cousins calls Blake an actor. says he "babied" by league

[revvolutions]

Everyone in this thread needs to chill out and test drive the all new Kia Optima Limited, the official car of the NBA.

I bet Griffin only drives that car in his commercial although I do like the car looks/price.

I'll tell you what, that is a great looking car.

[-[Clippers]-]

If Smith just left it at bodychecking Griffin, I'd be fine with no suspension... but then he started celebrating and running towards the crowd. THAT'S probably what got him the suspension, not the foul itself.

[MiltownMadness]

How do you even defend Blake? He is a flopper and just symbolizes everything that's wrong with this league.

But he gets c00l dunkz yo.

[phd1969]

If Smith just left it at bodychecking Griffin, I'd be fine with no suspension... but then he started celebrating and running towards the crowd. THAT'S probably what got him the suspension, not the foul itself.

LOL you're delusional!

[[GR]]

Yeah, that call was atrocious, and it was made worse by the fact it was towards the end of the game.

[Devils Advocate]

If Smith just left it at bodychecking Griffin, I'd be fine with no suspension... but then he started celebrating and running towards the crowd. THAT'S probably what got him the suspension, not the foul itself.

LOL you're delusional!

What delusional about his comments. Smith pumping up the crowd after running thru Griffin definatley made himself look bad and made it look like he was proud off trying to hurt another player. Im sure thats what got him a two game suspension.

[-[Clippers]-]

What delusional about his comments.

The fact that I'm defending Griffin on a website that incredibly thinks Griffin flopped on that play, maybe? Otherwise, I've got nothing.

[va-mos]

I wonder if Griffin will ever reach ONE block per game. Cousins already 1.3bpg and 1.3spg. Griffin 0.7bpg and 0.8spg. Laughable. And Cousins is shooting a mammoth 20% better than Griffin from the foul line. Griffin is useless down the stretch. And they are level in rebounds at 10.9rpg each. And only 2ppg more for Griffin. Cousins has MAD potential. MAD potential!

[Devils Advocate]

I wonder if Griffin will ever reach ONE block per game. Cousins already 1.3bpg and 1.3spg. Griffin 0.7bpg and 0.8spg. Laughable. And Griffin shooting a mammoth 20% better than Griffin from the foul line. Griffin is useless down the stretch. And they are level in rebounds at 10.9rpg each. And only 2ppg more for Griffin. Cousins has MAD potential. MAD potential!

I feel like people don't think things thru on this site, they just post off of emotions which leads to holes in their arguements. Griffin has MAD potential too. He is a very efficeint 20/10 guy who is only in his 2nd year. He has a strong work ethic who is still improving his jumper and post game. He is shooting much much worst from the free throw line this year than he did his rookie season so he is leaving lots of points behind. Imaging he he becomes a good free throw shooter or just gets back to last years average. He'd be around 25ppg. How much more efficient would he be with a solid jump shot and go to post move.

His D I don't have much hope for because he actually gives effort on that end. He just does't seem to have the instincts of a good defensive player. His best bet is a defensive scheme that hides his shortcomings on that end.

[og15]

LOL, more like this thread is yet another echo chamber for Griffin's delusional haters.

Delusional? You said it yourself that he "occasionally" flops, which is an understatement in itself. He also consistently gets away with offensive fouls. If you deny that, then you may be the delusional one.

Consistently is a word that shouldn't be used unless one has multiple examples.

Offensive fouls 2011-2012 - via 82games.com
Dwight Howard - 48
DeMarcus Cousins - 32
Kendrick Perkins - 30
Luis Scola - 28
Amir Johnson - 27
Tyson Chandler - 23
Kevin Love - 21
Blake Griffin - 20
Carlos Boozer - 20
Marc Gasol - 20
Roy Hibbers - 20
Amare Stoudemire - 20
Javale McGee - 19
Humphries - 19
LaMarcus Aldridge - 19
Nikola Pekovic - 18
Greg Monroe - 18
Samuel Dalembert - 17
Nene - 17
Paul Millsap - 17
Chris Bosh - 16
David Lee- 16
Serge Ibaka - 15
Kevin Garnett - 14
Pau Gasol - 14
Tim Duncan - 14
Marcin Gortat - 14
Jason Thompson - 14
DaJuan Blair - 14
David West - 12
Elton Brand - 11
Dirk Nowitzki - 10
Andrew Bynum - 9
Al Jefferson - 3

Of course this isn't balanced for games played, it isn't offensive fouls per game, but it gives a good idea.

So we see the league's biggest centers (Howard and Cousins), except for Bynum dominating the top of the list, along with some foul prone guys (eg: Amir Johnson). Blake is right in the thick of things with the PF's that play a similar style to him. The only significant thing here is that a lot of the C's get called for a good amount of offensive fouls, except for Bynum and Al Jefferson. Those guys are quite good at avoiding offensive fouls, or just crafty in masking them.

So you have to ask yourself, Is the argument that Blake should be called for more offensive fouls than for example, Cousins, or Dwight Howard? That would be absurd based on how those guys play on the court. Is that argument that 50% of the highlight reel dunks over a defender that he get's once every 10 games should be an offensive foul? So what, like 2 more offensive fouls over the season? If yes, then it's so insignificant that whining about it is foolish.

His D I don't have much hope for because he actually gives effort on that end. He just doesn't seem to have the instincts of a good defensive player. His best bet is a defensive scheme that hides his shortcomings on that end.

He gives effort in man to man defense and on the glass, and on the simple rotations when a guy is driving. His effort is lacking when it comes to closing out on shooters effectively. I think his worst matchup is a pick and pop PF, or maybe more so when the offense get's the defense moving and he has to close out on someone else man. Many times (not always of course) does a half hearted close-out. It it is post defense, or him defending a player in isolation, the effort is there.

[Bankai]

I watched plenty of Clipper games this year because they usually play last that night. I do notice that Griffin touches the rim or grabs the mesh alot while the ball is up there. He does it at least 2 times a game. But he never gets called for it. I only remember one game where a Ref decided to call him on it once and Griffin had the look of "finally got called for it" smile. If it was other people their would be constant calls of basket or cylinder interference.

[d-will8]

I don't disagree at all about Blake being an actor, but, based on the few times I've watched Cousins play, I'd say he's a pretty egregious flopper as well, especially for a guy as huge as he is. That's not to mention the fact that he's a bit of a lunatic. Not sure I'd want the guy on my team. That said, he's right about Blake.

[cool007]

Kudos to Cousins for speaking his mind.

I really hope a lot of players also do the same and call it like it is.

The more people say it in the media, eventually everyone will take notice and the league will be basically forced to call a normal game for Clippers (Flop-City).

[og15]

I don't disagree at all about Blake being an actor, but, based on the few times I've watched Cousins play, I'd say he's a pretty egregious flopper as well, especially for a guy as huge as he is. That's not to mention the fact that he's a bit of a lunatic. Not sure I'd want the guy on my team. That said, he's right about Blake.

You can't lead the league in charges and basically average almost a charge a game without doing some good acting once in a while. Cousins is a big guy, this isn't Steve Nash or something, it's not like he's routinely actually getting run over, so he has to be getting that many charges somehow. Blake does not attempt, not is he anywhere close to Cousins in terms of offensive fouls drawn, but if you asked people who attempted to take more charges, they would with certainty say that it was Blake.

Kudos to Cousins for speaking his mind.

I really hope a lot of players also do the same and call it like it is.

The more people say it in the media, eventually everyone will take notice and the league will be basically forced to call a normal game for Clippers (Flop-City).

Again, in addition to the emotional responses, add some objectivity. No one is going to be 100% objective, but sadly with forums like these, too many people are 0% objective and base their responses on perception and emotional reactions.

The Clippers are 7th in the league in FPG. The Clippers are 3rd worst in the league in FT given up per FGA with only Utah and Toronto having more fouls called on them in relation to FGA's taken by the opponent.

DeAndre Jordan and Blake both have 20 offensive fouls committed over the season, which would put them in the upper half of big men in the league. Blake Griffin is tied for 3rd in the league in FPG with Amir Johnson at 3.3 FPG, and DeAndre Jordan commits 2.9 FPG in 27.5 MPG (or 3.8 fouls / 36). Kenyon Martin, Eric Bledsoe and Reggie Evans also have a high foul rate (and guess what? They actually do foul a good amount).

The Clippers attempt 2 less FTA/G than their opponents, even though Blake is 5th in the league in FTA/G. They are 18th in FTA/FGA.

They had a + differential there at one point, and people were doing the whole "league helping them" as opposed to realizing that the team had a rookie who got 8+ FT's in his rookie season getting 7 this year, and Billups a guy who had been going to the line 6-7 times/36 a game since 08-09 and was actually going to the line 5.6 times / 36 as a Clipper. Billups goes down, Clippers FTA/G goes down because neither Foye or Mo Williams have drawn many fouls through their careers or as Clippers. The Clippers negative FTA differential is not because of unfairness from the league, it's because only Blake Griffin and Chris Paul really draw FT's.

[Flagrant 2]

Blake Griffin gets to stare down his opponents without a penalty but if anybody else stared down another player they would get hit with an automatic T.

[WiscSports1]

Kudos to Cousins for saying the obvious. Griffin is good, but all the calls he is getting is getting ridiculous.

[Wone]

Blake Griffin gets to stare down his opponents without a penalty but if anybody else stared down another player they would get hit with an automatic T.

lol at your avy

[-[Clippers]-]

Blake Griffin gets to stare down his opponents without a penalty but if anybody else stared down another player they would get hit with an automatic T.

That's funny, considering how many times Kobe flashes his "tough-guy" glare at everyone, even his teammates, every game.

[og15]

Blake Griffin gets to stare down his opponents without a penalty but if anybody else stared down another player they would get hit with an automatic T.

Do you mean like this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFsFGlbiBg[/youtube]
Yea, Blake does get away with some stare downs, he's also gotten some technical fouls for them, but not always, but you can't believe he's the only player that has escaped the stare down technical either. Though of course, for Blake, that was an over the back foul and should have been a technical, and the offensive foul on the other end would have been a HUGE flop by Blake

Oh, don't forget that the league cheated, and the flop (though he probably didn't see the screen) by Mo Williams should have been an offensive foul if it was a Clippers opponent. You see how people can easily interpret things the way they want to see it?

This one would just be a case of the opposing coach / team sending in a complaint to the league if they really have a problem with it. It's not something that actually has an impact on the outcome of the game such as getting away with an actual foul, so I wouldn't elevate it to that level

[boogie-reke]

I don't disagree at all about Blake being an actor, but, based on the few times I've watched Cousins play, I'd say he's a pretty egregious flopper as well, especially for a guy as huge as he is. That's not to mention the fact that he's a bit of a lunatic. Not sure I'd want the guy on my team. That said, he's right about Blake.

You can't lead the league in charges and basically average almost a charge a game without doing some good acting once in a while. Cousins is a big guy, this isn't Steve Nash or something, it's not like he's routinely actually getting run over, so he has to be getting that many charges somehow. Blake does not attempt, not is he anywhere close to Cousins in terms of offensive fouls drawn, but if you asked people who attempted to take more charges, they would with certainty say that it was Blake.

Demarcus has amazing timing, quick feet, and he reads the situation very well to position himself against drives while also not being scared of physical contact to take one for the team - thats how he leads the league in offensive fouls drawn.

Sometimes he's late to the spot and gets a foul on him, but in general pretty much each of the offensive fouls he draws are from just reading the offense, beating the man to the spot before the dotted line, and sacrificing his own body to get his team an extra possession.