More athletic: Josh Smith or Blake Griffin?

ATL DirtyBird · Post #1 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:23 am

Simple question. What you think:?

HoopsGuru25 · Post #2 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:38 am

It depends what you mean by the word "athletic". Griffin has Josh beat when it comes to pure explosiveness....but isn't anywhere close when it comes to blocking shots and finishing at the rim.

ATL DirtyBird · Post #3 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:57 am

HoopsGuru25 wrote:It depends what you mean by the word "athletic". Griffin has Josh beat when it comes to pure explosiveness....but isn't anywhere close when it comes to blocking shots and finishing at the rim.

Not sure how I would define athleticism. Damn.

azuresou1 · Post #4 » by **azuresou1** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:30 am

Blake Griffin might be the most athletic player in the NBA, above LeBron and Dwight.

ATL DirtyBird · Post #5 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:48 am

azuresou1 wrote:Blake Griffin might be the most athletic player in the NBA, above LeBron and Dwight.

No bleeping way.

God Squad · Post #6 » by **God Squad** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 4:15 pm

azuresou1 wrote:Blake Griffin might be the most athletic player in the NBA, above LeBron and Dwight.

I don't know about that one. lol. But Blake is a Monster.

SAUCERY_SWEET · Post #7 » by **SAUCERY_SWEET** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:29 pm

I have to say yes, after what i witnessed against the Knicks a couple of nights ago. I haven't seen anybody just take your breathe away with sheer athletic superiority like that in quite a while. You almost feel like he can just out jump everybody and he's physical to boot. I wish Josh Smith would play with that same kind of reckless abandon around the rim but he likes to dribble and shoot long jumpers so that's probably never going to happen. I would trade anybody on our team for him yesterday.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #8 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:36 pm

azuresou1 wrote:Blake Griffin might be the most athletic player in the NBA, above LeBron and Dwight.

This is why I struggle to define athleticism. Griffin's highlight real matches up with anyone's but all his athletic indicators are similar to someone like Zach Randolph or Kevin Love.

azuresou1 · Post #9 » by **azuresou1** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:30 pm

Um, Z-Bo is fat. Kevin Love isn't fat, but he's not exactly jacked either. Blake Griffin visibly is more muscular. Not to mention his combine numbers are far better too.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #10 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:11 pm

azuresou1 wrote:Um, Z-Bo is fat. Kevin Love isn't fat, but he's not exactly jacked either. Blake Griffin visibly is more muscular. Not to mention his combine numbers are far better too.

That's pretty obvious. My point is that can you really say that Griffin is more athletic(in a basketball sense)then someone like Dwight or Josh Smith when he doesn't even average half as many steals or a fifth of the blocks? Griffin is as explosive as any player in the NBA but he has alligator arms.

azuresou1 · Post #11 » by **azuresou1** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:22 pm

I don't see what steals or blocks has to do with determining athleticism. Mo Evans is athletic as hell, but he gets no blocks or steals. Ditto for the Graham brothers.

Yeah Blake has alligator arms but he's athletic enough to do Dwight's Superman dunk in game over somebody, as well as throw down a vicious tomahawk dunk off a spin move on a fast break.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #12 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:39 pm

Steals and blocks correlate to athleticism more than any other stat.

azuresou1 · Post #13 » by **azuresou1** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:50 pm

Correlation, true, but there are always exceptions. To say that Blake Griffin isn't ridiculously athletic because he sucks on defense is laughable.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #14 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:58 pm

I'm not saying he isn't ridiculously athletic. I just don't see how there's even a realistic debate about him being the best athlete in the entire NBA.

azuresou1 · Post #15 » by **azuresou1** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:09 pm

He can go from the triple threat to head at rim level in less space and quicker than any other player. He has great upper and lower body strength, and even though he has short arms he more than compensates by being so explosive. He has excellent body control rarely found in big men, and in general reminds me of a bull when he's running the floor.

SAUCERY_SWEET · Post #16 » by **SAUCERY_SWEET** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 12:17 am

How anybody can't think and see that this guy is athletically as on par with just about anybody in the NBA makes me question have they actually watched this guy play out side of a couple of highlights. Even in college at Oklahoma I noticed his athleticism and physical nature around the rim. The guy is a can't miss impact player on all levels for any team in the league.

And comparing him to Z-Bo and Love is comical, these guys aren't even in the same building as far as athleticism to him. For example this guy made Amare Stoudamire look un-athletic that night by comparison.

And LOl at the fact that u have to be really athletic to get steals and blocks, I don't think Steve Nash and John Stockton are what we call athletic in the sense of the word. And as far as blocks go, Roy Hibbert is amongst the leaders but you won't hear many people raving about his athleticism. Sometimes it's about your length and timing in his case. Mutumbo was a great shot blocker but I wasn't blown away by his athleticism as another example.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #17 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 12:24 am

Nash doesn't get alot of steals and using 7'2 centers to make your point is a terrible example. I didn't say that you HAVE to be really athletic to get steals and blocks...those just happen to be the 2 stats that correlate the most towards physical ability as opposed to skill.

#1 pick · Post #18 » by **#1 pick** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 3:12 am

Josh Smith jumps higher but is uncoordinated, Griffin is very coordinated. Griffin.

Barstool Blues · Post #19 » by **Barstool Blues** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 10:26 pm

HoopsGuru25 wrote:Steals and blocks correlate to athleticism more than any other stat.

No they don't. Those are hustle stats first and foremost. Being athletic or long certainly doesn't hurt a players ability to garner steals and blocks, but they don't correlate to being athletic more than any other stat.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #20 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 11:13 pm

You're insane if you think blocks and steals are "hustle stats".