Shams: Blake Griffin signs with the Nets! (Vets Minimum Deal)

[Prokorov]

This is my take. He hasnt dunked in 2 calendar years. And i mean dunking in the grand scheme isnt important, but for a guy whos career is dunking that speaks volumes.

I still think this was a no-brainer for the vet minimum. At worse it's definitely an upgrade over any of the recent ten day contract players we signed. That said, I'd be lying if I said this is not an alarming stat when you consider he was arguably the best above the rim player in the NBA in his prime. His slam-dunks were awe-inspiring. It's inconceivable to me that he hasn't had a dunk in two years. I know it's true, but considering what he used to be, that stat is unimaginable ... and sad.

Yes. I feel like people are projecting me calling this a bad signing despite repeatedly saying otherwise. Its a good signing. of course you do it. Blake is a vet. relationship with DJ. has always been a hard worker. unlike drummond would be more likely of not just accepting of his role but staying in his lane with that role.

My thing is people are talking about him starting at the 5, playing 25 mpg. being a better center then Jordan. Being a guy who moves his feet well. being a shooting threat. those things were true a couple years ago. not now.

Again this is likely something between the Cavs signing dwill and the Cavs signing Wade. people see the name and they are going to rationalize however they can that the guy isnt washed up and being here will cure all.

Blake can help us. he is solid insurance for our bigman situation. he is legit quality depth. he is skilled. high IQ. but he isnt some injection of talent that will take us to some new height or make the difference between us and other contenders

[Prokorov]

Forgive me if someone posted this already, but as for Griffin's role ...

Adrian Woj tweeted that the Nets envision Griffin as a small-ball Center off the bench.

I wouldn't draw any conclusions yet. Woj clearly speculate here, I pretty sure Nash and co have yet to find out how Blake looking right now.

Guy took 1.5 rehab time and played hurt for past two years. At age 31 he won't be that athletic freak he used to be, just solid vet with high IQ. If we can getting healthy Blake here its a great addition. He played some damn good bball in 2019 without relying on his athleticism.

I'm very excited for this signing simply because he can provide high quality playmaking, solid rotation defense/offense, gives us size depth that we needed and can stretch the floor, his jumper won't be contested like in years past. I mean Harden dishes out dimes that BRUCE BROWN knocks down with confidence.

TLC, Shamet be very hot and cold for me to have them play on off nights, those nights happen every now and than. Nic won't get more than 20 min due to his conditioning, DJ gets burned out after 5 min in each quarter. Blake not taking any productive min from anyone here, he just give us security. Hopefully we can keep Jeff fresh as well. No harm whatsoever, and if he's really washed up like that we still have quality depth that proved they can play.

Something to watch for here with Blake is his playmaking ability. If we can lower Harden's min to 30 ( regular season ) its a huge bonus.

You left out Jeff green. if your going to have a stretch 5, why not use the more mobile, more athletic guy who can shoot well?

[Prokorov]

I know what they all say about blake and his lack of athleticism now. And his decline etc. I think it has to do with expectations. Yeah maybe he’s not the start player anymore. And that was the expectation of their fans, coaches, media in Detroit. So his decline is amplified. But here his expectations aren’t star level. He just has to come in and bring effort and play off the three stars well. I think he will be fine. If he give 15 mins a game and scores 10 ppg with 7 rpg and plays solid then he will be a great pick up. If he does that in Detroit he’s washed. Expectations matter.

he isnt washed in detroit because he is posting 10/7 in 15 minutes or whatever the raw numbers are.

He is washed in detroit because he cant get up and down the floor, cant be physical, wont go in the paint, and is horrific shooting the ball (36/31/71 on 48 TS%). The only thing he hasnt really done poor this year is pass. and even those numbers are way down. He rebounds like a guard. Hell he is almost being outrebounded by kyrie who is like 6'2"

[vincecarter4pres]

Signed for vet minimum, the haters on the GB have to be sick!

[Paradise]

Signed for vet minimum, the haters on the GB have to be sick!

The Nets vs the GB usually looks like:

Watch on YouTube

[FlipFlopShot]

You telling me we got another Deondre Jordan?

I guess, not a fan of Blake Griffin.

Who's next? Kevin Love? Kyrie still needs a buddy.

[GTR11]

Forgive me if someone posted this already, but as for Griffin's role ...

Adrian Woj tweeted that the Nets envision Griffin as a small-ball Center off the bench.

I wouldn't draw any conclusions yet. Woj clearly speculate here, I pretty sure Nash and co have yet to find out how Blake looking right now.

Guy took 1.5 rehab time and played hurt for past two years. At age 31 he won't be that athletic freak he used to be, just solid vet with high IQ. If we can getting healthy Blake here its a great addition. He played some damn good bball in 2019 without relying on his athleticism.

I'm very excited for this signing simply because he can provide high quality playmaking, solid rotation defense/offense, gives us size depth that we needed and can stretch the floor, his jumper won't be contested like in years past. I mean Harden dishes out dimes that BRUCE BROWN knocks down with confidence.

TLC, Shamet be very hot and cold for me to have them play on off nights, those nights happen every now and than. Nic won't get more than 20 min due to his conditioning, DJ gets burned out after 5 min in each quarter. Blake not taking any productive min from anyone here, he just give us security. Hopefully we can keep Jeff fresh as well. No harm whatsoever, and if he's really washed up like that we still have quality depth that proved they can play.

Something to watch for here with Blake is his playmaking ability. If we can lower Harden's min to 30 ( regular season ) its a huge bonus.

You left out Jeff green. if your going to have a stretch 5, why not use the more mobile, more athletic guy who can shoot well?

I clearly said I want to keep Harden and Jeff fresh for PO. They been logging some heavy min for regular season imo ( had to use Harden heavy out of necessity ).

Who I did leave out was TJ. Played some good ball lately and imo was better than both TLC and Shamet. I wont mind taking their min for Blake. Gives us size to play KD or Jeff at 3 for occasional match ups

[Prokorov]

I wouldn't draw any conclusions yet. Woj clearly speculate here, I pretty sure Nash and co have yet to find out how Blake looking right now.

Guy took 1.5 rehab time and played hurt for past two years. At age 31 he won't be that athletic freak he used to be, just solid vet with high IQ. If we can getting healthy Blake here its a great addition. He played some damn good bball in 2019 without relying on his athleticism.

I'm very excited for this signing simply because he can provide high quality playmaking, solid rotation defense/offense, gives us size depth that we needed and can stretch the floor, his jumper won't be contested like in years past. I mean Harden dishes out dimes that BRUCE BROWN knocks down with confidence.

TLC, Shamet be very hot and cold for me to have them play on off nights, those nights happen every now and than. Nic won't get more than 20 min due to his conditioning, DJ gets burned out after 5 min in each quarter. Blake not taking any productive min from anyone here, he just give us security. Hopefully we can keep Jeff fresh as well. No harm whatsoever, and if he's really washed up like that we still have quality depth that proved they can play.

Something to watch for here with Blake is his playmaking ability. If we can lower Harden's min to 30 ( regular season ) its a huge bonus.

You left out Jeff green. if your going to have a stretch 5, why not use the more mobile, more athletic guy who can shoot well?

I clearly said I want to keep Harden and Jeff fresh for PO. They been logging some heavy min for regular season imo ( had to use Harden heavy out of necessity ).

Who I did leave out was TJ. Played some good ball lately and imo was better than both TLC and Shamet. I wont mind taking their min for Blake. Gives us size to play KD or Jeff at 3 for occasional match ups

it could happen. id be surpried if we went big... we have seemed reluctant to even go kinda small. nash seems to want to go supersmall whenever he can get away from it. and i think if you want to keep greens minutes down its hard to play blake over claxton to do that given how claxton has looked (hand up ive been wrong on that one).

I dont see the value in Blake eating into TJ (or shamets) minutes and TLC is already kind of out of the rotation unless kyrie/KD both sit. I dont see nash removing ball handling shooters for blake, unless he somehow gets his lift back and isnt short nn so many threes

[Hello Brooklyn]

Its interesting that we signed Blake to the minimum.

I wonder if were planning on using the MLE for someone like PJ Tucker or Ariza. Those guys would basically ensure that Blake doesn't crack the rotation lol.

[Prokorov]

Its interesting that we signed Blake to the minimum.

I wonder if were planning on using the MLE for someone like PJ Tucker or Ariza. Those guys would basically ensure that Blake doesn't crack the rotation lol.

its getting to a weird spot roster wise. like sure at one point we could cut perry or chiozza or just glue TLC to the bench. but now we are getting to the point where everyone kind of is a lefit role player

Like if we get PJ or Ariza, who sits for them?

Kyrie/KD/Harden/DJ/Harris/Brown are 100% locks to play.

that leaves like 3 maybe 4 rotation spots (especially once playoffs hit.

Green, Claxton, Shamet, TJ. who sits for PJ, who sits for Ariza, who sits for blake?

I think if you are bringing in more rotation guys, it would be smart to package some combo of dinwiddie/claxton/shamet and try and get a real return. This would add value while opening roster spots

Also, using the MLE hard caps us. which may not be ideal given the circumstances

[ecuhus1981]

I envision the rotation / depth chart as follows:

Irving, Harden, Brown, Durant, Jordan
Shamet, Harris, Green, Griffin, Claxton
(Chiozza), Johnson, Cabarrot, (Perry)

Green gets a breather from logging heavy minutes and playing small ball. Really, he's our closing 5 in the postseason, but we know what he brings, and we don't need to burn him out now with it. The minutes I see Blake taking are virtually all of TLC's, and cutting into Landry's a bit. We play bigger, and those minutes are heavily negative anyway, so the risk is almost nil.

All 3 of our 10-day contracts (Roberson, Shumpert, Cook) just expired. We still have Dinwiddie, so that's 13 guaranteed contracts and 2 2-ways.

And yes, I see Joe moving to the bench. I still love him, he's still a huge part of our system.

[Whiskey Slick]

With the Nets still having the ammo (because BG accepted the vet minimum), we all know Marks isn't done upgrading this roster. Obviously he'll be watching the buyouts closely, but it seems to me he'll be hoping for Guard depth more than another big. If you look at the roster now, considering Claxton's return and how good he looks, now the addition of BG as well, then look at the Guards on the bench, clearly the bench upgrades are more needed at the latter. Not that we wouldn't jump on a Drummond, but G is more in need of an upgrade.

I didn't even mention Reggie Perry as another quality young big we'll be adding too.

[Prokorov]

I envision the rotation / depth chart as follows:

Irving, Harden, Brown, Durant, Jordan
Shamet, Harris, Green, Griffin, Claxton
(Chiozza), Johnson, Cabarrot, (Perry)

Green gets a breather from logging heavy minutes and playing small ball. Really, he's our closing 5 in the postseason, but we know what he brings, and we don't need to burn him out now with it. The minutes I see Blake taking are virtually all of TLC's, and cutting into Landry's a bit. We play bigger, and those minutes are heavily negative anyway, so the risk is almost nil.

All 3 of our 10-day contracts (Roberson, Shumpert, Cook) just expired. We still have Dinwiddie, so that's 13 guaranteed contracts and 2 2-ways.

And yes, I see Joe moving to the bench. I still love him, he's still a huge part of our system.

I mean, i just dont see how the Nets are going to sit all 3 stars while run out a lineup of all bench players... let alone a lineup with 3 bigs.

[Prokorov]

With the Nets still having the ammo (because BG accepted the vet minimum), we all know Marks isn't done upgrading this roster. Obviously he'll be watching the buyouts closely, but it seems to me he'll be hoping for Guard depth more than another big. If you look at the roster now, considering Claxton's return and how good he looks, now the addition of BG as well, then look at the Guards on the bench, clearly the bench upgrades are more needed at the latter. Not that we wouldn't jump on a Drummond, but G is more in need of an upgrade.

Were loaded at guard

Kyrie
Harden
TJ
Shamet

then also have Harris/Brown who can play guard in some lineups.

[Whiskey Slick]

Were loaded at guard

Kyrie
Harden
TJ
Shamet

TJ and Shamet have been okay, hot and cold, but I wouldn't consider that "loaded" at Guard and I don't suspect Sean Marks does either. If no veteran upgrades are cut loose via the buyout then fine, we can live with TJ and Shamet, but I'm not convinced Sean Marks views the Guards off the bench as a wrap. I could be wrong but I think he's hoping a better Guard gets bought out because he's making a championship run, RIGHT NOW, not 2022 or 2023, and he's trying to build a super team 1 thru 15.

[Prokorov]

Were loaded at guard

Kyrie
Harden
TJ
Shamet

TJ and Shamet have been okay, hot and cold, but I wouldn't consider that "loaded" at Guard and I don't suspect Sean Marks does either. If no veteran upgrades are cut loose via the buyout then fine, we can live with TJ and Shamet, but I'm not convinced Sea Marks views the Guards off the bench as a wrap. I could be wrong but I think he's hoping a better Guard gets bought out because he's making a championship run, RIGHT NOW, not 2022 or 2023, and he's trying to build a super team 1 thru 15.

Very few teams have better at their 3rd and 4th guard spots. you certainly are unlikely to find better from a buyout. those guys both play 2 ways. and both are outstanding shooters. TJ can handle the ball. both play hard on both ends.

maybe you get one of those things from a buyout guy

[Sharcm1]

Good luck to Nash to find good rotations when KD comes back. If griffin plays well it will be interesting to see how Nash uses him with everyone else.

Starting five is obvious with Irving, harden, Harris and Durant. I’m sure green will fill in at center when playing three point shooting centers for perimeter defense. And DJ will start at center when playing stronger type post centers (not many left). I expect harden to continue to stay on the floor with the bench players. And griffin to get a change at pf with Clax at center. I think that would be a good combo.

[Prokorov]

Good luck to Nash to find good rotations when KD comes back. If griffin plays well it will be interesting to see how Nash uses him with everyone else.

Starting five is obvious with Irving, harden, Harris and Durant. I’m sure green will fill in at center when playing three point shooting centers for perimeter defense. And DJ will start at center when playing stronger type post centers (not many left). I expect harden to continue to stay on the floor with the bench players. And griffin to get a change at pf with Clax at center. I think that would be a good combo.

I dont know that Harris is a lock when KD comes back. I can see brown starting at SF for Harris or alongside that 4 as our center. but i can see brown/DJ with the big 3.

also, i asked piston fans to give their insight on what we are getting with Blake:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2060484

i dont think we need to worry about how he fits in with other bg minute guys. he seems like a bit of longshot to make a real impact

[MrDollarBills]

Good luck to Nash to find good rotations when KD comes back. If griffin plays well it will be interesting to see how Nash uses him with everyone else.

Starting five is obvious with Irving, harden, Harris and Durant. I’m sure green will fill in at center when playing three point shooting centers for perimeter defense. And DJ will start at center when playing stronger type post centers (not many left). I expect harden to continue to stay on the floor with the bench players. And griffin to get a change at pf with Clax at center. I think that would be a good combo.

I dont know that Harris is a lock when KD comes back. I can see brown starting at SF for Harris or alongside that 4 as our center. but i can see brown/DJ with the big 3.

also, i asked piston fans to give their insight on what we are getting with Blake:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2060484

i dont think we need to worry about how he fits in with other bg minute guys. he seems like a bit of longshot to make a real impact

General consensus is that they like the guy, but he's done for.

[GTR11]

Good luck to Nash to find good rotations when KD comes back. If griffin plays well it will be interesting to see how Nash uses him with everyone else.

Starting five is obvious with Irving, harden, Harris and Durant. I’m sure green will fill in at center when playing three point shooting centers for perimeter defense. And DJ will start at center when playing stronger type post centers (not many left). I expect harden to continue to stay on the floor with the bench players. And griffin to get a change at pf with Clax at center. I think that would be a good combo.

I got my six pack and shrimp basket ready for it. That coaching stuff have very good experience if compared to others.

This roster is complete imo. Its all on coaching now. I mean c'mon, some really upset about Blake being 7-9guy in rotation? Dude can ball and is fresh. Some of you guys will be pleasantly surprised soon.