Unstoppable in the Near Future? Blake Griffin

[AzStevenCal]

What does that have to do with anything? Go to a general NBA board and you will see that Griffin is quickly becoming overrated that is all I am saying.

He is a good player but he is already overrated right now.

What's that based on. Are you reading posts that proclaim him as the greatest player in the game? Are you watching him play and saying wow, this guy isn't very good? What's driving this opinion of yours.

I think Blake is one of the 10 most dominant players in the game right now and I could certainly see someone taking that claim and calling him overrated. But, I wasn't aware that he was being touted as such by most people. Is he?

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

-Best PF in the league
-MVP candidate
-myths of 40"+ vertical (measured 35,5 same as Amare)
-myth of being 6'10 260 (puhlease)
-best athlete in the NBA (no.. Lebron, Josh Smith, Tyrus Thomas and some more are more athletic)

Just a few things I have read since yesterday.

Really? Lebron and Smith, maybe.

Steve

 

[slinslin]

Whenever I watch him, I am constantly saying "Wow, I wish we had that guy."

Well I am saying that to myself everytime I watch another team at this point. Not hard with the situation the Suns are in.

Again I am not saying Griffin isn't great. But he is not as good as many make him out to be right now.

He is worse defensively than Amare as a rookie, he is a no factor as a shotblocker, he doesn't get steals either.

As good a dunker as he is, his lateral quickness and explosiveness doesn't seem to be THAT special and combined with the fact that he has short arms and is a bit undersized I think it will hold him back in terms of long-term potential.

Also Griffin isn't your regular rookie since he has been with the team for a year so he had a lot more practice under his belt obviously. That is definately a benefit even if he was injured for long.

 

[slinslin]

Really? Lebron and Smith, maybe.

Steve

Go look up the combine measurements.

Tyrus Thomas registered a 39.5" max vertical leap. 4" more than either Amare or Griffin.
No player bigger than Thomas registered more in the entire database.

 

[Cheesebeef]

-Best PF in the league

i don't see why he's not in the discussion. 22/13/3 is pretty damn impressive... for anyone... much less a rookie.

-MVP candidate

that's a stretch.

-myths of 40"+ vertical (measured 35,5 same as Amare)
-myth of being 6'10 260 (puhlease)

who cares?

-best athlete in the NBA (no.. Lebron, Josh Smith, Tyrus Thomas and some more are more athletic)

Bron is definitely a better athlete (he's probably the greatest athlete to ever lace up ANY set of sneaks on any team) but i gotta tell you, I think Griffin is just as athletic as Thomas or Josh Smith. And while there are measurables such as vertical and what not, no one except Lebron's athleticism translates like Griffin's does already.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Well I am saying that to myself everytime I watch another team at this point. Not hard with the situation the Suns are in.

Again I am not saying Griffin isn't great. But he is not as good as many make him out to be right now.

He is worse defensively than Amare as a rookie, he is a no factor as a shotblocker, he doesn't get steals either.

As good a dunker as he is, his lateral quickness and explosiveness doesn't seem to be THAT special and combined with the fact that he has short arms and is a bit undersized I think it will hold him back in terms of long-term potential.

Also Griffin isn't your regular rookie since he has been with the team for a year so he had a lot more practice under his belt obviously. That is definately a benefit even if he was injured for long.

If all that is true, how in the world is he putting up those kind of numbers. AND, there is no way in Hell that he is a worse defender than Amare was his rookie year. That's just absurd. Also, Blake is only slightly worse than Amare in the two areas you lambast him for. Griffin is .7 in steals and in blocks Amare is .8 and 1.1. Not much to hang your hat on (or your argument).

Steve

 

[Cheesebeef]

Well I am saying that to myself everytime I watch another team at this point. Not hard with the situation the Suns are in.

Again I am not saying Griffin isn't great. But he is not as good as many make him out to be right now.

He is worse defensively than Amare as a rookie, he is a no factor as a shotblocker, he doesn't get steals either.

As good a dunker as he is, his lateral quickness and explosiveness doesn't seem to be THAT special and combined with the fact that he has short arms and is a bit undersized I think it will hold him back in terms of long-term potential.

His lateral quickness and explosiveness doesn't to be THAT special? If that's true, how is this short-armed under-sized kid averaging 13 boards a game? kid's a pogo-stick, with handles already. have you even watched any of his games?

Also Griffin isn't your regular rookie since he has been with the team for a year so he had a lot more practice under his belt obviously. That is definately a benefit even if he was injured for long.

He had a lot more practice under his belt? Yeah, a whopping ONE-MONTH of pre-season before his knee went bonkers on him, sidelining him for the rest of the season. And then you say OBVIOUSLY at the end. How in the world not being able to play a year and coming off injury was a benefit to him versus other rookies could be the dumbest thing i've heard all week.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Go look up the combine measurements.

Tyrus Thomas registered a 39.5" max vertical leap. 4" more than either Amare or Griffin.
No player bigger than Thomas registered more in the entire database.

Oh! Now I understand. I thought when you mentioned athleticism that you were talking about athleticism. I didn't realize you simply meant leaping ability.

Steve

 

[Cheesebeef]

Oh! Now I understand. I thought when you mentioned athleticism that you were talking about athleticism. I didn't realize you simply meant leaping ability.

Steve

i've got to believe that a) slin is an idiot or b) he really hasn't had a chance to watch him play (which is probably the case seeing as if I didn't live in LA, I probably wouldn't have seen much of him either)... nah, it's probably still be a.

 

[jagu]

What's that based on. Are you reading posts that proclaim him as the greatest player in the game? Are you watching him play and saying wow, this guy isn't very good? What's driving this opinion of yours.

I think Blake is one of the 10 most dominant players in the game right now and I could certainly see someone taking that claim and calling him overrated. But, I wasn't aware that he was being touted as such by most people. Is he?

Steve

+/- Duh...

 

[AzStevenCal]

i've got to believe that a) slin is an idiot or b) he really hasn't had a chance to watch him play (which is probably the case seeing as if I didn't live in LA, I probably wouldn't have seen much of him either)... nah, it's probably still be a.

Do we let slin pick between a) and b)? Can he choose c), all of the above? Or maybe d), he secretly loves the guy but wants to run his reputation down to the Phoenix Suns level so we can go after him.

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

+/- Duh...

Now that you mention it, why isn't he using +/- to make his case. Could it be because it leads to the wrong conclusion for him?

Steve

 

[Chaplin]

WHO CARES ABOUT SHOT BLOCKING?

I find it mind-boggling that slin is using shot blocking as a gauge, when Amare was a great shotblocker for us, but a poor defender.

We've learned over the past 7 years that shot blocking does NOT equate to good individual defending.

 

[slinslin]

His lateral quickness and explosiveness doesn't to be THAT special? If that's true, how is this short-armed under-sized kid averaging 13 boards a game? kid's a pogo-stick, with handles already. have you even watched any of his games?

Rebounding doesn't come down to size or athleticism just look at Kevin Love, Charles Barkley, Ben Wallace, Dennis Rodman......

You can already see he is overrated right now by how defensive people get just when someone thinks he won't be the greatest or isn't the greatest athlete already.

And yes his quickness is not THAT special. I don't think he is quicker or more explosive than Amare as a rookie, measurements back that up and certainly not on a level athletically with the likes of Lebron James, Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala, Shawn Marion etc. which people claim he is.

 

[Bufalay]

In this silly athleticism debate you all seem to be leaving out the fact that Griffin is a huge person. Huge people that move the way he does are very athletic.

 

[slinslin]

We've learned over the past 7 years that shot blocking does NOT equate to good individual defending.

So what?
Having someone that can challenge and block shots defensively is still huge and if you think we aren't missing the 2 blocks per game from Amare that is just silly.

Also I never said that blocking shots automatically makes you a good defender but without great size and without any shot blocking you are not going to be a very good defender as either PF or C. Tim Duncan is the ultimate combination at the 4 of size and shot blocking making him a great defender, Kevin Garnett lost a lot of shot blocking over the years but still is a great defender and it comes down to his length.

Griffins ceiling as a defender is not nearly as high as his ceiling offensively which is why I don't think he will become the greatest unlike many others who are already ready to mark him down as the soon to be greatest PF.

I see him as the next Karl Malone if he can stay healthy but that wouldn't be enough to get him into the conversation with Tim Duncan.

 

[Ronin]

Next Karl Malone?...be careful you might give someone around here a heart attack!

 

[Ronin]

Overrated or not....he still a helluva basketball player.

 

[mojorizen7]

In this silly athleticism debate you all seem to be leaving out the fact that Griffin is a huge person. Huge people that move the way he does are very athletic.

And small people that can move like that are just slippery.

 

[Joe L]

My Blake Griffin Videos

Since you guys are talking about BG, I thought I'd put up my recent Griffin mixes I made. Clippers.com just hired me as a freelancer to make mixes for them. They'll be posting my first video on Monday.


The Year Of The Griffin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaJHOUV1DTk

One Man's Journey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG1o5isLdsg

 

[S_Nash]

Gold.

 

[S_Nash]

Whoops.

That's what happens when you think you've come to the last post of a thread, only to fond it was the last post of a page...

I need to stop drinking...

 

[jibikao]

If he stays healthy... that's the key.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Overrated? Today, despite being in early foul trouble, Griffin went for 18 and 15 against the twin towers of the Lakers as the Clips stopped their winning streak. I love Amare, but again, how many times did he grab 15 boards against Gasol and Bynum?

If this Clippers team stays healthy they will be the team that the favorites dread facing in the first round. That's assuming they don't move all the way up to a top 4 seed.

Steve

 

[Chaplin]

Did you see the incident that led to Griffin, Artest, Odom and Baron Davis to get ejected. I can't for the life of me figure out why Griffin got ejected. Odom was in total punk mode and Baron came over to defend BG, but Griffin didn't do ANYTHING.