Blake Griffin has quickly become one the NBA's most polarizing players. Dwight Howard is up there for his free agency floundering, among a myriad of other reasons, and while the public opinion on Lebron has eased he still fronts the league's evil empire. Griffin though has drawn more debate over his actual game and whether he is everything that he has been built up to be. In his first three years in the league, the last two with Chris Paul, Griffin along with big man DeAndre Jordan, lights out ace Jamal Crawford and a rotating cast of support have certainly helped turn the Clippers culture around. To go from perpetual lottery dwellers to title contenders in three years is nothing to take lightly.
Much of the heat on Griffin, that he's "too nice" or soft or he's overrated, would seem to fall flat in face of the acclaim Griffin has received; the 2010 rookie of the year, he's been on the all-star team every season he's played, two time all NBA second team, but it doesn't. The Clippers were swept out of the 2012 playoffs by the Spurs, giving up a 27 point advantage in one game and were eliminated from last years playoffs by the Grizzlies in four straight games after going up 2-0. In a way it would seem Griffin's acclaim, along with his popularity, draw, nicknames, ad campaigns, highlight reels, sports center spots and general over saturation within our culture has worked against him. No matter how big of a Clipper's loyalist you might be, if you watched the NBA into the playoffs tell me you haven't had your share of Griffin's ad spots for Kia, AT&T, ESPN, Nike, Red Bull and whatever else. Nobody would deny that Griffin has a strong skill set, but he is everywhere and it feels completely unwarranted borderline invasive.
In a western conference with no shortage of great power forwards it is Blake Griffin's constant permeation into our conscious and subconscious that either makes him the stand out choice or what makes him seem overrated. While Griffin averaged a double-double in his first two seasons and fell just short last season that merely runs him par for the course of mentionable power forwards in the west; Duncan, Love, David Lee and Randolph averaged double-doubles last year and Gasol, Nowitzki, Aldridge and Anthony Davis all fell just short of ten rebounds (lowest ppg avg was Davis at 13.5). Griffin's defense is nothing to write home about, but while he only averaged .6 blocks a game last season, lower than Duncan (2.7), Aldridge (1.2), Love (1.2), and Davis (1.8), he posts a lower defensive rating (total number of points allowed per 100 possessions) than Aldridge (107) and Davis (104) and ties Love at 102, with only Duncan (95) and Randolph (99) posting higher than him in the west. The only statistical mark Griffin falls noticeably short in is his free throw percentage (.660%) up from last season's .521%, a mark in which improvement is crucial if he is to be on the floor in serious Clipper crunch time.
Some might point to his high shooting percentage from the floor, .538 last year, .549 in 2011-2012 and .506 in 2010-2011, but the probability of missing a dunk is low. Nobody has been as closely associated with the word "dunk" since Shawn Kemp (who Jalen Rose claims to have seen actually jump over a car) as Blake Griffin has. While he has worked hard the past two off seasons to develop a mid-range jump shot, it would not be unfair to describe his game as fairly one dimensional. What might make the criticism on Blake Griffin even stronger is his front court partner DeAndre Jordan, who boasts a stat line of 7.5 rebounds per game, 6.7 pts ppg on .644% shooting from the field, .424% from the line (the difference between those two is seriously shocking) and 1.5 blocks from last season. Jordan is all the negative aspects of Griffin's game without much of the good, personified into a 6'11" caricature, set to earn nearly $11 million this coming season. Watching Clippers games has started to feel like an action movie with very liberal use of explosions, destructive sure (at times) but in the most tactless and tired way possible. How many Jerry Bruckheimer devotees do you know? How much time do you like spending around them?
Perhaps much of the vitriol against Griffin and to a lesser degree Jordan would subside if they weren't constantly being pitched, along with Chris Paul, as the Clippers own "big three". We are constantly taking in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Rocksteady and Beebop, at best Rosewood and Taggart to Chris Paul's Axel Foley, and being told we're seeing Butch Cassidy and Sundance or Lennon and McCartney (Paul is the Harrison of the Group). It seems interesting that while the athletic ability these two possess and the seemingly limitless potential they offer is undeniable, Chris Paul is just as aware of their shortcomings as anyone. Paul saw the opportunity to bring in an elite level coach to harness their talents and mold them into tough, well rounded offensive juggernauts while instilling the importance of a defensive mindset and the need to dig deep within to drive far into the playoffs. Paul saw his chance come and almost go just as fast and used himself as leverage to get what he felt was necessary to develop this team.
There will always be people who have negative things to say about Blake Griffin, people that just flat out don't like him or those trying to discredit him, but the guy is talented. Whether that talent is ever fully realized and harnessed is another thing. Maybe Doc Rivers will be able to bring it out of him or maybe, despite the high flying spectacle of Blake Griffin's showtime style he would flourish best in a smaller market with less expectations than those placed on athletes in L.A. I'm fairly confident he will continue to develop and what we are seeing now is only the raw talent at the beginning of a long exciting career, because for whatever reason I would like to see it work out for him and the Clippers.
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