Spare Wheel: Which Blake Griffin is coming to the Brooklyn Nets?

The timing could not have been more symbolic and sad at the same time: this is the night of the All-Star ring competition, and whoever is in the headline is Blake Griffin.

Ten years earlier, in 2011, in the big city that is his home, in the twinkling lights of Los Angeles, Blake Griffin was flying over a car, drowning his way to an exciting win, including a handsome cash prize, which went into every news flash in the world.

Ten years later, in 2021, Blake Griffin leaves the city most associated with cars – Detroit – when he does not record a single dunk for nearly a year and a quarter, over 25 games. More than 1,000 miles from the All-Star weekend, he was dragged to the Brooklyn Nets replacement lot after several tire, tin and engine replacements, and after giving up $ 13 million on his contract. And all this in the hope of a final renovation, so that if it is already off the road – at least it will be as it should be.

In those ten years, Griffin has managed to drown dozens of unfortunate guards who thought they had a chance to stop the redhead with the springs in his legs. Pau Gasol, Amara Studmeier, Serge Ivka and Kendrick Perkins, among others, received posters with a dedication from him. Griffin, who is coming to Brooklyn, wants to make a mark with her help on a career that started so beautifully and may be remembered as another high-achieving, low-achieving player. But even before that, Griffin who comes to Brooklyn probably wants something simpler: to drown.

Rank 198 of 199
“We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to add a player of Griffin’s caliber to our squad at this point in the season,” Hunts manager Sean Marx said in a press release. It is doubtful that he would have spoken in a similar way to another player, if he had loaded a player on the roster after difficult knee surgery, who scores fewer points per game this season than Jimmy Jackson, Alfred Peyton or Logwants Dort, and who is ranked this season in percent from the field (about 36%) In 19th place out of 199 players who took at least 200 shots.

Griffin, however, has a respectable status in the league. Still, All-Star and former All-NBA player. “He is a versatile face player with a long track record of successes in the league,” Marx said. Griffin has been in the league since 2010 and in the regular season was indeed great, but won only 3 playoff series and lost 7. It’s true that the West is tough and all, but with Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, and later also with the richest owners in the league, the Clippers of those years were a great example of a team that fails to realize potential. Griffin, not always through his own fault, had a big part in it. Those knees that were question marks at a young age, became the big problem limiting him just before the age of 32. From one knee surgery Griffin came back nicely, and looked great. From the surgery that followed, which was performed last season, he returned to a vessel fracture.

Griffin started last season as part of a clutch with Andre Drummond in the front line, a team that was supposed to make trouble for any defense. With the additional injury and long shutdown in January 2020, the Pistons decided to fold. Drummond was sent to Cleveland for lentil stew, a new manager arrived, and the rebuilding phase got underway. This season Griffin came in as a veteran player who is supposed to give experience and inspiration to the youngsters. In practice, his first shot of the season signaled the following: Griffin dug into a post-up against Josh Okogi of Minnesota who was 15 inches shorter than him, unable to move him, went right, tried left, and in the end settled for a jump-shot with the board not even Hit the ring.

So what do the Nets know we do not?

Blake, free throw – get to know
First of all, the risk is quite low. Griffin, despite his lack of off-field success, is not known as a problematic type, and is a good friend of Diandra Jordan. The Nets pay him only $ 1.2 million, so at worst, with all the sentiments, they will know to say goodbye to him with a beautiful post on Instagram. Second, Griffin will get a chance to start over in a place where he can really contribute, even if little, to a significant group; In Detroit he mostly hindered youngsters like Sadiq Bay, Isaiah Stewart and Siko Domboya from developing, and he had nothing real to play for. This reason alone should motivate him to remind everyone that he still has fuel left in the tank.

Griffin is no longer drowning like it used to be, but in Brooklyn he may yet come back and meet the basket rings up close. This team has firepower of historic proportions, including three league leaders in effective shooting percentages in isolations (Durant, Harden and Kyrie) and Steve-Nash ball propulsion, so defenses are simply forced to make concessions. Griffin will get more free looks in this group than he can imagine. The question will be whether he will score them, and if not, whether defenses will give him a meter – after all, the man scored 36% beyond the arc just two years ago, with 7 shots per evening, and he is still Blake Griffin.

Griffin threw 8 times this season from the right side of the field, near the baseline, and scored on 5 occasions. That’s a beauty of a percentage, but also the only place where he has scored significantly better than the average percentage in the league. In threes from the wing and the left corner, however, it stands at 18 out of 68 or 26.4% which is, how to say, not good. We would say it’s just this season, but in his last seven games last season his percentage from the field was 23.3%.

In Brooklyn, as mentioned, everything will be different. He will not have to bear the burden of offense – there are enough people in this team who know what to do with the ball, including one of the best three-pointers in the universe today, Joe Harris, and including Bruce Brown, who co-owns with James Harden the NBA’s most effective pick-and-roll duo This season (you heard right). Also “Veteran Leadership” is not really necessary in a team whose whole vibe is experienced professionals who have teamed up to take a championship. Blake will have to drop rebounds and run bursts, and take advantage of his passing skills – perhaps the only element that hasn’t been hit and even improved in his game over the years – to punish defenses they try to cheat.

There is no such thing as “too much depth”
Defense is a problem for Griffin, who has never been considered a supreme guard, and who in the last two years has recorded the worst defensive index of his career. But one of the interesting stories that has been going under the radar in recent weeks is that the Nets – who are moving all the time in motion, and after the trade on Harden are trying to find enough defense within the existing squad and picking up second-hand guards – become not a bad defensive team at all. Great defense, injured.

Brown can hold any position, Jeff Green and Defensive as defensively as Dantoni liked in Houston, Harris saves better than his image and as we saw in the Brooks, Arden within the right lineup can also take advantage of his nimble hands and strong body to harass. Within a second five, it remains to be seen next to which player (Green? Energy bomb Nico Claxton?) Griffin will be able to allow the Nets a reasonable defense, which can harass opponents in color and go out for scenes.

And above all, if this season has taught us anything, it is that there is no such thing as too much depth. As long as players are not vaccinated – and there is currently a major trust issue among young people in the US black community, and in many places vaccines have not even been opened to the relevant age group – cases where a player visited a barbershop or drove with the team driver Griffin feels like a luxury in Brooklyn, but when you build a super-team that also plays super-basketball, it becomes a magnet for hitchhikers.

Griffin no longer came to hover. In the days when two of his teammates, Steph Curry and James Harden, are giving seasons in the caliber of MVP, the first pick in the 2009 draft just wants to find himself a niche in the league that will suit his current physical and basketball skills. If in 15-20 minutes per game he could deliver threes at a reasonable percentage, rebounds and some dedication to free threes or players who cut to color, Griffin could be the spare wheel Brooklyn needed, and could give it added value in critical minutes in the playoffs. and if not? We will always have the posters, the highlights, and especially that imprint with the car, somewhere ten years ago – that feel like thirty.