The Rise And Fall of Blake Griffin

ten years ago blake griffin was an all-star and one of the most devastating dunkers in the nba now he's a role player who barely ever dunks here all the ups and downs of blake griffin's complicated career road to the nba at first everything blake griffin touched turned to gold he was one of the most successful high school players ever and over blake's four-year tenure his oklahoma christian saints posted a 106 and six overall record some players win one or two championships in high school but blake wanted all four years blake was named the best player in the state and to mcdonald's all-american but despite his super jock status griffin was still humble he rejected offers from duke kentucky and other major colleges and joined his older brother taylor at the hometown university of oklahoma the high-flying freshman averaged 15 points 9 rebounds per game and could have been a lottery pick in the 2008 nba draft in a blink of an eye he could have become a millionaire driven lamborghinis date supermodels and hung out with drake but he showed his humble side again blake decided to play one more season in college to mature as a player and heal from a knee injury one more injury to that knee could have been fatal for his nba dream but griffin went on and dominated the college game as a sophomore nobody could stop his thunderous dunks in the paint blake finished the season with 23 points and 14 rebounds per game on a phenomenal 65 shooting he even pushed the sooners to the elite eight in march madness blake won every possible national player of the year award by all major publications it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be selected by the clippers who won the first pick of the draft lottery best rookie season ever right before blake's first nba game his fortune changed for the worse griffin's gravity-defying dunks were supposed to bring success to the worst franchise in nba history for once it seemed like the clippers didn't mess up the draft lottery blake had dominated the summer league and even won mvp unfortunately during the final game of the 2009 preseason griffin landed awkwardly after a dunk and injured his kneecap forcing him to miss the entire 2009 season so just like joella embiid and ben simmons griffin was considered a rookie his second nba season immediately he proved he was well worth the wait blessed with insane leaping ability blake attacked the rim from all possible angles and from distances most players wouldn't even dare to dunk and even though his post-up technique was far from ideal and the fact that a complete lack of an outside shot made him into an extremely one-dimensional player blake still had one of the best rookie seasons in nba history you would think lebron kd mello or doncic dominated the nba from the get-go they did but blake's 22 points 12 rebounds and four assists per game on 50 shooting was better than all of those guys rookie numbers to top it off griffin was named to the all-star game becoming the first rookie to be selected by coaches since tim duncan in 98 and the first unanimous rookie of the year winner since david robinson in 1990 however his inaugural season will mostly be remembered for the soul-crushing poster dunk on timofey mozgov and the slam dunk contest win when blake dunked over a car running for mvp destiny twisted the fate of blake's career joining him with a man who would leave a big mark on his legacy no destiny is not the stripper name of former nba commissioner david stern stern vetoed a trade that would send chris paul to the lakers after which the best point guard in the nba at the time joined griffin and the clippers with paul is his point guard blake received many perfect ally passes and their aerial connection in the pick and roll earned the clippers the nickname lob city griffin improved his shooting efficiency and averaged another 2010 season he and cp led la to the first playoff berth since 2006 where they'd face the much deeper spurs in the second round and lose blake made the second all-nba team but he wasn't satisfied so he promised himself that he would improve his game primarily because he realized his body couldn't withstand the wear and tear of constantly battling in the post and relying solely on dunks to get points for the 2013 season blake shot more jumpers and moved his game away from the post initially the results weren't great his jump shot needed more polish and he'd often miss badly his point average dropped to 18 per game however the clippers won 56 games in the regular season the best result in franchise history and the first time they eclipsed the 50 win mark but griffin was outmuscled and outplayed by mark gasol and zach randolph so la lost to memphis in the first round of the playoffs this motivated blake to work even harder in the off season and in 2014 his hard work would finally pay off in the new season griffin was sinking mid-range jumpers at a very decent 42 clip and an occasional wide open three which meant that defenders could no longer stay off him and seal away the paint blake also became a much better decision maker which made him extremely versatile in the pick and roll where he could now operate as a passer and a shooter not just a dunker but that's not all he even improved his post game he started cutting to the basket frequently and his free throw percentage rose to a respectable 72 between january and march griffin recorded 20 plus points in 31 straight games for the season he averaged a career-high 24 points nearly 10 rebounds and four assists as a result the clippers won 57 games and blake finished third in the mvp vote come playoffs the clippers defeated steph curry and the warriors in the first round but durant and westbrook would send blake home with an l in the conference semifinals something was rotten in lob city if you ever worked for years on end to achieve something for blake this was the moment he'd get a taste of the sweet juices of victory december of 2014 blake made the game-winning jump shot against the suns the icing on the cake of his 45 point game in an interesting article on players tribune griffin admitted he had to completely relearn to shoot and then he's put up over 250 000 shots with his shooting coach his shooting mechanics were glacially slow and his jumper looked like that of a basketball robot but blake became an effective shooter shooting 40 for three in 2015. he took 60 of shots outside of the paint and became an even better passer his transformation from brute dunker with no skills to all around point forward like lebron james the clippers franchise looked transformed steve ballmer bought them for 2 billion they were the best show in town and at last coming out of the lakers shadow they finally got over their achilles heel defeating the san antonio spurs in the playoffs next up against the rockets they took a 3-1 lead it seemed like the franchise would make their maiden trip to the conference finals until they blew a double-digit lead in game 5 and lost another two games it had become clear that the chemistry between cp3 and blake was no longer peachy to quote hamlet something was wrought in lob city and unfortunately for the clippers they were also extremely unlucky in 2016 blake missed a combined 45 games due to injuries and suspension after he punched the clippers equipment manager he got healthy for the postseason but then re-aggravated the quad injury in the first playoff game and the clippers lost the first round series in 2017 the same thing happened after both he and paul missed big chunks of the regular season in game three of the first round playoff series against utah blake injured his toe and was ruled out for the season surprise surprise clippers lost that series it was all she wrote for lob city and chris paul got traded to houston fake jersey retirement and a trade to detroit not willing to lose both cp3 and blake in the same off-season the clippers organized something special for blake they took him on a guided tour with pictures of his early childhood leading to his successful nba days capping things off with his own jersey retirement ceremony which was supposed to mean he'd be a clipper for life this fake jersey retirement was unnecessary and cringy but griffin still signed a five-year 173 million dollar deal he planned to remain a clipper for the rest of his career the thing is plans change six months later they traded him to the pistons and blake had to say goodbye to la the good weather and kendall jenner see griffin had only appeared in 60 of all games between 2015 and 2018 so the clippers decided to cash in on his all-star pedigree while they still had the chance the pistons didn't have a star player at the time and they bought it in despite the injury concerns and the slight but pretty noticeable decline in blake's athleticism it seemed like the pistons won that trade in his first full season with detroit blake played the best and most mature basketball of his career averaging 24 points 7.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game his shooting diet consisted mainly of high percentage shots at the rim and a career-high seven three-point attempts per game which he made at a very good 36 clip but another playoff run brought another knee injury blake couldn't catch a break the pistons got swept in the first round and it was clear the clippers won the trade all the injuries clipped blake's wings and he went from the most ferocious dunker in the nba to a guy who hasn't dunked the ball once in his final 30 games in detroit in the 2020 season griffin played just 18 games in 2021 another painful 20 games where he averaged just 12 points on 36 shooting the pistons bought out the remainder of his contract but the story doesn't end here blake signed for the brooklyn nets where he's still trying to get past the second round of the playoffs something he hasn't done in his entire career legacy i like blake griffin and it's safe to say he's matured a lot since joining the league i believe he's a smart guy and i even think his stand-up is funny which let's be honest it's a pretty rare feat for an athlete but most importantly he is what you would call exhibit a for working hard and improving your basketball skills he's completely transformed as a player from who he was at the beginning of his career i mean this dude had zero finesse his jump shot should have been on a milk carton and all he did was jam in everybody's face in just four or five years he became a complete basketball player who could dominate with his passing and shooting sure blake was never a great defender and that's what leaves him outside the top 10 power forwards ever club but he's easily in the top 20. he's a prime example of how hard it is to win a championship in the nba

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 1,709,175

Keywords: NBA, blake griffin, nonstop sports

Id: 3tTCUeFve5w

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 22 2022