Los Angeles Clippers: The Necessary Reinvention of Blake Griffin

When Team USA takes the floor on July 29 against France, they'll do it without Blake Griffin. Of course, that's not exactly breaking news. Griffin left the Olympic team on July 11 with a torn meniscus in his left knee.

It's also not breaking news that Team USA will be just fine without Griffin.

Griffin's other team, the Los Angeles Clippers, is another story.

The Clippers' future success depends more heavily on Griffin than any other player. Make no mistake, Chris Paul is the Clippers' current leader and unequivocal best player, but he's a free agent after this season. Who knows what CP3's long-term value is to the Clippers?

On the other hand, Donald Sterling and Co. are committed to Blake Griffin for $95 million over the next five years. For the upcoming half-decade, as Griffin goes, so go the Clippers.

Which is why it's so vitally important to the Clippers that Griffin use the unexpected downtime afforded by his (relatively) minor knee injury to reinvent himself.

It may sound crazy to ask Griffin to change—considering he utterly dominated in his first two seasons as a pro—but for him to be worth the money he's going to get, he will need to complete a substantial overhaul of his game.

Job No. 1 in the Griffin overhaul is making himself into a viable post-up option. As it is, Griffin relies almost exclusively on one "move." He frequently catches the ball on the right block, takes a dribble to the middle and then quickly spins back to his right for a bank shot.

Other than that, Griffin's got nothing on the block.

Well, nothing but his supreme athleticism, which allows him to get away with clumsy footwork when his spin move fails him. You see, even when his moves go awry, he still has the ability to simply jump over or through a defender.

But that won't always be the case.

Griffin's injury on its own may not be enough to sap him of his ridiculous bounce, but it should alert him to the fact that as he ages, his strength and quickness are only going to dissipate. And injuries, especially to his knees, hasten the rate at which that happens. Eventually, Griffin won't have the option to athletically overpower opponents. He's going to need to add a viable set of moves and counters to game on the low block.

Griffin's addition of a post game won't just help him become a more effective player as his athleticism declines. It will also make sure he sticks around long enough for that to happen.

Because Griffin relies on his athleticism to score, he spends a whole lot of time running into, jumping over and being knocked out of the air by defenders. Not to mention the hard fouls opposing bigs love to lay on the guy with the 59 percent free-throw rate. He plays an extremely high-risk game.

The longer he plays like that, the more wear and tear he puts on his surgically repaired knees. But more importantly, he's also uniquely susceptible to a catastrophic injury because of his frequent high-flying attacks.

In summary, a post game will eventually be necessary for Griffin to remain effective on offense. But it will also help him preserve his athleticism for a little longer by keeping him out of situations likely to result in major injury.

Nobody in the history of the NBA has been able to play with Griffin's athletic ferocity over an extended period of time. It's simply impossible to remain as strong and springy as Griffin for very long. Father time will eventually get to Griffin—and the handful of knee surgeries might mean he gets there sooner than later.

And never forget that Griffin's also got to worry about an above-the-rim, career-ending foul more than most.

In order to preserve himself, prolong his career and give the Clippers maximum value, Blake Griffin must reinvent himself.