Blake Griffin Speaks on Dunking Less in the Players' Tribune Exclusive
Blake Griffin has heard all of your criticisms. That the Los Angeles Clippers aren't a championship-caliber team with him and DeAndre Jordan occupying the frontcourt spots. That he's more Cirque du Soleil act than basketball player, preferring highwire feats of athleticism over the fundamentals.
No player, not even one as accomplished as Griffin, is immune to the attacks. And, in Griffin's own words, "It's hurtful."
The five-time NBA All-Star discussed the evolution of his game and the weight of outside criticism in his latest The Players' Tribune column published Monday afternoon. Setting the tone by highlighting his game-winning three-pointer in a December win over Phoenix, Griffin set the table for an exclusive look at how hard he's worked to become an all-around player.
"For real though, that shot was huge for me personally, Griffin wrote. "Do I like a jam or two? Sure. I do it for the children. But honestly, there’s nothing more satisfying than hitting a jumper. People have been telling me I couldn’t shoot since I came into the league."
When Griffin arrived in Los Angeles, he was far from perfect. Despite averaging 22.1 points and 12.1 rebounds as a rookie—the latter still a career high—Griffin was much closer to a novelty than a superstar. He was better known for leaping over cars and chasing highlights than anything else, a trait possessed by many young players that somehow became Griffin's scarlet letter.
Perhaps aided by the fame his high-flying acts brought, Griffin became one of the NBA's most criticized players. The excitement about Griffin's dunks soon morphed into criticisms about a lack of post refinement, his lack of jumper and his ghastly free-throw percentage. According to Griffin, those criticisms weren't unfair.
"So you were correct, haters. You became, as the kids say, my motivators," Griffin wrote. "I needed to work on my mid-range game. You can print that."
The truth of the matter is that Griffin hasn't been that one-dimensional player in years. He's become an excellent open-court ball-handler and is perhaps the best passing big in the league. If the season ended today he'd be the fifth player listed at 6'10" or higher to average five assists per game, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Most important, though, was Griffin's evolution into a semi-reliable shooter from midrange. This season Griffin has taken 385 mid-range jumpers, shooting a solid 40.8 percent on those attempts, per NBA.com. He is on pace to take more jumpers from the NBA's abandoned area than shots inside the paint for the first time in his career.
For some, that's opened an additional criticism about Griffin's toughness. His rebounding is down to a career-worst 7.6 per game, and the Clippers tend to be a leaky outfit on the boards with Jordan on the bench. To Griffin, it's been a natural process three years in the making.
"I’ve read articles talking about how I’ve changed my jump shot this year," Griffin wrote. "It’s not that simple. I’ve actually been working on changing my technique for about three years. When your muscle memory is so ingrained to shoot a certain way, it takes years to tweak different parts of the release."
Griffin goes on to offer a breakdown on the mechanical changes he's made in his release. But the point of this column—and, to a certain extent, The Players' Tribune itself—is to offer players an opportunity to explain themselves in ways traditional media often won't allow. To give insight into their minds without having to fill an ulterior narrative.
Here's to hoping Griffin's words create a more nuanced understanding of his game and why it's moving in the direction it is.
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