Blake Griffin Is Worth Price of Admission Regardless of Clippers' Record
With just 15 games into the NBA season, one thing is for certain: Blake Griffin is the most exciting player in the league, bar none. Practically every night this season, Griffin has made a highlight film for dunking, jumping, rebounding and dazzling the crowd.
The Clippers' first-round draft pick has been nothing short of spectacular in his first full season of play as he shows why he came out of OU early and entered the NBA draft. When you see Blake Griffin, you are witnessing the quintessential power forward in the game today.
He is basically Karl Malone times two, because he is so much more athletic than Malone, and possesses the same physique.
In a game the other night against the Sacramento Kings, Kings forward Carl Landry, a three-year pro, tried to get into Blake Griffin's head by playing him very physical and hacking him in an effort to get him out of his game. Griffin responded with 25 points, 15 rebounds and five assists to Landry's 18 points, six rebounds and two steals.
What was obvious by the time the game ended in a blowout score of 100-82, this time in favor of the Los Angeles Clippers, was the fact that Blake Griffin is worth the price of admission, regardless of the losing woes of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Griffin is the type of player that everyone wants to see because he is the prototypical power forward and he has the perfect game for the NBA. He is really a freak of nature, and has the type of physique comparable to a LeBron James.
He is 6'10" and 240 pounds, and a great athlete, and his body is perfectly sculpted for basketball. Griffin can dribble the ball with the skill of a point guard and has an assortment of dazzling moves around the basket that will keep the attention of the average fan, loyal fan, or even the common bandwagon-jumper.
But you don't have to be an avid basketball fan to notice the extreme talent that Blake Griffin possesses. The fact of the matter is: Blake Griffin comes from really good basketball DNA.
His father Tommy Griffin was a well-respected high school basketball coach in Oklahoma City for many years, and even coached Blake and his older brother Tyler at Oklahoma Christian School in Oklahoma City. His brother Tyler made the Phoenix Suns roster, which gives the Griffin family two players on NBA Commissioner David Stern's payroll.
Blake Griffin played to sold-out crowds and was the hottest ticket in town. Griffin burst on the national scene by winning the McDonald's High School All-American Slam Dunk Contest in 2007.
Blake Griffin is a rising superstar in the NBA and is undoubtedly the greatest thing to ever come out of the state of Oklahoma. Former Oklahoma natives Alvin Adams, Wayman Tisdale, Mark Price and Anthony Bowie all went on to have great careers in the NBA.
There are a few more players from the state of Oklahoma who have achieved success at the next level, but none of them started out with the fanfare and hoopla that Blake Griffin has earned so far in just his first full season of professional basketball.
Griffin played two years at OU and really put Jeff Capel's basketball program on the map after many years of virtual obscurity playing in the shadow of the great Oklahoma Sooner football program.
Griffin stayed home and joined his brother Tyler, who had already played two seasons under Jeff Capel. Griffin teamed with another current Clipper, guard Willie Warren, on the same Oklahoma team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before being defeated by the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Griffin then became the number one draft pick of the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009 Draft after the Clippers came up the "luckiest" in the NBA Draft Lottery, but had to sit out his first NBA season after injuring his knee in a preseason game.
Griffin rehabilitated his knee and came back strong. He is now trying to lead the Clipper organization past the losing image and injury jinx that they have faced for several years.
Griffin has already been called the best dunker in the NBA so far this year and most of his dunks have made the national highlight reel on ESPN, leaving commentators scrambling for superlatives to describe his explosiveness and fan appeal.
If you don't know by now, the Los Angeles Clippers play second-fiddle to their cross-town rival Los Angeles Lakers, and make the fabulous Staples Center their home as well.
And even though nothing can compare to the star-studded atmosphere of a Lakers game at the Staples Center, Blake Griffin is starting to officially keep the Los Angeles Clippers in the national limelight on a regular basis regardless of whether or not they win or lose their basketball games.
Blake Griffin took on the challenge of trying to revive a Clipper organization that has become accustomed to losing. But Griffin has been humble and optimistic in his approach to accomplishing the task at hand. He has never made one bad comment about the organization since he was drafted and remains optimistic that he can make a positive change in Clipper land.
Griffin still needs to work on his outside jumpshot, other parts of his power-forward game to make his teammates better, and gain the valuable experience of performing at an extremely high level throughout the course of an 82-game NBA regular season, but Clippers fans are ecstatic about the possibilities.
He is polished, articulate, and great with the media. In fact, Griffin has acquired somewhat of a "poster boy" status for the NBA as people from all over flock to see his incredible talent on the basketball court.
