Blake Griffin: 6 Areas in Which the LA Clippers Forward Will Continue To Improve
Blake Griffin, the Los Angeles Clippers' emergening superstar, is already a monster, and though the Clips are still mired well below .500, Blake gives every opposing squad a scare.
Griffin is that rare breed of athlete whose effort matches his explosiveness, whose hustle matches his talent, whose intensity matches his ability. Forget the sky: The stratosphere is the limit for Blake and he fully intends to fulfill his potential.
As of now, though, Griffin's game is far from complete. There are several areas in which Blake needs to improve if he wants to become best-in-the-league good. Here they are, from least essential to most crucial.
Ball Handling
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Ball handling is not a facet of the game in which Blake exactly struggles. In fact, he's more proficient than most big men.
But even though he's much more capable than, say, Dwight Howard leading the break, he's no Lamar Odom either. He's a solid dribbler, but he isn't spectacular.
Blake could use a go-to dribble move to take better advantage of his quickness. Moreover, his left hand clearly needs work, as he is currently more competent with his strong hand.
With Griffin's coordination and dexterity, I fully expect him to refine his ball-handling ability to the point where he's constantly comfortable with the rock.
Passing
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Blake is a good passer for a young power forward. He drops 3.6 dimes per game, which isn't shabby at all for a big guy who is primarily a scorer.
However, he still has plenty of room to grow. He doesn't always make the best decisions out of double teams or off the dribble.
With his precocious scoring talent, Blake will receive close attention from defenses for the rest of his career. Double, and even triple, teams will be the norm. Instead of forcing things, Griffin will need to trust his teammates.
If he becomes a gifted passer a la Kevin Garnett—few people realize he averaged over five assists for six-straight seasons during his prime—the Clippers will be that much more dangerous.
Individual Defense
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Griffin has not yet earned a reputation as an outstanding defender, probably because he's not. While his scoring and exceptional rebounding capabilities are highly advanced for his age, he is not a mature defender.
He doesn't understand positioning, like a Tim Duncan, or how to bang bodies, like a Kendrick Perkins, among other relative weaknesses. For the number crunchers out there, the advanced statistics back up the eye test.
A couple more obscure metrics are defensive rating (DRtg), an estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions, and defensive win shares (DWS), an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to his defense. Blake measures up average at best. (I won't go into the complex details of those stats, but you can find information at Basketball-Reference.)
Dwight Howard leads the league in DRtg at 94.1 and DWS at 6.7, whereas Kevin Garnett places second in both categories.
Let's compare Griffin to Pau Gasol, widely regarded as a merely ordinary defender. Pau contributes 4.0 DWS and has a DRtg of 103, compared to 2.6 and 107 for Blake.
Clearly, Griffin's defense could use some polishing. He has the athletic tools to be a great defender, so he should definitely improve with time and coaching.
Free-Throw Shooting
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Simply put, Blake does not shoot well enough from the charity stripe: 65 percent isn't horrible, but you would like your go-to-guy to hit at least 70 percent of his freebies.
We've seen that this particular skill is not imperative for a Hall-of-Fame career (see O'Neal, Shaquille), but it would make Blake that much harder to defend.
Furthermore, the Clippers could go to Griffin at the end of games with no qualms about him getting fouled. The hack-a-Blake is a decent option right now, especially for opponents lacking an accomplished interior defender.
His form is nice—elbow tucked in, good backspin, fine release point—so I expect Blake to become more reliable.
Shot Blocking
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I was very surprised to find out that Griffin blocks a paltry 0.56 shots per game. With his hops and coordination, he should be swatting way more of his opponents' attempts.
Blake ranks 25th among power forwards in the rejection category behind guys like Darrell Arthur, Jordan Hill, Josh McRoberts and even the undersized Paul Millsap.
His shot-blocking inadequacy is probably due to his nascent help-defense skills. Most stuffs occur away from the specific guy you're guarding, and Griffin either gets caught out of position or doesn't rotate quickly enough to the ball.
In high school and college, Griffin could get away with questionable defensive fundamentals due to his athleticism, but NBA scorers are too good for that. As Griffin grows and learns, I'm sure his shot-blocking will come around.
Jump Shooting
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While Blake shoots a very respectable 50 percent from the field, he does most of his damage from inside the paint and he is not yet a dependable jump shooter.
According to hoopdata.com, Griffin makes more than half of his shots "at the rim," where he shoots a phenomenal 67 percent.
On the other hand, Blake makes just 34 percent of his attempts from 10-to-15 feet and 33 percent from 16-to-23 feet.
Many people compare Griffin to a young Karl Malone, who was also incomparably athletic but lacked an outside shot. All hoops junkies know how the Mailman's skill set eventually became extremely diverse, including a potent mid-range jumper. Blake purportedly shares Malone's work ethic.
Adding a consistent jumper would make him incredibly dangerous, if not unstoppable. And if he develops three-point range...watch out!
