Boston Celtics: Could The C’s Trade For Blake Griffin?
By Vijay Vemu
The Boston Celtics are reportedly trying to trade for Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin. But could a trade actually work and benefit both teams?
After signing Al Horford, the Boston Celtics are vying to be a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference. Getting a big man such as Horford fills another gap in the frontcourt for the Celtics.
They already have a talented backcourt with Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley and a very underrated player in Jae Crowder. Now with Horford, the Celtics only have one hole to fill in: the power forward spot.
The C’s have tried to fill that role through the draft this year. In the draft, Boston selected Guerschon Yabusele and Ben Bentil, two power forwards who could possibly find some playing time this season.
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Amir Johnson could also play the power forward spot but he will likely back up Horford. Kelly Olynyk is also there as well, so the Celtics don’t really have a depth issue. But by taking a look at the rotation, you can see that there is room for an upgrade.
According to Sean Deveney of Sporting News, the Boston Celtics are interested in trading for Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin. If the two teams (Boston and LA) are keen on making a deal, there would be a lot of factors to consider.
First off, let’s talk about the how Griffin would fit with Boston. It would certainly be a new experience and take some time for him to get adjusted. Griffin would be surrounded by two different complementary players in Boston than he’s had in LA. Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford play a completely different style of basketball than Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan.
He will certainly have to create his own offense more in Boston than he has with the Clippers. Paul and Thomas are very different guards; CP3 is more of a facilitator than his Celtics counterpart, with the Clippers guard averaging 10 assists per game compared to the 6.2 for Thomas.
Paul’s playmaking skills help everyone on the Clippers, especially Griffin. Out of a total of 2,972 passes from Paul to Griffin over the past two seasons, 376 have been assists. Griffin’s role in the Clippers offense is to be in the right place at the right time.
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In his last healthy season, 2014-15, Griffin made almost 200 more shots that were assisted than were unassisted. Much of that was due to the fact that he was playing with Paul, one of the best playmakers in the NBA. But that doesn’t mean that he is a bad isolation player either.
According to NBA.com, Griffin scored 1.05 points per possession in iso sets. That was good enough for 21st overall in the league, and if you narrow it down to players who had at least 50 isolation sets, Griffin ranked ninth.
He is getting better at facing up opponenents and shooting over them. It’s becoming a stronger and stronger part of his game. Although the Celtics don’t have a playmaker on their team like Paul, don’t expect Griffin’s offensive output to go down. It would just be in a very different way.
Griffin would have to be able to keep up his offensive output, but with more isolation sets than off of pick-and-rolls. He would have to tweak his game if he were to join the Celtics. Having Paul and Isaiah Thomas as teammates is playing in two completely different situations. Even though Griffin is a great isolation player, having a player like CP3 made his life on offense a lot easier.
Blake Griffin would also have to become a better rebounder if he were to join to the Celtics. Going from DeAndre Jordan to Al Horford would be a big adjustment in terms of rebounding, since Jordan averaged 6.3 more rebounds per game than Horford did.
Although the Celtics finished sixth in the regular season in terms of rebounding, they were the only team in the top 10 to finish with a negative differential. Griffin, who averages 8.4 rebounds per game, will probably be asked to help rebound more often that he is used to.
But Horford would also offer more of a versatile scoring option to Griffin because unlike Jordan, Horford can shoot from the midrange. Horford will always be an offensive threat because of his jump shot and ability to stretch the floor.
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The contract situation with Griffin is murky as well. He can opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, so trading for Griffin is a huge risk unless you get confirmation from him that he will re-sign with that team.
There are also no indications that Griffin wants to leave LA right now. If you look at the Clippers’ cap space, you can see that both Paul and Griffin have player options and both could be free agents next summer.
If the Celtics really want Griffin, they would have to be sure that he wants to sign with them. As for the Clippers, if they don’t want to take the risk of letting Griffin walk for nothing in free agency, they should get some value for him.
Boston is loaded with assets, from players to picks like the Brooklyn pick next year — a pick that could turn into the No. 1 selection in the 2017 NBA Draft. With Paul getting older (age 31), this could be his last shot at being a contender and LA certainly should want to build for the future as well.
The ideal deal for the Clippers would get a couple of solid young players and a very good pick in return, like the Brooklyn pick. If they could somehow get that pick, it would justify trading a player of Griffin’s caliber.
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But are the Clippers interested in rebuilding now as opposed to riding it out with the current core for another go in 2016-17? And for Boston, is Griffin worth that potential #1 pick? Those are the questions Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and company have to be asking themselves when regarding this kind of potential trade.