The Changing Game Of Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin has transformed from an athletic but limited player in 2012 to one of the NBA’s great big men in 2016.

It was 2012, and I was on the verge of moving to the city of Houston from San Antonio. Members of the Los Angeles press corps were in town, and a few of us were having dinner. It was my final goodbye to the city of San Antonio, where I’d previously spent a few years covering the Spurs.

It was also a chance to talk basketball, which is something I’m five seconds from discussing on any given day.

That was the year that San Antonio swept the Los Angeles Clippers, which everyone at that dinner felt was coming. Tim Duncan still had one good knee, Tony Parker was still dazzling and the Spurs had a lively bunch of guys like Kawhi Leonard and Gary Neal making noise.

It wasn’t a championship-caliber team, but it was a competitive one.

The Clippers were good and Blake Griffin was a scary athletic talent. Still, when the conversation came to whether Griffin could lead the team to a title, there were some doubts. Remember, Griffin had only been in the league three years by then.

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His reputation was built on his dunking ability and endless endurance. Griffin got his points at the rim, but 2012 was on the edge of an era in which big men were becoming more versatile and scoring further from the basket.

I’m not sure if any of us ever settled the question about whether the Clippers could win a title, but I think one thing we all agreed on was that Griffin needed to keep expanding his game if he wanted to be one of the truly great bigs.

He was strong, but he didn’t have the sheer size of a Shaq, and longer defenders could give him trouble. At the time, I doubted we’d ever see a Blake Griffin with a diverse skill set that could trouble strong defenses.

I pegged him as a likeable, athletic guy who would remain limited throughout his career.

I was wrong.

Today, I think it’s fairly clear that Griffin has become one of the scariest bigs in the league. He doesn’t have Dirk’s three-point range, but he can consistently hit a mid-range jumper. When he’s scoring from the elbow like that, it draws out his defender.

Then, when his defender closes on him, Blake’s still got that scary athleticism that makes it easy for him to drive to the basket. Blake’s even got a decent ability to run to the ball, catch, and shoot.

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That’s changed how the Clippers play their opponents. It’s also a key reason why the 2012 Clippers, who were swept by the Spurs, were so different from the 2015 Clippers who gutted out a Game 7 win in the playoffs. I don’t want to underplay all the other improvements Blake has made.

His post game improved as he incorporated better footwork. Over time, his basketball IQ soared as learned to adjust to different defenses.

Still, it’s not exactly breaking news that a good outside game opens up the inside. Tim Duncan’s bank shot did that for over a decade, forcing his defenders out of the paint. Dirk Nowitzki made a living from the outside, opening up the interior for penetrating guards.

Serge Ibaka gave teams hell by killing them with his defense and then out-shooting other bigs from mid-range. Also, I don’t think we can forget the Warriors. They’re still making a living with Draymond Green hitting the three.

Blake Griffin adapted at the perfect time for a changing era of basketball. If he hadn’t we might still be talking about him as a nice, athletic player with a limited skill set. He’s not. He’s a true centerpiece for any team, the type of big man that gives opposing coaches nightmares.

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Now it’s time to see whether the Clippers can put the type of team around him that he can lead to the title.