2017 NBA free agency: Is Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap better?
Inside game
Neither one of these guys is known for his inside game. That’s not to say they shouldn’t be though, as they are both very underrated in this department.
Griffin is far from your typical back-to-the-basket post-up big. In fact, you’ll hardly ever see him post his man up in this fashion. He usually catches the ball at the high block area and will turn and face his man. This allows Griffin to see the whole floor and utilize his vision and passing ability.
After Griffin faces up, he uses his above-average footwork to get him into position to score. He loves to shoot over his left shoulder, so most of his shots are predicated at getting into that right hook. He can do this in numerous ways, whether it be with a spin back to his left shoulder, a running hook or a simple baby hook.
A lot of the times, he looks sloppy on these moves. I’m not sure if this is due to a lack of upper body strength or Griffin simply trying to draw a foul. Regardless, most of the plays end up like the one below.
Griffin is just a tad bit out of control and his method is a little unorthodox. While he is able to push his way into the lane, he doesn’t get very good lift on the hook and it barely hits the rim. Although it may look funny, you can’t argue with the results as he shot 43.8 percent on 105 hook shots last season.
However, Griffin’s inside game is much more than hook shots. We also have to account for his elite jumping ability, which allows him more alley-oop opportunities than most forwards.
Overall, he shot 64 percent from the restricted area, but that dropped significantly to only 36 percent when he was inside the paint but outside the restricted area.
Millsap, like Griffin, prefers to face the basket on his post up as well. However, his moves are a lot move diverse as he has a plethora of spins, turnarounds and drives he can rely on. He will also mix in more backdowns, often resulting in a turnaround jumper.
Where Griffin is very right hand dominant, Millsap can rely on either hand to get the job done. Although he prefers to use his right, the defense has to respect his ability to go left as well.
On this play, Millsap catches the ball with his back to the basket but quickly realizes he’s a little too far out to post up. Therefore, he turns and faces his man. After doing so, he uses a nice shot fake and a dribble at his man’s left shoulder to set up the drive.
Millsap gives his man another fake towards the baseline before driving middle. He then uses his left hand up and over the defender for a nice finger roll from a few feet out.
Millsap shot 57.7 percent from the restricted area, which wasn’t as high as Griffin’s percentage. However, I’m sure that is due to a number of dunks and alley-oops Griffin gets. What is significantly better is Millsap’s field goal percentage from the painted area at 45.5 percent.
The biggest separator between the two is the amount of inside moves that Millsap can rely on. He’s harder to defend in that area as he isn’t nearly as predictable as Griffin.