2017 NBA free agency: Is Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap better?
Outside game
For this section, the outside game is considered both midrange and three-point shooting.
The Clippers rely heavily on pick-and-rolls or pick-and-pops. A lot of this is due to the personnel of Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul. Griffin certainly excels in both of these aspects. We all know about his rolling abilities but let’s dive deeper into his popping abilities.
Last season, Griffin attempted four shots a game that was labeled the catch-and-shoot variety. It’s safe to assume that most of these came from pick-and-roll or spot up shooting. On these shot attempts, Griffin shot an okay 39.8 percent overall and 35.2 percent from downtown. The percentage from downtown is higher than his season average of 33.6 percent.
The left corner three was Griffin’s hot spot as he shot 42.8 percent from that area last year.
Overall, Griffin relied heavily on being set up for his three-point attempts as 97.4 percent of his makes were assisted on.
Once again, Millsap’s game is much more diverse than Griffin’s. Although Millsap doesn’t have nearly the same amount of moves from the perimeter as he does inside he still has a couple of options.
The most notable move is his step-back jumper. Millsap shot an incredible 52.3 percent on step-backs last year which accounted for 7.4 percent of his total shots.
Millsap also shot 41 percent from midrange and 31 percent from the three-point line last year. Both of those are worse than Griffin.
When it comes to perimeter shooting, Millsap may have a few more moves to go to, but Griffin has worked hard and turned himself into a more reliable outside shooter.