NBA week 6 recap: Tanking thoughts, Blake Griffin and more

Blake Griffin playing best ball of his career

A development in the Eastern Conference is the solid play of the Detroit Pistons, who sit at 10-7 and have settled in as the early fifth seed. A lot of this comes down to the play of Blake Griffin, who is putting up career numbers across the board in his first full season in the Motor City.

Griffin is averaging a career-high in points per game (24.8), 3-point attempts per game (6.1) and is knocking them down at 38.5 percent (a career-high not including a season where he averaged 0.4 attempts per game). His rebounding (9.9 per game) is still strong despite playing next to one of the league’s best rebounders in Andre Drummond.

What makes this version of Griffin so enjoyable is how much responsibility he has offensively. He is averaging 5.1 assists per game this season, but is evolving his game. He’s still a force in the paint, but he’s taking pull-up 3s, running more pick-and-roll as the ball-handler and is still a great passer for a big man. He ranks 18th in usage rate (28.6 percent) among players that have logged more than two games.

The Pistons have taken the identity of their new head coach Dwane Casey by being a hard-nosed defensive team. They clearly play for him and they’ve kept their star player very happy in Detroit. Griffin finally has a team that has put its trust in him and he’s rewarding the Pistons while seemingly loving every minute being the leader of a group that should make the playoffs.