Detroit Pistons: 2018-19 player grades for Blake Griffin
By Amaar Burton
Weaknesses
Injuries and playoff disappointment have been the story of Griffin’s career lately, and those two forces clashed again in 2019.
Through late-March of this season, Griffin had only missed two games, and both of those were scheduled days of rest for load management. It wasn’t until the last few games of the regular season that a left knee injury had him in and out of the lineup as the Pistons were trying to secure a playoff berth, and caused him to miss half of their first-round playoff series.
Griffin had arthroscopic surgery on the knee in late-April and is expected to be ready at the start of training camp.
Blake Griffin underwent a successful arthroscopic procedure on his left knee today. The procedure addressed the issue causing soreness in the knee during the club’s final two weeks of the season & playoffs. He is not expected to miss any planned offseason training or preparation.
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) April 25, 2019
In the two postseason games in which he did appear, Griffin was good. He put up 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting 46.2 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from 3-point range and 100 percent at the free-throw line.
Detroit simply wasn’t good enough to hang with Milwaukee, which highlights another problem for Griffin, one that he can’t really do anything about: His teammates aren’t giving him enough help.
The Pistons have paired Griffin with Drummond to form arguably the league’s best big-man tandem, but this is a league in which two All-Stars is apparently the minimum requirement just to get a peek at the championship-contender picture.
If the Pistons are going to make some noise in the East, they’ll need some high-level role players to contribute and support Griffin and Drummond.
Reggie Jackson had a solid bounce-back season from his own injury problems — averaging 15.4 points and 4.2 assists a night and not missing a game — but he’s a solid player making star-level money. He and his $18 million salary could be traded this summer.
Second-year shooting guard Luke Kennard improved this season and showed a lot of promise in the playoffs. Rookie guard Bruce Brown Jr. impressed a lot of people with his defensive ability. Other than that, there really isn’t anyone on the Pistons who made an impact in the playoffs; no one who the franchise really needs to keep in order to get better.
Griffin was great in 2018-19, but he can’t carry this team by himself.