Brooklyn Nets: Why Blake Griffin is in the perfect place

Blake Griffin has had a fairy tale start to his Brooklyn Nets career after a largely depressing and sad tenure with the Detroit Pistons. He was acquired by the Pistons in the first place via trade from the LA Clippers just months after the organization that drafted him wooed him in free agency, promising him that he would be the franchise cornerstone.

Alas, the NBA is a business, and he was swiftly traded for a package including Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic and a draft pick. The Clippers used that package to kick-start their accumulation of talent that ultimately led them to their current Kawhi Leonard-led roster, and Griffin was vanquished to Detroit, Michigan, in the middle of February.

Why Blake Griffin is in the perfect place with the Brooklyn Nets

Some of the best moments the Pistons have had since the days of Chauncey Billups (version 1.0) came thanks to Blake Griffin. He completely reconstructed his game, adding a perimeter component to counter his failing athleticism, and he had perhaps the best year of his career in 2018-19.

Griffin was a titan, carrying his Pistons to the playoffs before ultimately getting annihilated in four games by the Milwaukee Bucks. However, the knee injury he suffered in the late stages of that season and aggravated further in the two games he played in that series scuttled his 2019-20 season.

One of his final moments that season involved getting booed at home by Pistons fans in a game on December 23rd where he shot 2-of-14 from the floor. Two games later, he was shut down for the season due to the ongoing nature of that knee injury.

Fans have short memories, obviously. It’s safe to say that Blake Griffin’s memory is a long one, however. He had nothing but time to train and rehab to get his body back to where it needed to be from the end of December 2020 to the beginning of this season, but he just wasn’t the same as 2018-19 Blake when the season began.

A big reason for this is his heavy workload to begin the year. As games went on, he would lose steam and become a liability on the floor, but head coach Dwane Casey insisted on playing him big minutes when he was available. For example, in the first game of the season, Griffin played 35 minutes and in the second, he played 44 minutes.

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After the first two games of the season, Griffin led the NBA in both minutes played and minutes per game. This is, to put it bluntly, insane.

In his 20 games with the Pistons this year, he played 35 minutes or more in seven of them, and he played 30 minutes or more in 12 games. Whether it was Casey’s decision or Griffin had input on this workload, it was a bad choice and it bore out over the course of games as his play struggled mightily.

A decent metric to show evidence of this is his true shooting percentage by quarter. He tended to start slow with a 44.8 percent clip in first quarters, but he ticked up to 49.7 in second quarters and a wholly respectable 63.3 percent in third quarters. Griffin fell off a cliff in the fourth quarter, having played an average of 20.8 minutes through the first three periods.

This season for the Pistons, Blake Griffin had a true shooting percentage of 35.1 percent in fourth quarters.

When we’re dealing with small samples like this, there can certainly be some noise in the mix that makes the numbers less reliable, but the stats match the eye test. They also line up with what opponents like Marcus Smart had to say  earlier this season about targetting Griffin late in games:

"“We got exactly what we wanted — we got Jayson [Tatum] going downhill against Blake. He’s not the same Blake as he used to be (with his quickness) and we just took advantage of that. We did exactly what we were supposed to do and got the shot we wanted.”"

This is all further evidence that what Blake Griffin needed was a situation where he didn’t have to be a focal point, but instead could be a role player and help make life easier for the stars he plays with. Instead of bearing the weight of everything the Pistons were trying to do for 32 to 40 minutes per game, with the Brooklyn Nets, he’s able to be the best Blake he can be for 14 to 22 minutes.

In Detroit, Griffin was surrounded by young up-and-comers like Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Killian Hayes and others. His presence probably did them some good, but it didn’t do him any favors. His life is infinitely easier now playing alongside James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

It’s no wonder Griffin looks infinitely better with more spring in his step now. It wasn’t a matter of sandbagging to get out of Detroit, but rather the demands placed on him were simply far more than he could provide for. In Brooklyn, nothing more is asked from him than he can provide.

Because of all this, the Brooklyn Nets are the perfect place for Blake Griffin, and his contributions are more than enough for his new team.