Post by Rog on Jul 31, 2017 22:37:37 GMT
Blake Griffin, the 87th Nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame was a crazy talented player who had some really good years in his career but was ultra flawed and really hurt his team with his contract status as his career ran down. Was he good enough to put him into the Hall of Fame? Or was he just too flawed? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
34.5 MPG, 20 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 2.6 TOPG on 43.4% from the field, 76.3% from the line, and 27.3% from three
Best Season
Nuggets(2014) - 28 PPG, 13.7 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 3.0 TOPG on 43.3% from the field, 81.9% from the line, and 25.3% from three
Career Highs
Points: 50
Rebounds: 28
Assists: 11
Steals: 6
Blocks: 5
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 158
Player of the Week: 3
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 799
Triple Doubles: 5
Awards
2009 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2013 - All-Star Game Participant
2014 - Slam-Dunk Contest Champion
2014 - All-Star Game Participant
2014 - All-Star Game MVP
2014 - All-League First Team
2023 - Sixth Man of the Year
Arguments For Induction
- Griffin didn't win many awards but did play in two All-Star Games and was named to an All-League First team as well.
- Griffin was about as good as any big in league history at scoring. He averaged exactly 20 points a game for his career. For 7 years out of his career, 7 of 8 years in a row, he averaged over 20 points. He also had 3 years in a row where he averaged 24 points a game. And from the time of his third season through the end minus two seasons, you could count on him to get 17 points a game, which is about the point where I would start the "hes a good scorer for a post player" narrative.
- Just as he was a damn good scorer, Griffin was also a damn good rebounder. The last four seasons really brought his rebounding down, which is impressive since its still a good 11.9. But from his sophomore season until 2017 he averaged over 12 rebounds a game. Thats nine seasons in a row. And for four season in the middle of his career he was between 13 and 13.9, pretty good.
- While his actual field goal percentage wasn't great, he was pretty versatile at scoring. He could hit threes at a decent, if not effective, clip. He stretched the floor pretty well for a big. He also shot it pretty damn well from the line, 76.3% fro his career and largely higher during his career.
- Overall, Griffin was a talented player who could do just about anything on the court pretty damn well. He scored at a high clip, rebounded well, and was a fantastic passer. For a solid 9 years you could expect him to put up a 19 point, 12.5 rebound, 4.5 assist, and he could force his way to the free throw line and hit it with the best of them. He didn't win any titles and wasn't given a lot of awards, but most scoring bigs don't win awards it doesn't make them not Hall of Famers. Statistically he was a Hall of Famer, period. Thats all that works right?
Arguments Against Induction
- As always, not enough awards is the first and realistically the only thing you can care about here, no?
- He was seriously a net negative for the last five years of his career. He was a good, ?, player but he was seriously flawed and seriously sucking funds from the Heat, pushing them really far into a bad place they are still trying to get themselves out of. You have to wonder if that kind of player is a Hall of Famer?
- He was a tragically bad defender, like horrendous. He was pretty good at getting steals for a power forward, but that is about where the positives defensively end. He averaged under half a block a game for the majority of his career, which is absolutely putrid. I guess you could argue that he was a good post defender with the fact that he had an A- rating for the majority of his career and didn't block shots, but I don't buy it and he had a reputation as a bad defender.
- He wasn't elite at anything for long enough for you to hang your vote on. He was a great scorer, for about 7 years and even then he was very ineffective at actually making shots shooting sub 44% for most of his career. He also took 3s he just wasn't good at making. Hard to vote for a guy like that. And he was a great rebounder for about 4 years, and a good one for 9 or 10 years. He was an elite passer for a power forward, but that isn't anything to make him a Hall of Famer.
- Overall, looking at things a bit deeper than just skin level statistics and his case falls apart immediately. He wasn't a good defender, hurt his team to the end, shot the ball ineffectively, has no awards, didn't win a title, and has absolutely nothing of substance to grab onto. He isn't a Hall of Famer, and that isn't really debatable.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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