Blake Griffin can make the Nets even more unguardable
The Nets have officially signed six-time NBA All-Star Blake Griffin after he negotiated a contract buyout with the Detroit Pistons and became a free agent on Sunday.
Griffin, 31, is no longer the highlight factory he once was a lob threat in Los Angeles, but he is still a capable scorer and playmaker who brings several distinct qualities to a loaded Nets team.
Here’s how Griffin can help make the Nets more unguardable.
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PICK AND POP OPTION/SPOT-UP SHOOTER
Stretch fives have crippled the Nets each of the past few seasons. As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, sign one to a veteran’s minimum deal.
Griffin attempted at least three three-pointers in every game he played for the Pistons this season. He has 14 games with at least five attempts from deep, three games with 10 attempts, and one game where he thought he was Stephen Curry and made 8-of-16 treys in an overtime loss to the Cavaliers.
Griffin, however, only converted threes at a 31.5% clip this season in Detroit, up from just 24% from deep last season. Those numbers project to increase due to the talent he’ll now play with in Brooklyn.
Defenses keyed in on Griffin because he was the Pistons’ No. 1 option, the head of an ineffective snake that ranked dead last in offense for a large chunk of this season. In Brooklyn, Griffin will be the second, third or fourth option at-best depending who’s on the floor between James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving or even Joe Harris.
Griffin shot 44% on wide-open threes (considered a defender six or more feet away). He only averaged two wide-open three-point attempts per game. That projects to change on a team with as many offensive weapons as the Nets have. They average about 38 threes a game, and only a handful of those attempts come from the center spot when the Nets run small-ball with Jeff Green at the five.
The Griffin acquisition immediately gives the Nets a not-so small-ball option as a stretch-five and pick-and-pop threat.
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THREE-LEVEL PLAYMAKER
Griffin has averaged 4.4 assists over the course of his career and five assists per game as a member of the Pistons. He has been a capable ball handler for years and has court vision and size that allows him to make plays few players his size are capable of.
Griffin can bust-out, or grab a rebound and push the ball up the floor, creating transition opportunities for his teammates. Defenses will have to react to him as a transition scoring threat, which will open opportunities for him to hit shooters in stride.
Griffin does this often on defensive rebounds if he doesn’t see a pass that takes advantage of a defense not yet set. He did not, however, have the shooters in Detroit that he will play alongside in Brooklyn.
Griffin’s mix of size and skill also makes him an option as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, which means more creative opportunities for DeAndre Jordan as a roll man and for Jeff Green as a pop-out shooter. His abilities add to an unpredictable Nets offense that now has four capable playmakers and offense initiators, not including Spencer Dinwiddie, who has been out with a partial ACL tear since Game 3.
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POST SCORING THREAT
Post-up opportunities only account for 1.7% of the Nets’ total offense, the NBA’s second-lowest post-up frequency ahead of only the Utah Jazz, who post-up 1.5% of the time despite paying a center (Rudy Gobert) more than $200 million.
As his athleticism has declined, Griffin has become more of a back-to-the-basket scorer, often bullying his way to the rim where his speed and explosion once did the trick. Post-ups accounted for 30% of Griffin’s offensive possessions in Detroit and he scored — either a basket or made free throws — on 48% of those opportunities.
Post-up opportunities can be valuable for a Nets team with so many sharpshooters, especially if Griffin can command a double team at this stage of his career. He is such a capable passer and post scorer that if the help comes, he’ll be able to hit the open man in the blink of an eye, giving Steve Nash another weapon at his disposal.
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LOOMING QUESTIONS ABOUT GRIFFIN WITH THIS NETS ROSTER
Griffin hasn’t played a game since Feb. 12, when he and the Pistons agreed it was best he stayed away from the team while they weighed options to part ways. Where is his conditioning level having not been able to get real game run?
Griffin has also never been known for his defense, for as explosive an athlete as he’s been, though he does give the Nets another body to throw at Joel Embiid in a playoff series. Will he change the narrative on the Nets’ commitment to defense, their theme in their stretch of 10 wins in 11 games?
Lastly, whose minutes does Griffin take? Jordan is already playing a reduced role. Green has been critical, the “voice of reason,” is shooting lights-out from three and has only been absent recently due to a shoulder injury. Durant has also played a good chunk of his minutes at the four, making the likely victim Nic Claxton, but even Claxton has shown his defensive potential and is in the middle of a mini-breakout with back-to-back double-digit scoring games entering the All-Star break.
These are first-world problems for a talent-rich Nets team that just got richer. The Nets shot first and asked questions later in its acquisition of James Harden. The questions of how the roster would mesh quickly subsided and transformed into praise of a team with all-time playmaking ability.
Griffin will get in game shape — he has no choice but to if he isn’t ready to play already. He was set to make $32.7 million this season and another $29.8 million next season, but left a chunk of that money on the table to get his buyout from the Pistons.
Griffin is going to do what it takes to win, play whatever role this Nets team needs, and as a result, will be in position to legitimately contend for his first championship. That’s ultimately what the Nets got in Griffin: a hungry, talented veteran searching for his biggest win.
