Griffin's numbers in his first season under head coach Doc Rivers jumped across-the-board. His points-per-40 minutes went from 22.2 to 27, his Player Efficiency Rating (league average is 15) went from 22.44 to 23.98 and his true shooting percentage (shooting percentage with free throws and threes included) went from 57.2 to 58.3. While Griffin's standard field goal percentage actually dropped from 53.8 to 52.8, a lot of that can be attributed to more shot attempts per game (13.4 in '12 to 17 in '13) and the fact that he was shooting more shots from the outside last season. His rebounding numbers dipped slightly, as well, but probably due in large part to the fact that DeAndre Jordan turned into a board-grabbing god last season.
The biggest leap in statistical production from Griffin came from the free throw line, where he
improved from 66 percent in 2012 to 71.5 percent last year. And he got better as last season when on. After shooting 67 percent from the line in October and November, Griffin hit 74.5 percent of his attempts from the stripe over the final five months of the year. Remarkable improvement from a guy that is a 64 percent FT shooter for his career.
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| Photo Credit - Verse Photography/Flickr |
The Clippers kicked-off the 2014 preseason last night at Staples against the Golden State Warriors, and Griffin was stellar, finishing with 24 points and 12 rebounds in just 26 minutes. The Clippers lost the game, but who cares? Griffin hit nine of his 17 attempts from the floor, five of six attempts from the line and drilled his only three-point attempt.
Griffin shot a total of 44 threes a season ago, but most of those were when the shot clock was winding down/desperation attempts/when the offense had broken-down. Not really in the flow of anything. He made 29 percent of them, which, all things considered, isn't that bad. This play from Tuesday night starts around the 30-second mark of the video below. Griffin started the play standing beyond-the-arc in the right corner, on the same side of the floor as Jordan. Chris Paul rifled a pass over to Blake in the corner and he didn't hesitate, rising up and drilling the three-ball with 14 seconds on the shot clock. That's not a desperation heave, that looked like something the offense had planned out. You can get a closer look in the slo-mo replay to follow how Blake has smoothed-out his hitch. Previously, he'd stop for a tick at his highest point in the jumper before releasing the ball. The hitch is still there to a tiiiiiny extent, but his release is noticeably quicker now.
Also notice the play just prior to the three pointer in which Griffin once again sets up in the same corner. Jordan sets a high screen for Paul, who promptly flips to Griffin in the corner as he doesn't hesitate before hitting the J. The play after the three-pointer shows Griffin setting a high screen of his own for Paul before receiving the ball on the three-point line and once again drilling a shot. Given the long-two is the least-efficient shot in the sport, it'd be nice if Blake would take a half-step back and just shoot it for three. Hopefully this is something he corrects. He does the same thing in the next few plays, settling for long-twos rather than threes a short distance further back.
If this kind of range is something that Griffin has added to his offensive repertoire, then I don't know what the rest of the league is going to do. Not sure how you guard him if he's legitimately got stretch-four potential. This takes us to the 1:11 mark, where Griffin sets a screen for J.J. Redick on the wing before setting up in the left corner this time. Once he receives the ball, he pump-fakes on Andrew Bogut (who now feels the need to come all the way out on Blake as he's established he can hit the long-ball) before making a power move to the baseline and finishing through the help defense with a dunk and a foul. So now the defense has to honor Griffin's potential from long distance, clearing the way for Griffin to use his athleticism to get to the rim. If teams are forced to commit quicker defenders to Griffin in order to have a better chance of staying in front of him in situations like those, then that should work to create size mismatches to the Clippers' advantage elsewhere on the floor.
Uh-oh, NBA!
But that's not all! To 2:35 in the video now, where we see Griffin work through a Jamal Crawford screen in the paint to free himself up on the right block. He gets the entry pass from Jordan Farmar with his back-to-the-basket before taking a couple of dribbles and finishing with the turnaround fadeaway over his left shoulder. The help defender hedges from the top of the key to try and cut-off the paint to Griffin, and Blake is able to turn away from that and hit the shot over Draymond Green. Needless to say, old Blake Griffin did not have a turnaround fadeaway as a part of his arsenal. That doesn't really even seem fair.
In summary, Blake Griffin being able to step-out and be a consistent threat from the perimeter is something that can potentially open things up even more for a Clipper offense that was already one of the NBA's most potent in 2013. We'll have to wait and see a few more games before we establish that this is a real thing, but if the Clippers are running plays that get him free for shots that far out, it seems fair to assume that it is real, and it is spectacular.
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