This is the End of Blake Griffin's Clippers Career

The time has closed on Griffin and LA

With the news coming out this weekend that Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs, I want to try and answer 2 questions. Is his career with the Clippers done? And, is he done as an "upper echelon" player in the NBA?

I have not been kind to Blake Griffin. I think he is wildly overrated in fact. I've never bought into the nonsense that ESPN, Bill Simmons, basically any sports writer from LA, saying that he is one of the best players currently in the game, and he is one of the best power forwards ever. That is utterly ridiculous. As far as the forward position goes, I'd say he is not even in the top ten of current players. As far as an all time great, there is no god damn way that's true. In the current NBA, I'd take guys like Giannis, Kawhi, LeBron, KD, Draymond, Hassan Whiteside, Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins, Karl Anthony Towns, Boogie, Anthony Davis, and many, many more before I'd take Blake Griffin. All those guys are unequivocally better than he is at basketball. I will argue anyone on this. Hell, I'd even take LaMarcus Aldridge, and he is playing very poorly right now. Same goes for a guy like Robin Lopez or Al Horford. At least they will get on the court.

With all this being said, he was a decent player once upon a time. He is nowhere near the explosive player he showed as a rookie, but he can still jump. His jumper looks disgusting, and it is not as reliable as one would want, but it goes in more now than it ever has. He has decent court vision too. He is an okay passer. Not this great post passer like Zach Lowe believes, but he is fine throwing lobs. But, even with the Clippers winning game three, then getting beat last night in game four against the Jazz, I do not think he will be in a Clippers jersey next season. The Clippers will probably get out of the first round, Chris Paul is playing out of his mind, and DeAndre Jordan is more than capable of making up for Griffin's lack of rebounding, but they won't go any further than the second round. They just don't have anyone else around Jordan and Paul, especially with Griffin out. Griffin wouldn't have made much of a difference, but it would have been one more guy for the Warriors to have to, at least, think about.

So to answer my first question, I think the other night was his last night in a Clippers uniform. He may love LA, but I'm pretty sure he despises playing with Chris Paul, and the Clippers have shown they are fine without him. Griffin is not the "super star", or leader of this team that he may have been 2 years ago when they were blowing a 3-1 lead to the Rockets in the second round of the playoffs. That was his best year, 2 seasons ago. That should be telling enough for the Clippers front office to be okay letting him go. That, and the fact that they play fine without him. The Clippers and Doc Rivers should focus on keeping Jordan and Paul, building the bench and getting a nice return for Griffin. I'm sure a team like OKC would let almost anyone, Westbrook being the lone exception, go in a trade for Griffin. If I were the Clippers I'd ask for a pick, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson and a bench guy and I bet the Thunder would happily make that trade. I'm sure the Knicks would be more than happy to part ways with Carmelo for Griffin straight up. I'm sure it won't happen because Phil Jackson would find some way to screw it up, but they should still try. I bet a lot of other teams would take a chance on Griffin. He is oft injured, but if he could ever stay healthy, he could help a contender as an instant offense off the bench guy, or be the "guy" on a middling playoff team.

This leads me to my second question I asked at the top. I never thought he was a top ten player in the league. I still think he is incredibly overrated. I was watching their playoff game the other night, and whoever the commentator was for ESPN said that the Clippers were "without their super star". That is so disrespectful to Chris Paul. When I think of the Clippers, I think of Paul, not Griffin. Even 2 seasons ago when Griffin was playing his best professional basketball, I still thought that team ran whatever Paul wanted them to do. He has been the leader, no matter how annoying and whiny he may be, the moment he was traded to the Clippers. So, not only do I not think he is a top tier NBA player, I think he is the third best player on his current team, behind Paul and DeAndre Jordan. Yes, Jordan cannot shoot free throws, and only dunks, but he is a better rebounder and defender, and I don't even think Jordan is that good at either of those things. But, he is better than Griffin.

Chris Paul is legitimately in the conversation as one of the best point guards to ever play. He is a big time pain in the ass for everyone, but he is good. Even I can't deny this no matter how much he bitches and moans or how dirty of a player he is. He is very good regardless of those things.

Another bad mark for Griffin is the constant injuries. He missed his entire rookie year with an injury. He seems to get small nicks and bruises that cause him to miss time. Other players will more likely than not play through this stuff, but not Griffin. He has also missed extended time in the last 2 playoffs. He cannot be counted on anymore to be healthy. That takes him out of the conversation immediately as an "all time great". There are so many younger, healthier, hungrier and coachable guys in the league that are going to, if they haven't already, surpass Blake Griffin.

I know the media wants to keep talking about him because he plays in LA, but he is irrelevant to those of us outside of the LA media bubble. I also, and I HATE the Clippers, think they are much more fun to watch when he is not on the court. They seem to be more cohesive. No one has to give him the ball because he just needs to touch it. The ball movement is much slicker and just flat out better. Griffin had his chance 2 years ago to jump into the upper level of NBA guys like LeBron, KD, Russ and Steph. He instead regressed and other guys like Harden, Kawhi, Giannis and Jimmy Butler are starting to become the "next generation".

I think Griffin is done being a "super star" if he ever was one. His time in the sun has come and gone. He also seems to be disinterested in basketball now too. He seems more focused on doing commercials and going to stand up and improv shows, which is fine. Follow your dreams Blake Griffin. I just want the Bill Simmons of the NBA world to stop telling me and everyone else how great of a player he is. He had one very good season. After that, he has either been a disappointment, below average or injured. I don't trust Blake Griffin as an NBA player anymore. He is done for all I'm concerned.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is looking forward to the annual Clippers second round playoff flame out. It let's Ty know that there is order in the universe.

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