Blake Griffin Signing with the Nets Makes A Lot of Sense
I was going to take the day off writing, but I was just reading some news on Blake Griffin, who I wrote about a week or so back, and he has agreed to a buyout. It is not the trade I was expecting, but he will not be a Detroit Piston anymore. That much is true.
Then, almost right next to the buyout story was that five teams were interested, all of which are playoff bound teams at the moment.
Then, right after that story it said that he is expected to sign with Brooklyn.
This is why I am writing something right now. I wrote how I thought the Harden trade was not going to be a good fit. I was very wrong, at least so far. The playoffs will really show us if the trade was worth it. But adding Griffin to this mix, holy hell is this team going to be nearly impossible to guard. They will not not play much defense, but they won't have to when they are scoring 130 plus a night. This is a historically great offense without Griffin. And I know that Griffin has been bad this year, but is he really trying? Did anyone really think the Pistons were going to be a playoff contender? Do they have anyone other than Jeremi Grant and Saadiq Bey who are even worthwhile players or prospects? The answer is no to all of these questions. Griffin is also going to get some of the best looks of his career playing alongside Harden, KD and Kyrie. Add on the fact that Deandre Jordan will be clogging the lane, or more likely, opening it up for the other guys, and Griffin will be an excellent fourth or fifth option for the Nets. Sure Griffin has lost a step, can't jump as high, isn't as athletic and wants the ball, but man would this be a solid acquisition for a team that is already winning a ton, and climbing the ranks in the East. I'm sure the Nets will stick with their starters when KD comes back healthy, but adding Griffin, who they can stagger minutes with the starters with, that is going to make them lethal. The starting five has Harden, KD, Kyrie, Deandre Jordan and, lets say, Joe Harris. Again, not much defense, but KD is one of the best pure scorers, Harden is one of the best passers and three point shooters, and can also draw an annoying amount of foul shots, Kyrie is a wizard with the ball and can hit big time shots, Joe Harris is a solid three point shooter and Deandre can fill the lane if needed. The bench has guys like Bruce Brown who is finding interesting ways to score easy buckets, Jeff Green who is very athletic and has managed to stay in the league, Landry Shamet who can be a streaky shooter, Timothe Luwawu-Caboret who is young and athletic and Tyler Johnson who is inconsistent, but can make shots from time to time. Add Griffin to that group, and man do they have a ton of scoring. I'm sure they are going to get him for cheap, I'm sure this means some younger guys, or older vets, will lose playing time to Griffin, and Griffin will have to get into shape. But man, this fit is so much better than Miami, and I thought Miami was nearly perfect.
If this happens, if Griffin signs with Brooklyn, as much as I want the Bucks and 76ers to play in the East Finals, I think this pushes the Nets to the top of the conference. In fact, I would go as far as making them the East favorites, and they would give any top tier team from the West a tough time. This would be a historic offense. This would rank right up there with Warriors when KD signed with them, or the 7 seconds or less Suns. This would be a big deal.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.
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