Top Power Forwards entering 2014-2015: #3 Blake Griffin

   

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We continue our rankings with Blake Griffin as our #3 Power Forward entering the upcoming NBA season.  Griffin is one of the most polarizing players in the league, he is constantly criticized for not coming up big in playoff games, being reliable in the fourth quarter, and a lack of a post game. That being said, it cannot be argued that Griffin had another tremendous year. Griffin finished the year with averages of 24.1 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and an impressive 3.9 APG. Griffin finished in the top 10 in scoring and finished third in MVP voting. 

    Blake averaged a career high in scoring this year, and contrary to believe it was not all due to his athletic ability. Griffin developed a nice handle to go along with his physical prowess. He loves to face his opponent up more often than he loves to back them down in the low post. He catches the ball around the high post area and likes to to use his handles against other bigs to attack the rim towards the middle of the floor. He is a nightmare in the pick and roll coverage, often times posterizing defenders that are late to recover.  In addition, he developed a mid ranger to keep his defenders honest and opened up more pick and pop plays.

     His low post game increased dramatically this year, after Paul's early season injury he increased his low post shot attempts to nearly 6 a game. Griffin is comfortable on both sides of the low post area(although he prefers the left side). Griffin has a smooth over-the-shoulder left handed hook, that he uses constantly to go along with his right handed hook, look at the following three plays. He has a series of countermoves highlighted by his up and under shot fakes. Griffin loves to bully defenders with his shoulder often times knocking them out of position and giving him easy layups. 

     Griffin also got to the free throw line last year 8.5 per game and shot a career high 71% from the stripe, we see no reason as to why this cannot continue to get better. The flip side to that is that 71% is still not a good percentage for somebody who is needed on the floor at the end of games, something that hampers his performances. Griffin continues to be a nightmare in fastbreak situations, he is still one of the league leaders in dunks and racks up quite a few points on fast break alley-oops.

      In addition to this, Griffin has dropped his rebounding totals, after averaging a double double his first two seasons, he has failed to do so his previous two. Griffin averaged 9.5 RPG, that is good but not overly impressive. While it is true that Jordan consumes most of the available rebounds, we don't see why Griffin cannot average a double double(the perfect example of this, is Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic). Griffin, is also not a good defender, he averages less than 1 BPG, and cannot be entrusted with the job of guarding the other teams premier big man(that job is entrusted to Jordan). 

     Griffin has all the tools to be the #1 Power Forward in the world, but his constant struggle in the playoffs, as well as his unreliability in the fourth quarter of games continues to hinder him. Griffin's stats dropped during the playoffs to 23.5 PPG and 7.4 RPG, and averaged a ridiculous 4.1 personal fouls. Griffin must find a way to rebound at an elite rate again while staying on the floor during crunch time. While his assists numbers are great, he needs to be able to average at least one block and improve his one on one defense. If griffin does this, we expect him to be higher in our rankings the following year.

Here are his top 10 plays of the year.

Lakers fall to 0-3, are the Clippers for real?

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Never mind the 0-3 start, let's not continue to talk about the Lakers struggle on a night where Kobe Bryant went off for 40 points while Gasol and Howard combined for a measly 23 points. The other team that plays in Staples center is legit, and we have been saying it since the summer. The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Lakers last night 105 to 95 and were in control of the entire game. Everybody wants to talk about the Lakers and Oklahoma as favorites to come out of the west, but what about the Clippers. Last night they showed how deep they are, their bench play was far superior to the Lakers and probably has 6th man of the year favorite in Jamal Crawford.
Jamal Crawford through 2 games is averaging 25 points, and this team is dominating and Griffin has yet to have a nice game by his standards. They are loaded, and consider the fact that Grant Hill and Chauncey Billups will be back at some point over the next month or so and that makes them even deeper. Kobe Bryant may have scored 40 and became the all time Lakers leaders in steals in the process, but Chris Paul clearly dominated the flow of the game with 18 points 15 assists, and the bomb... JUST 1 TURNOVER. They have size, their bench is deep, superstars, they can run, they can defend, yet nobody seems to want to talk about the LA Clippers and thats fine with Paul so long as they keep getting wins.

The Knicks opened up their season by routing the defending champion. Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 10 rebounds, but the real story behind this win was the 3 pointers. The Knicks shot a blistering 52.8% on their way to 19 threes. The Heat came out slow and were buried behind the avalanche of threes. It will be interesting to see how the Knicks dynamics will change the Amar'e comes back. Note, Melo took 28 shots.
-James Harden continues to haunt everybody who says he's not capable of being a superstar down the line, by dropping 45 points in his second game with the Houston Rockets but lost in Harden's brilliance is Jeremy Lin's great first 2 games, last night he scored 21 points had 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
-The Celtics start the season 0-2 after losing to the Bucks
-Oklahoma defeated Portland for their first victory of the season
-The Charlotte Bobcats snapped a 23 game losing streak (yes you read correctly) Behind Kemba Walker's 30 points

Washington Wizards 2012-2013 prediction

The Wizards are coming off a terrible season, but positioned themselves to be optimistic about their future. They finished the regular season 20-46 and that was not dead last in the conference thanks to the Bobcats Abysmal season. Yet, they got rid of some of the remaining pieces that were holding them back, first they FINALLY got rid of Javale Mcgee in a three team trade that landed them Nene and sent Nick Young to the Clippers, then they got rid of under-performing PF Andray Blatche using the amnesty clause. That was followed up by a great trade that sent Rashard Lewis to the Hornets, and landed them Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor. To top it all, they got Bradley Beal with the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, so now lets look at their roster:
F Trevor Ariza, G Bradley Beal, F Trevor Bookker, G Jordan Crawford, G Shelvin Mack, F Cartier Martin, F-C Nene, C Emeka Okafor, G A.J. Price, C Kevin Seraphin, F Chris Singleton, F Jan vesely, G John Wall
Two names jump out at us from this list, the first is Bradley Beal, the reward for the Wizard's horrendous season, and of course John Wall. It is a young roster, with a veteran frontcourt. Yet, this will all depend on John Wall, now going into year 3 he must separate himself from the pack of "potential to be a star", and actually become one. If he does, then this team will be scary, Wall's numbers dropped during his sophomore season yet not by any significant margin. The wizards have a very good backcourt in Bradley Beal and Wall, Beal will make an immediate impact and has constantly been compared to Ray Allen, he scan stroke it from beyond the arc like nothing, but he can also handle the ball and take it to the rim. He also has potential to be a very good defender. Defensively, they will be better than last year just on the presence of Trevor Ariza alone.
On paper this team looks very good, they will have a post presence in Nene, and Okafor is a guy who will average a double for double for them. Will they make the playoffs? Of course not, the only way we could see the Wizards winning more than 35 games is if Wall has an All-Star season, other than that look to the future for this team. They have size, youth, speed on the perimeter, and definitely plenty of potential. We see this lot winning between 30 to 35 games and not making the playoffs, but we also expect a very great year by John Wall, who we hope has not spent the majority of his summer playing in these summer leagues.http://6fouls.blogspot.com/2012/08/charlotte-bobcats-2012-2013-prediction.html

top PF going into 2012-2013, #1 Kevin Love

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Here it is, our number 1 ranked power forward heading into the 2012-2013 NBA season, Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Kevin Love had a breakout year, he averaged a ridiculous 26 PPG and 13.3 RPG while shooting 37% from behind the arc. Love was well beyond ahead of the rest of the power forwards in both scoring and rebound and was 4th overall in point per game in the league. Love began his incredible rise by shedding 20 pounds last summer, this allowed him to come in much better shape and much more mobile than previous years.
Kevin Love is a rebounding machine, and that was obvious since he stepped foot in this league that he would dominate rebounding for the next decade. Dwight Howard may lead the league in rebounding, but in our minds Kevin Love is a more impressive rebounder. Love is not overly athletic, but nobody in the league knows how to position himself better to rebound on both ends of the floor. His offensive rebounds are timely scoring opportunities. Look at this play, Love sets the pick that gives Ridnour the wide open lane, now rather than assume that Ridnour will score the easy floater, he rolls to the rim to continue the pick and roll and crashes the offensive glass for the easy tip in. Kevin Love attacks the offensive glass every time, and that is key. He understands he's not going to get an offensive rebound every time down the floor, but he increases his chances by trying. Here, we see Love slip the pick and roll (something he does often and very well), despite missing the shot, it took him less than 3 seconds to catch and tip that in.
Now, Love is an offensive nightmare, at 6-10 he has "in the gym" range. His jumpshot is his favorite and most deadly weapon. The reigning three point shootout champion, Love has a great form and release on his jumpshot. He can shoot coming off a curl, or set shots, or pick and pops it does not matter. Just look at the first 3 plays of this video if you think he cant shoot. He sets his feet great for every jumpshot he takes, giving himself a balance on every shot. Love also has a rare skill, he does not need to bring the ball down to comfortably shoot his jumpshot, something few players in the league can do (young players are taught to try to bring the ball straight up from the point at which they caught the ball particularly bigs in the post)
Being big though, means that Love has to play in the low post. Love gets a variety of points in the paint. He is not going to wow you with a a polished offensive repertoire, but he has an established go to move down there, and thats what critics look for now a days in their bigs. He has a right handed hook that he uses effectively. Here we see his patience in the post, after finally getting space to operate he backs his way down on a great defensive player in Martin and shoots his running hook over his left shoulder. Love has a soft touch, and knows how to use his body to get where he wants to go even when he's not as athletic as the others.
Kevin Love is the best power forward in the game, his array of skills is unmatched, he is a matchup nightmare and his rebounding prowess is special. Does he have room for improvement? Of course, Love is a career 0.5 BPG player, that definitely could improve, nobody expects Love to be handing out 3 to 4 blocks a game like Dwight Howard, but one block a game should not be so hard for a player of his skills. He's a modest defender, definitely not a liability, but he has room for improvement in his one on one defense as well. Despite this, his rebounding obviously shows he is a plus on the defensive end of the floor. Love was the best power forward this year, and he's only 23!!! We expect to see Love right back here next year, and if the Timberwolves continue to improve in the win column, the best power forward in the game will be in the middle of it all.
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Top PF going into 2012-2013, #3 Blake Griffin

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We continue our countdown of the top power forwards heading into the 2012-2013 NBA season with Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers at #3. Blake Griffin had another marvelous all star season, which culminated with a humbling loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Let's look at Griffin's regular season numbers, he averaged 20.7 PPG and 10.9 RPG and 3.2 APG. However, his playoff numbers weren't terrific, dropping to 19.1 PPG and only 6.9 RPG. Now against Memphis he was going up against a very good front court in Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. However, Griffin underperformed for his high standards.
Griffin is an underrated offensive player, due in large part to his highlight reel dunks. But Griffin doesn't average 21 points a game purely on dunks, if that was so then a lot more players would be averaging 20 plus points. He has a good face up game, and is very good at using his shoulders to create separation with contact after attacking the rim. For somebody who's only played two seasons in the league (excluding his injured rookie season where all we saw was preseason) he has very good footwork in the low post. Look at this play, how many bigs in the league are this poised in the low post? Jab step, one dribble baseline, half spin back middle and then the beautiful up an under. What's scary is he still has room for a lot of improvement in the low post. After all, Griffin is still not developed enough for you to give it to him and expect a near automatic basket.
Now, his bread and butter is of course his ability to finish at the rim. He is a nightmare in the pick and roll and occasionally can pop out and hit the jumper. When he rolls to the basket, its pretty much 2 points, or two free throws, or a basket and a foul. Half the time we get a highlight reel, or a once in a decade dunk posterization. He also runs the floor pretty much like a guard, he is very mobile and besides the fact that he can run well, he knows he's going to get the ball so he runs his lanes and makes the defense commit even if he doesn't get the ball. He is also a very good ball handler for his size and a good passer. Here, we see him run the break effectively and being the passer instead of the receiver for a highlight play.
Now, for all his prowess and highlight dunks, his defense is suspect to say the least. He averages 0.6 BPG in his short NBA career. For somebody who averages 11 rebounds a game easily, it is incredibly disappointing to see that he doesn't average a single block a game. Perhaps he does not put enough effort into that department, but for him to be an ALL NBA player for the next decade and lead his team deeper into the playoffs, he MUST become a better defender. Blake can easily be a very good weak side defender with his athletic ability. He should also be a better one on one defender considering his 6-10 frame. In addition he must become a much better free throw shooter. This is specially a big issue for him right now, because he lacks a good free throw percentage, he is unable to be trusted with the ball in the fourth quarter.
Griffin will be a top 3 PF for the next decade, but for him to take that next step into being considered the best, he needs to become a better defender. In addition, he must continue to develop a low post game, starting with ONE establish low post move and it is critical that his free throw percentage goes up. We have no doubt that he will get better in all these areas, when he does look for Blake to continue his meteoric rise.
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Jason Kidd to the Knicks? makes no sense. While the Clippers improve and Heat make their move

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Steve Nash has stolen the spotlight of this hectic but fun free agency for the moment. 24 hours after his move to Los Angeles, and the buzz is still going on. Will Nash be a good fit or not for the lakers? That question will be heavily debated until the season starts and we spoke on it in yesterday's entry.  Yet, the Clippers just keep giving us reasons to believe that they are a legitimate western conference championship contenders.
The Clippers have been in the Ray Allen hunt alongside the defending champions since day 1. Today they gave up on that hunt and instead signed Jamal Crawford and Chauncey Billups. Crawford has been coming off the bench for most of his career and is a former six man of the year. However, look for him to start alongside Chris Paul to form a devastating backcourt. Crawford is a traditional shooting guard and a downright scorer, he can spot up, create by himself and can score against any defense (interesting fact, he is the all time leader in 4 point plays in the history of the league). Billups, who started at shooting guard last season, was injured after only 20 games but he was having a terrific season. He will play the point when CP3 is out and will play alongside him.
Whether they decide to bring Billups or Crawford off the bench, you are now looking at a bench that will feature Lamar Odom, Billups or Crawford, and potentially Nick Young and Kenyon Martin (who are both free agents). The Clippers will have size, depth from the bench, shooting, and will add something they desperately needed last year: Free Throw shooting. Paul was the only consistent free throw shooter after Billups went down, now with Billups and Crawford back expect that problem to be ancient history.
Now Ray Allen, has a very difficult choice to make. We laugh at those who say that there is no way that Allen would choose hated Rival Heat over the Celtics. The reality of the matter is that it is a very difficult choice to make. On one side Allen would only be making half as much money if he goes to Miami and would essentially be betraying Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. On the flip side, realistically speaking Miami will be the favorites next season, they are the defending champions and the Celtics are only getting older. In addition, Allen knows that returning to Boston would mean coming off the bench for Avery Bradley, something that Allen feels disrespected about. So why come off the bench for a team that you helped win a championship? and who's starting spot he (Allen) is giving to a player that will never be as good as he is (Bradley). Instead of coming off the bench for the defending champion who have 2 superstar players in their prime, and will definitely give him a better shot at a tittle. So, ultimately it comes down to Money VS winning opportunities.
Finally, the Knicks have agreed to sign Jason Kidd in a move that we believe will change nothing. The Knicks tried and failed to sign Steve Nash and now must focus on resigning pg Jeremy Linn, who was offered a 4 year 30 million by Houston. Linn has verbally agreed to sign the offer sheet. The Rockets have placed the Knicks in a tough spot, the Knicks can only offer Linn a 24.5 Million 4 year contract. Therefore, if the Knicks decide to match the rockets offer, they will be paying Luxury taxes once the new collective bargaining agreement kicks. Despite this, we expect the Knicks to resign Linn because of all the money he makes them off the court,  So why bring in Jason Kidd? The word around is that he will be serve as a mentor for Linn, but will he start or come off the bench? When Linn Exploded last year in the absence of Melo, it raised national concerns about whether Melo and Linn can play together. Whether they can or not, the New York Knicks will not be a championship team this year and Jason Kidd will not change that. Contrast to popular believe, there is just no way that Stoudemire and Melo can work together, and those 2 (not Jeremy Linn) are the key for the Knick's success.
Yes, the Knicks have one If not the best scorer in the league in Melo, but when the ball gets to him, it doesn't continue its movement. For all his offensive bringings, Melo is also a defensive Liability. Their best defensive player is Iman Shumpert a second year player who is coming off a torn ACL. Jason Kidd will provide steady leadership and a great mentor for Linn (if they sign him back) but it wont catapult the Knicks into the Easter Conference Elite. Kidd has not been as good as Nash now for quite some years, and as such the Knicks will be no better than a 4th seed at most.
-In other news, Eric Gordon stated that he feels the Suns are more committed and does not wish the Hornets to match the offer that the Suns have provided
-Kyle Lowry of the Rockets was traded to Toronto, he had voiced his displeasure with Rockets Coach Kevin McHale and did not wish to return to Houston
-Hasheem Thabeet has signed a 2 year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Thabeet was the second pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, and has failed to meet expectations so far
-Jameer Nelson stated that he will be returning to the Orlando Magic next season

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Nash to the Lakers puts them right back in the hunt

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It shouldn't be a surprise, we are talking about perhaps the most decorated franchise in basketball. Steve Nash, will go to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign and trade deal that will land the suns a bunch of future first round pick. This deal seemed like a long shot for a variety of reasons. First, the Suns would not want to send the face of the franchise to one of their biggest rivals in the last decade. Steve Nash himself said its just not something he would do, he much rather beat them than join them. Second, the only way that Nash could end up in Los Angeles is with the help of the Suns in order to complete the 3 year deal that Nash wanted. So now, how good can the Lakers be?
This trade now gives the Lakers four perennial All-Stars in the starting lineup, its amazing that the Lakers get Nash and have to give up essentially nothing to get him. Nash is one of the best shooters in the league, and perhaps the best pure point guard over the last 10 years, at age 38 he averaged 12.5 ppg and 10.7 Assists. Now, it is unrealistic to expect him to average such gaudy numbers this upcoming season. Kobe Bryant will continue to dominate the offense and the Lakers do not play at the same up tempo style that the Phoenix suns play.
It will obviously take Kobe and Nash some time to learn how to play with each other considering they have both been ball-dominant their entire careers. Everybody expects Kobe to continue to dominate the ball, but perhaps if he gives Nash the reigns of the offense the Lakers might be better, it all comes down to coach Mike Brown, he will have to find a way to make it work. Gasol and Bynum should definitely be pleased with this trade, Nash will get them the ball in comfortable spots and they will now run in the open court because they know the ball will come to them.
So how good can the Lakers be? expect them to challenge for the Western Conference championship, as more days pass, it seems less likely that the Thunder are the overall favorites, the Clippers are having a strong offseason so far, and have a legit change of signing Ray Allen. Now you throw the Lakers in there and you dont know which way to go. The priority of the Thunder should clearly be signing back six man of the year James Harden. They also have to worry about free agent Serge Ibaka, and will most likely lose one of the two. The Laker's advantage will continue to be their size, but now they are poised to have an advantage in both the front court and the backcourt. There aren't many teams that can compete with their size. the Clippers have size and depth and thats why we believe they will be in the Conference Championship come april. So now between the Lakers and OKC, there will be a lot of determining factors.
The Lakers still need to do something about a very weak bench, with the departure of Odom a season ago the Lakers bench was one of the worse benches in the league. Another interesting factor, will be Health, Nash has well documented back problems and will no longer have the Phoenix medical staff, who are by far the best medical staff of the league. But barring injury, expect the Lakers to be challenging for the top seed in the West and will end up no lower than third in the very competitive Western Conference.
-Steve Nash is also trying to convince teammate and longtime friend Grant Hill to go with him to LA
-How good do you think the Lakers can be? comments and questions are welcomed
-Michael Beasley has agreed to sign with the Suns for 3 years and 18 Millions

Odom to the clippers, D-will to the Mavs?? Nash to Toronto? Free Agency about to heat up

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With free agency a day away, the headlines are heating up. The Clippers have traded for Lamar Odom and are positioning themselves to challenge for the Western Conference championship  now that their core is intact. Odom is a polarizing player to the average NBA fan, some like him and some dont. But the fact is that Odom was a huge piece of the Lakers title runs from 09 and 10 as their six man. No doubt this is once again the role that Odom will play coming off the bench for the youthful Clippers. Odom is a 6-11 forward who can basically play al 5 positions and start the offense, something he did constantly for the Lakers. His run in Dallas was not a good one but now that he's back in LA in a team that will be VERY competitive he should look to bounce back.
Odom will join a talented bench that will no doubt have the advantage on most nights when each team's benches come in the game. This is a great move, and gives the clippers a lot of versatility (could you imagine a lineup of Paul, Billups, Odom, Griffin, Jordan). With Oklahoma potentially losing Ibaka or Harden the Clips are positioning themselves to show the Thunder that they will not run through the Western Conference.
While all the attention of free agency has gone to star point guard and Deron Williams, people seem to forget that Steve Nash is also a free agent. The 2-time MVP spoke yesterday and for the first time sounded like he was expecting not to be a Phoenix Suns next Year. The Suns Drafted Kendall Marshall in this year's draft, the only true point guard in the draft and seem to be ready to call it quits on the Nash era. Nash has said that he will listen to every team that calls with an offer. But you have to think that at this point Nash wants to go to a team that can compete for a championship immediately. The four teams that seem to have the most interest at this point are: the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Toronto Raptors.
The Nets and Dallas are obviously looking at Nash only if they fail to get Deron Williams, so obviously one of these two teams will heavily recruit him once Williams makes his decision. The Toronto Raptors seem to think that they can lure Nash away with the prospect of having the greatest Canadian player ever play for Canada. But realistically speaking, why would Nash waste his last few years for a team that will OBVIOUSLY not win a championship? and will just struggle to make it to the playoffs.  So lets keep an eye on where Nash lands because it will be a huge swing in somebody's favor. Nash will no longer be averaging a double double in whichever championship team he signs for, but he will be a huge piece, somebody who you want to have out on the floor at the end of game, many teams will want that. If not... consider one team that will want his services,  the Miami Heat.