Griffin Mania
Monday, February 7, 2011
When the NBA announced its All Star reserves on February 4th, there was only one name that all of fans of the NBA wanted to hear suit up for the West. While the Los Angeles Clippers are currently below .500, there was no way Blake Griffin was going to be overlooked. The number one pick in the 2009 draft has been a revelation this season, averaging 23 points and 12.7 rebounds at the half way point and after sitting out last season due to a knee injury, has lit up Southern California and made the Clippers into one of the most exciting teams to watch.
But the Griffin mania doesn’t end on the court, last season, as the Clippers stumbled to a 29-53 season, at the midpoint season, the Clippers had over 5,000 lower level season tickets available for sale. Right now the Clippers have just 35, which included 750 sold in the past 3 months, a big jump from the 2009-10 season where a total of 200 season tickets were sold.
But back to Griffin, the last time a rookie made an All Star team was Yao Ming, who was voted in 2003 to be a starter for the West and prior to that the last rookie to be selected as a reserve was Tim Duncan in 1998. Furthermore, in the last 20 years only three rookies apart from Griffin rank in the NBA top 15 in points per game and rebounds per game, Duncan (1997/98), O’Neal (1992/1993) and Mourning (1992/93). Just this jumble of stats signifies the impending greatness of Griffin.
The Clippers on the back of Griffin’s brilliance and aided by the impressive performances from his supporting cast; Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan have got NBA coaches in a frenzy about the potential upside of this team in the years to come. Add to that the tradable commodity that is Chris Kaman (who is also incidentally a former all star) and likely high draft pick in next season’s draft, the Clippers could become LA’s number one team in a few years given the ageing Lakers and the growing dependency on a diminishing Kobe Bryant.
But its Griffin, standing 6-10 and weighing 251 pounds and having an uncanny knack for high-flying acrobatics makes its not hard to see why this 21 year old has fast become not only one of the more popular young players in the game but also is set to dominate the league for a considerable amount of
time.
SAK
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NBA