Big Payday = Torn Left Knee: History Repeats Itself

The highflying young phenom Blake Griffin just had surgery to repair a tear on his left knee that he injured in practice playing for the U.S. National Team. This was the opportunity that he was yearning for the whole season to play for the team and it was in the palm of his hands; but injuries do occur and mostly it is unexpected. Tonight I want to get into a couple of different things I want to talk about. Many thoughts have been running in my mind about this young talent. First, I want to congratulate him on signing a 5 year/$95 million extension to stay in L.A. Wasn’t this the poison pill that the Clippers had to swallow; not the Knicks? This might be a deal coming back to haunt them. Griffin is remembered for sitting out his rookie season with an injury of this kind. You already know if he had this injury before the deal was done, the Clippers wouldn’t either suggest an extension.

Blake has a lot to prove to me, the L.A. Clippers and basketball fans when he gets back on the court from this injury. To me he is just a dunking machine, and there isn’t anything wrong with that because I do enjoy watching him jump over opponents and make an embarrassment of them. I know that isn’t right, but I’m not wrong either people for that. Right? Griffin needs to develop more low post moves, DEFENSE and free throw shooting. He started to remind me so much of Shawn Kemp. Trust me many of us back in the day loved Kemp, but he was just remembered as a dunker. When your career is all said and done, players want to be remembered for more than that.

I just see Blake games will be predicated on dunks that it will catch up to him years down the line, where he won’t have that flying ability anymore and he has to develop a better game. Some players can’t adjust to that. One player that I give props to was Vince Carter. He is considered to me as the best dunker of all-time, but when he got older those knees started to give out. So later in his career he developed a lethal 3-point shot. I understand that Griffin won’t be shooting those kinds of jays, but something has to give because at times he looks discombobulated and lost on the court. Maybe it’s just me that sees that, but I’m not totally impressed in his game.

Let’s look at the bright side guys. If Griffin doesn’t pan out to be the superstar that we thought he would become, he would still at least have his KIA commercials with the deer. HAHA! Can’t knock the hustle Blake. We are rooting for you. So don’t let us down. Guys, how long do you think those knees are going to hold up for and how do you evaluate his game?