Tag Archives: Blake Griffin

NBA Basketball

Blake Griffin: Valuable or Useless

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By: Christopher Wilson

Blake Griffin: Valuable or Useless

It seems to me the consensus on Blake Griffin is that he’s done. No lift in his legs, slow, no explosiveness, defensive liability etc.. I have seen these statements posted several times on a few Piston community’s comments. Of course we all wish he’d return to the all star from years past however, I believe he can still be a valuable asset not only from a veteran leadership standpoint but production as well.

As a big fan of Griffin, I will try to be as unbiased as possible while pleading my case for why the Pistons have a good asset in the former all star. Let’s take a look into his statistical performances so far, starting with the first few games before his concussion protocol absence. In 3 outings he shot 45.9% from the field while going 43.5% from beyond the arch which he was taking 7+ 3’s a game, 5+ boards per and very few turnovers.

Up until his concussion protocol he showed flashes of the all star Blake we grew accustomed to from the 2018/19 season. Defensively he was still a liability giving inconsistent effort and bringing little to no energy unlike Tasmanian Stewart. However, teams not named the Celtics or Bucks have struggled at the PF position against Detroit shooting 15-59 (25%) from the field. I’m sure Blake was not the primary defender the entire time but his veteran defensive savvy helps him recover when he gets beat and close out on open forwards after helping on D, especially when the ball is kicked out for 3. After the concussion protocol his production was dismal, shooting 31% from the field in his first 4 games back. Defensively he looked lethargic and helpless especially against Giannis (who doesn’t), he bounced back in his next two games defensively but still struggled on offense.

Finally, In his last couple of games his performance has resembled pre-concussion Blake. He’s been on the floor constantly for loose balls, attacking the basket more and distributing like he was a couple of years ago. I don’t expect him to be the 24-7-5 guy who carried us to the playoffs, but I also don’t think he should be getting the amount of hate or disrespect either. His attitude has been very professional and positive which is great for the young guns, also most guys with his stardom in a similar scenario would have some sort of issue or become a locker room distraction trying to get traded to a contender. Going forward if he continues to adjust well with being the #2 guy to Grant I think his value would increase exponentially around the deadline.

NBA Basketball

Pistons fans: One Way To Progress This Off-season

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By: Opinionated MJ (Michael Tolliver Jr)

Hello Pistons nation. Hello Detroit. I’ll start by saying that the Pistons will have $-8,729,154 in cap. So in order to get better, we honestly need to shed a few contacts.

Reggie Jackson – 18mil
Leuer – 9.5mil
Langston Galloway – 7mil
Glenn Robinson – 4mil

Those are the contracts I would shed by any means.

It would give us about 30 in cap room but that’s without re-signing Ish (who is making 11 million), Wayne Ellington, Jose & ZaZa. We do have cap holds which would allow us to use the 30 on someone else and go into the luxury tax after that to retain any of the incumbent players we have (cap hold). I would only keep Ellington and maybe ZaZa.

I would also use that 30 million to go after someone like Kemba, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi, or even Klay. I don’t think market size matters to those players in particular and they bring an element and skillset we need to take the next step. Of course Jimmy and Kemba would be the likely targets to actually move and consider Detroit.

This is still SVG’s roster. We just gotta be aggressive this off-season. Kemba wanting to come here by sign & trade would be a godsend. If the hornets wanted a return on investment they can get Jackson & Leuer back as they will be on expiring deals anyway.

As far as trading Blake Griffin to Miami. I keep seeing publications writing stuff just to have something for their basketball sections to cover the Pistons. Please stop the utter nonsense. Why would you trade your best player for something less than a best back in return of for the 1st pick in the draft for Zion? It makes no sense. Dig deeper. As a Piston fan and supporter of anything Detroit, when I see such slander, I wonder where you are actually from. Who are you really a fan of? Go back to the drawing board.

The blueprint is simple. It’s just about execution. We will see this off-season. I expect good changes that propel this team into a higher seed and the conversation of top 5 in the east. No John Wall, no Victor Oladipo? We will be top 5 next season if we can shed salary and make changes. Trading Blake means tanking. We’re not built to quit. So change your perspective. Thanks in advance.

#DetroitBasketball

NBA Basketball

DEEEEETROITTTT BASSKKETTTBALLLLLLL!

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By: Opinionated MJ (Michael Tolliver)

DEEEEETROITTTT BASSSSKKKETTTBALLLLLLLL!

Let’s go Detroit! It’s very different this year. It’s all because of Dwane Casey, Blake, Drummond, and the rest of the team accepting their roles. This is just the beginning. Just wait till everyone really grows into their roles. Luke Kennard is still hurt and he was trending upward before injury. Helped us win games early while everyone was trying to figure out their roles.

I don’t know the ceiling for us because we’ve got two dominant bigs. I’ve always believed in that formula. Duncan/Robinson, Bynum/Gasol, Davis/Cousins, and now Blake/Drummond. It always yields successful results as long as one member of the duo can stretch the floor. If our wings make timely shots, Reggie Jackson & Stanley Johnson continue to split 3rd/4th option duties, and the rest of the team continue pressing forward and improving… I think we will be a serious problem. Let’s not sleep on the unguardable pace Ish Smith runs at. He does the Steve Nash thing alot as well. If only he had the passing acumen. It’ll be even greater for this team.

I’m not predicting this, but I want to say this.. We will make the playoffs of course, and once we do, if we’re clicking, I anticipate that we could actually make the conference finals. How? Because we already play playoff basketball. Half-court style, slow-grinding, inside-out, basketball. So we will not be shocked when teams focus in. They already have been doing so, at least when it comes to Blake Griffin. They’ve been doubling him ever since he dropped 50. Thereafter, he had a bad game because the scouting report probably began to focus on limiting his space and opportunity to go 1 on 1 cause he’s very strong. That’s when our team began to adjust and then found their shots cause we were shooting horrible early in the season, within the first 10 games. Having Drummond cleanup the boards definitely doesn’t hurt either.

Having Dwane Casey is a big, big deal. It may not be acknowledged until we beat a few other great teams. He’s already recently had the best team in the east, just last year. Fired as a scapegoat for the Raptors. He then accepted a role with our organization just southwest of Toronto. Detroit welcomes him with wide open arms.

The win yesterday was also huge for our city. I just hope those who didn’t make the game made sure that they watched it. That’s about the most packed I’ve seen the new LCA Arena, for a Pistons game. I monitored the tickets all the way up til 30 minutes before gametime and it went from having plenty tickets to only a few in ONE SECTION! I believe we were very close to selling out if we didn’t actually achieve that feat. Great for our city, our organization, and our players. Especially with them being in the heart of Detroit, downtown. Not in Auburn Hills. Downtown Detroit is surrounded by bars, restaurants, clubs, and nightlife, I’m sure it put all the corporates on notice downtown as well who are apart of it. Reminded me of how the gym was packed when we had our “Doin’ Work” Pistons roster with Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Richard Hamilton. We had like a 250+ sellout steak. I forget the exact number but I attended about 4-5 games during those years. Very exciting. Loads of energy in the building.

Lookout for the Pistons. Everybody is learning their new roles now. Including the fans. Detroit is full of some of the most passionate you’ll find. This combination will become dangerous once the playoffs begin. Even ESPN showing us love. Watch out NBA!

Photo by @WM13Edit on instagram

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MoNeYBaLL Podcast: Episode 17 featuring NilClassic & Opinionated MJ

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Listen to MoNeYBaLL Podcast: Episode 17 featuring NilClassic & Opinionated MJ by Opinionated Media #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/user-85278876/moneyball-podcast-episode-17

NBA Basketball, Podcasts

MoneYBaLL Podcast Episode 10: The MyGM 2K Cavs (and Other Deals)

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Featuring NilClassic & Opinionated MJ

NBA Basketball, Podcasts

MoneYBaLL Podcast Episode 9: The Blake Griffin Pistons

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By: Opinionated MJ & NilClassic

Blake Griffin, Welcome to Detroit!

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KD, Warriors Win 2016-17 NBA Championship

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By: Opinionated MJ 




It was all on you KD.

Congratulations to Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors! They are your 2016-17 NBA Champions! Redemption, revenge, and recovery all wrapped in one! Kevin Durant has endured a high level of scrutiny and came out on top. He faced a lot of friction from the media, especially from a few high-level media types right before Game 5. Debate that! If it were not for his injury, I don’t think this Warriors team would’ve had the bench ready to go to war with Cleveland. They didn’t band together until KD went down. Steph didn’t find himself until KD went down. Draymond Green didn’t tap into another level again until KD Went down. Let’s not mention the fact that even I believed Golden State would fall off defensively. They posted league highs in efficiency this year, not only on offense but defense as well. How? KD.

Coming into the year, KD was hated for going to the team that ousted him. Now that he’s got the title and he will have a ring, let me break this down for you. If KD opted to stay in OKC, he would’ve had to deal with finding out who was the #1 option with Russell Westbrook. He would’ve been without Serge Ibaka who I though enabled them to take down the Warriors and Spurs. With that said, had he stayed in OKC, he would’ve still had to see both the Warriors and Spurs in the playoffs on the way to seeing LeBron in Cleveland. What would’ve been his odds? Be honest. NO ONE THINKS KD COULD’VE BEATEN LEBRON WITH OKC! That’s a fact. Doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.

 

He coasted most of the year, trying to fit in early and not be imposing. Steph, Klay Thompson, Dray, everybody took a backseat to making him feel comfortable. Steve Kerr did a good job in putting a roster together after losing so many pieces to obtain Kevin Durant. Got to tip our hats to the Golden State Warriors organization. They brought in a few journeymen in David West, Matt Barnes late, Zaza Pachulia (the Kawhi killer), and even Javale McGee. McGee had a hard time staying on any teams’ roster since he and George Karl were split apart. This is the best I’ve seen him play since then. There’s no other team that would gamble on him. It paid dividends, especially in the first 2 games of this final.

 

No one is talking about how Andre Iguodala stepped up in KD’s absence either. We must, MUST, give this man respect for being willing to take a bench role for the better of the team overall. No one mentioned the Warriors depth as being a threat. Come on now. Livingston, Iggy, Barnes, West, McGhee? Throw Ian Clark and Patrick McCaw in there and you’ve got something that you can develop into something special indeed.

 

I want to give LeBron and Kyrie their due respect for carrying their team this far. They put it all on the line. I personally think they should’ve obtained some different pieces and I can imagine that half of this roster will be completely different going into the 2017 season. Maybe Carmelo, maybe Paul George, maybe Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, even DeMarcus Cousins could end up here. They’re all in the rumors. My sleeper here is Blake Griffin. LeBron and Kyrie were scoring at will but did tire out and their team, their bench, just couldn’t give them enough of a cushion. I think Bogut would’ve paid dividends and may have been enough for Cleveland to win this series. The Cavs aren’t as far away from being as talented as this Warriors team. Don’t forget that. Be humble with this Championship, Warriors fans. Congratulations on another great season. I’m sure we’ll see you here next year. Currently, the only threat out west is Kawhi Leonard. The basketball gods shined down on you!

NBA Basketball

Rambling Thought: NBA January 2017

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By: Opinionated MJ





The New Year has featured Russell Westbrook dropping a triple double in 19 game minutes. James Harden dropped a monster triple double as well with 53 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped a monster statline reminiscent of something we seen in smaller packages from Andrei Kirilenko. LeBron and Kyrie are running the Eastern Conference. The Warriors are still the best in the West, although stumbling in places they once succeeded. MVP candidates throughout those teams.

DeMarcus Cousins will be apart of the Boston Celtics. The Bulls will land a stretch 4. The a Pistons will find themselves. The Jazz will continue to amaze with their silent rise. It’s also scary that Memphis is always competitive and playing in between all the other top 8 out west. They’re a star away, maybe Paul George.

Typically, the Cavs will make the finals as they usually do. It’s crazy out west once you get past Golden State and San Antonio. I think we may see the Jazz, Rockets, and Thunder all make the playoffs. They’re in the thick of things. It’ll be fun to watch who will occupy the 8th seed leading up to a fun playoff. No one out East to contest Cleveland. They await. Rightfully so, since they’re the defending champs. As long as their big 3 is healthy. 

Russell Westbrook will win the MVP award if his team stays a top 4 seed. He’s a given if that is achieved. I don’t see how anyone else wins it, rightfully. The league could get hacked right? Vote in all the bigs for the All Star game. That’s justice.

The Knicks are currently on another skid, as well as the Clippers. This is only fueling Melo for Blake rumors. I think it would actually work for both teams although that would cause some more rotation issues I think New York finally has figured out. The Knicks honestly just need bench depth. A scorer here, defender there, enforcer there, and boom! They’re a contender. The east is weak enough that they could rise to number 3. Even the 2nd seed isn’t a foregone thing to me.

I expect the second half of the season to be exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing what east team will take a risk and stop being afraid of failure. No risk, no reward. Someone needs to chase Cousins. Someone needs to go after Blake, CP3, Melo. I want to see a great competitor developed to truly contest Cleveland. Make it interesting to see them against someone out east. Instead of it being the “leastern” conference. The “feast on” conference, the “least strong” conference. I could go on. We’ll see where the season goes from here. Starting with wondering if Rondo will be in the NBA anymore after the latest news.

I love this game.

NBA Basketball

20+ Games Left To Go As The NBA March Madness Continues

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By: Opinionated MJ

What a season thus far that we’re having! April is just around the corner. We’ve watched the steady Knicks fall hard from being a .500 team, we’re currently watching the Cavs implode as far as trust is concerned, we seen the Heat improve by adding Joe Johnson into the fold, we’ve also seen the dynamic duo of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant lose big games against the Warriors and Clippers. My Detroit Pistons seem to get better one piece at a time, the Bulls have fallen out of the playoff picture (as of this moment at least) and we have no idea what to make of any other team besides the Warriors & Spurs when it comes to actually being true contenders for the championship.

I’ll go in order, firstly, the Knicks. Derek Fisher gets fired midway during a skid although he helped get the Knicks off to a good start. I think it’s time for this team to start thinking “Porzingis” instead of “Melo & Porzingis” and build this team around the rookie going forward. Allow Melo to go wherever he wants as long as they can get some decent players in return and hopefully some picks, even if they’re second round picks. They need youth going forward to continue their rebuild. They should’ve never given away Tim Hardaway Jr. I think he would’ve served as an important piece going forward. They also need to go all out and hire Tom Thibodeau before the Lakers do.

Now on to the Cavaliers. LeBron James… He’s praising Stephen Curry, he’s in Miami, he’s sending out tweets, he’s doing everything to keep the media full of things to talk about and, if true, he’s continuing to give his teammates reason to believe he doesn’t trust them. He didn’t trust them enough in the finals after game 3, and he doesn’t trust them now even with them at full strength. He has Kyrie and Kevin at his disposal and has still lost to the NBA’s top teams and a few teams they probably didn’t expect to lose to, including my Detroit Pistons. Yeah, had to toss that in! LeBron just needs to either leave Cleveland again or try to get Kyrie AND Kevin shipped out of town and somehow turn that into Kevin Durant or Carmelo Anthony and a true point guard (Mike Conley anyone?) and either more minutes for Mozgov or a more serviceable big man that they’ll actually feed. I’m also not sold on Coach Lue either.

Surprisingly since they’ve acquired Joe Johnson, who I’m also not high on, they’ve been on a roll. Without Chris Bosh! They’ve been showing a different dynamic and they’ve also been able to space the floor a bit more. Dwayne Wade has been playing surprisingly good, so good that all his naysayers should be wondering if he’ll ever truly fall from being efficient and consistent. Dragic is finally coming around and being more productive and they look like they may even be able to beat the Cavs in a 7 game series now. Look for the Heat to rise before the playoffs begin and put themselves in position to compete for a championship with the likes of the Raptors and Celtics too! Never thought you’d hear that, huh?

I’ll be short about the Clippers… They need Blake Griffin for the playoffs but they’ve looked like a TEAM without him. It’s hard to figure how that makes sense but it simply does. There’s only so much Paul Pierce is going to give you, DeAndre Jordan, Jamal Crawford, and JJ Redick. Their lone star currently on the floor is Chris Paul and we’ve seen what he can do with someone he can throw alley-oops to and with a few good men around him. He needs another star with him to elevate higher and he’s due to make it to an NBA Finals. Anything less for him is honestly a bust. I’d consider trading Blake during the offseason if they lose in the first round.

The Thunder haven’t been so intimidating as of late. They’ve lost two games they should’ve won against the Clippers & Warriors. They’ve also allowed this situation to affect them mentally in my opinion. They look as if they need to retool their bench if they can get Kevin Durant to stay. I don’t really see where he would want to go. This would be his best opportunity to win a championship. He’s definitely overdue for another finals appearance. Russell Westbrook is playing like an athletic Chris Paul this season and I don’t see him bolting OKC either. It’s too much structure in place where they already are to actually leave and think they have a better chance. Unless they go east.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the Warriors championship to lose unless the Spurs can clone Kawhi Leonard.

NBA Basketball

Rare Footage Of Blake Griffin Vs. Derrick Rose & Eric Gordon (Video)

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BY CHRIS TERNATE via http://behindthearc.collectivepress.com/

Rare Footage Of Blake Griffin Vs. Derrick Rose & Eric Gordon

NBA Basketball

Chip for Clips?

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By: Opinionated MJ

Championship for Clippers?

Retaining DeAndre Jordan, acquiring Lance Stevenson, signing Paul Pierce… Have the Clippers now finally put themselves into championship contention instead of playoff contention? They’ve honestly had no excuse to lose in the last two seasons but somehow, someway, we found a way to give them another big room full of excuses. This time they “didn’t have the depth to survive against teams with more depth.” Okay, fine. Still, Blake Griffin improved his shot, Chris Paul improved his balance and also played in all 82 games, and JJ Redick finally made sense to be in someone’s starting rotation. Until the playoffs hit, then came calamity. We overlook the achievement for Chris Paul though, playing in all the games and doing his best to not miss any in the playoffs. In a new NBA world where the players don’t want to play 82 games, they want midseason vacations, a longer break during All-Star weekend, less minutes while they’re in their primes and requests for better teammates, Chris Paul actually found a way to improve. Just hope his critics were paying attention.

The real question now is, “Do the Clippers have the players in place to succeed?” I’m really high on having players who have “championship” experience on your team in order to get to the promise land. Golden State had a coach who has won in different settings. Be apart of the Jordan Bulls and the Spurs organization when they’ve won titles over the last 20 years. He’s been side by side with the likes of Jordan, Pippen, Duncan, Parker, Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich. It can’t get any better than that can it? He has a pedigree and understanding of the game. He also set the team up for success when he asked some of the players to play certain roles that would eventually land them a ring in return. The Clippers now have Doc Rivers along with Paul Pierce this time around step up into those big moments. If Pierce was there against the Rockets, it would’ve been Clippers 4-2. These additions are great for offense but what will they do for defense? Paul Pierce won’t be stopping anyway, and that’s the truth. Lance had a lost season with the Hornets but I’m sure that with CP3 and DeAndre on the floor with him, they’ll be a defensive nightmare and they will be able to hide him and Griffin on nights against the OKC Thunder and the Golden State Warriors. The real question now is, “What about those Spurs?”

Could they beat the Spurs now that they’ve added Aldridge and West to their team? Pierce isn’t guarding Duncan with any success. Did you see what Duncan was doing to DeAndre?!?! He was doing it at 39 years old and almost no athletic effort! So Imagine what pick & rolls will look like with Parker having Duncan and Aldridge at his disposal AT THE SAME TIME! They’ve retained their defense in Kawhi & Danny Green and they also have a system in place that apparently is the direct way to fight against father time. One year they’re old, the next year they are in the Finals. So we would be best to not drop that special “they’re old” line like we do when they have slow stretches. I don’t think that they’ll have any slow stretches this offseason.

Can the Clippers find a way to utilize Lance the way he was used during his last season in Indiana? If they can have him anchor the bench then I truly think they may have something figured out. Jamal Crawford actually wants to leave now and wants to go to the easy breezy Eastern Conference to the team that will damn near have a cakewalk to the Finals for the next 2-4 years, the Cavaliers. I sound like a hater. I am a proud hater of how garbage the Eastern Conference is. Go Cavs, I expect them to win a chip soon anyway, especially if this trade happens, but who is sent back in return? If I’m the Clippers, I’m pushing for Dellavedova and Thompson, yes BOTH! This won’t happen but I’m not helping a Finals team get better. I’m not accepting a JR Smith sign & trade. I would entertain acquiring Timofey Mozgov, sure, but I’ll need a few picks along with it. Hard bargain.

The path to the Finals goes through OKC, Golden State, and San Antonio. No one else is a legitimate threat, including the Rockets. Four headed monster in the West with a few dark horses. The Pelicans, Rockets, Grizzlies, and I’d just throw a #8 seeded Kings team out there just because I truly don’t know who’ll fit into that spot. The Clippers should be able to beat the lower seeds and have shown what they can do against the Spurs which legitimizes whether they could win in the west or not. At least to me. If you can beat the Spurs than you can survive and succeed out west. The Spurs have a way of breaking a team down and shredding away at your strengths. The Clippers proved to me that they’re ready to take the next step, it’s all left up to the chemistry they’ll have with their new additions.