42. Blake Griffin
50 WORDS ON BLAKE GRIFFIN
Blake Griffin arrived like a special effect: airborne, violent, impossible to ignore. Then the knees took altitude away and revealed everything underneath—touch, passing, footwork, humor, intelligence. The tragedy is that people kept waiting for the old Blake. The achievement is that he kept finding new ways to matter anyway.
CAMPFIRE ERA STATS
Main line: 19.0 PPG / 8.0 RPG / 4.0 APG / 0.8 SPG / 0.5 BPG
Longevity: 765 regular season games / 68 postseason games
Era Ranks: 34th in postseason PER / 35th in PER / 35th in offensive box plus/minus
CAMPFIRE ERA ACCOLADES
2010-11 Rookie of the Year, 6-time All-Star, 5-time All-NBA, 1 top-five finish in MVP Vote
THE PEAK
2013-14 - This was Blake at the point where the spectacle became substance. He averaged 24.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists, played 80 games, made All-NBA Second Team and finished third in MVP voting, behind only Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
The rookie version was more explosive and the 2018–19 Detroit version was arguably more skilled, but 2013–14 was the best intersection of everything: overwhelming athleticism, interior scoring, transition destruction, improving playmaking and legitimate MVP-level impact.
WTF STAT
Made 191 three-pointers over his first eight NBA seasons, and made 189 in his 9th season.
NON-BASKETBALL COMPARISON
Arnold Schwarzenegger - When Arnold first became famous, the body was so absurd that it swallowed everything else. But after movies like Terminator, Predator, Twins and Kindergarten Cop, you realized the big man had range. Blake Griffin had far more range than just the athleticism and dunks. He was the whole package, and throughout his career he proved you could reinvent yourself without abandoning what brought you to the spotlight in the first place.
THE RIPPLE
Blake Griffin arrived almost perfectly timed for basketball’s transition into the social-media-highlight era. His dunks weren’t merely productive plays; they became events—clips passed around the internet, replayed endlessly and used to sell an emerging Clippers identity that suddenly felt young, spectacular and culturally relevant.
But his basketball ripple went beyond highlights. As his career developed, Griffin became increasingly comfortable initiating offense, passing on the move and eventually extending his game beyond the arc. His evolution helped reinforce a shift in what teams could ask of an athletic power forward: finish above the rim first, then learn to thrive everywhere else.
WHAT HIS PEERS SAY
“He’s definitely proven himself to be a man amongst boys. He came out this year and showed a lot of people he can be one of the best players, if not the best player in the future, in the NBA.” - (Ray Allen, 2011)
IN HIS OWN WORDS
“If you’re the bull, being a bull in a china shop is not a bad thing. If you’re the china, it’s a bad thing. So I want to be the bull.” - (Blake Griffin, 2014)
ROLL THE TAPE
THE BEGINNING
THE SKILL
THE PERFORMANCE
THE ARTIFACT
