Getty Hamidou Diallo #6 of the Detroit Pistons and Blake Griffin #2 of the Brooklyn Nets battle for the ball at Barclays Center on October 31, 2021 in New York City.
The Brooklyn Nets rolled the Detroit Pistons on Halloween, and while the team looked solid, former Piston Blake Griffin has gotten off to a rough start to begin the year.
Griffin, who arguably had the best season of his career with the Pistons, hasn’t been able to reach his once-lofty heights following a knee injury and he was eventually released by the team and signed with the Nets.
There was a lot of chatter about Griffin dunking in his first game with Brooklyn, but he hasn’t really been able to provide a ton for the team offensively over the ~2 years he’s spent with them.
Through six games this season, he’s averaging 4.8 points per game on 28.6 percent shooting and it drops to a paltry 11.8 percent from three. If those numbers keep up, they’d far and away be the worst of his career.
Despite these struggles, head coach Steve Nash has said he’s going to keep Griffin in the starting lineup.
Nash Staying With Griffin
GettyBrooklyn’s Kevin Durant high-fives Blake Griffin during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at Barclays Center on April 25, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
With the Nets sitting at 4-3 so far this season, they are underperforming in a lot of fan’s eyes, but they are still adapting to life without Kyrie Irving and James Harden has been struggling to start the season.
It looks like Harden is starting to turn the corner, which means Griffin is now the eyesore that sticks out in the lineup. However, Nash plans on sticking with him for a bit longer.
“There’s no [plan to pull him],” he said to reporters, via the New York Post. “We’re not really thinking about changing roles. BG’s been successful there for us in the past, and LaMarcus is successful coming off the bench right now. So there’s no reason to make any big changes.”
This quote came before he had the best game of his season where he put up 8 points to go along with 5 rebounds on 75 percent shooting. At this stage in his career that’s the type of production the team will be looking for, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep it up against teams that aren’t the Pistons.
“We all go through different periods where we won’t have our rhythm, our confidence; and that’s what he’s going through right now,” Nash said. “So it’s normal. We just don’t expect it from him because he’s shot the ball well for us,” Nash said. “But it’s normal. Everyone goes through their moments where they struggle to shoot the ball. … He’s just finding his rhythm.”
Aldridge Playing Well
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If Brooklyn did decide to bench Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge would be a strong candidate to replace him in the starting lineup.
Surprisingly, the unretired forward/center is third of the team in scoring this season at 12.7 points per game. He recently passed the 20,000 points milestone, which is no small feat.
His health forced him to retire last season, and while he’s said he’s ready to go this season, that will be a big question mark looming over him and the team for the entire season.
As of right now, the Nets like what they have going with Griffin starting and Aldridge coming off the bench, but things can change in a hurry in the NBA.
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