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Blake Griffin is no longer the perennial All-Star he was during the first half of his career, but the Brooklyn Nets didn’t sign him to be that. The 32-year-old is now a role player; the 8.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists he’s averaging in 12 games since joining Brooklyn would all be career lows for Griffin, yet those numbers are giving the Nets exactly the boost they need.
His dunks are helping, too.
Yes, Griffin brought with him to Brooklyn the athleticism that many thought he no longer possessed. After all, he wasn’t exactly a dunking machine with his former team, the Detroit Pistons.
On Tuesday, the Pistons decided to revisit the topic — but only those that happened to be paying attention saw it.
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Pistons Take Shot at Griffin
Griffin’s dunk drought lasted over 470 days, a startling stat when considering how many emphatic slams the former No. 1 overall pick had during his heyday with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Then he was signed by the Nets in early March after being bought out by the Pistons, and proceeded to dunk in his first game for Brooklyn.
But about that dunk drought…
In a since-deleted tweet from the Pistons’ official twitter account, the team on Tuesday tweeted a highlight video accompanied by a not-so-subtle jab at Griffin: “When you don’t wait over a year to dunk a basketball”, the tweet read, followed by a smiley-face emoji.
Clearly, that was aimed at Griffin.
Perhaps Griffin got wind of the tweet, because his dunking resurgence was on display again Tuesday night in the Nets’ 134-129 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
In fact, since joining Brooklyn, Griffin has attempted a dunk eight times, according to NBA.com. He’s converted all eight of them.
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Will Griffin Play vs. Raptors?
A day after playing in New Orleans, the Nets’ road trip continues Wednesday with a trip to Toronto to play the Raptors. To this point, Griffin has yet to play for the Nets in games on back-to-back nights. But with Brooklyn dealing with a rash of injuries, could the team ask Griffin to suit up again on Wednesday?
Griffin said he’s always down to play more, according to Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. But the seven-time All-Star said he’ll let the team’s coaches and staff decide about his status against the Raptors.
As Schiffer noted, the Nets are very much shorthanded at the moment with just nine players available currently.
Griffin has averaged 20.4 minutes per game since joining the Nets, down from the 31.3 minutes he was averaging in 20 games with the Pistons earlier this season. He logged 27 minutes on Tuesday against the Pelicans, the most he’s played as a member of the Nets. The 16 points he scored were the second-most he’s scored since joining the team, and he also added eight points and three assists.
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