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The way the Brooklyn Nets constructed their roster last season heading into the playoffs was a bit puzzling. They made the decision to waive veteran forward James Johnson heading into the final months of the season in favor of the undrafted forward Kessler Edwards. However, that left the Nets with out much depth at the forward position, and that showed itself most in their first round playoff matchup against the Boston Celtics.
The only Nets forward that got major minutes of playoff action in the series against the Celtics was Bruce Brown, who started for Brooklyn. In the first two games Nic Claxton came off of the bench for the Nets, but Goran Dragic, a 6-foot-3 point guard played minutes at small forward against the C’s. Veteran Blake Griffin didn’t even see the court in the first two games against Boston. Then after Ben Simmons’ debut was again delayed and all hope seemed to be lost on the series, Nash put Griffin into the game for the final two games of their eventual sweep and Griffin did good things. He scored eight points in game three and dished four assists in game five.
Griffin remains a free agent in the NBA, and it seems decided that the Six-Time All-Star will not be returning to the Nets next season. Nets beat writer Kristian Winfield recently joined ‘The Athletic NBA Show,’ and seemingly confirmed that he won’t be back in Brooklyn Next season.
Why Blake Griffin Won’t be Back in Brooklyn
In a conversation on the pod with David Aldridge and Marcus Thompson of The Athletic, Winfield noted that the Nets are looking to add a veteran big man. Which made Aldridge ask if they are looking for big men what about Griffin?
“Why didn’t they just re-sign Blake Griffin if they needed size?” Aldridge asked.
Winfield gave a surprising answer, including why Griffin didn’t get much playing time last year too.
“Um. There’s something about Blake Griffin that Steve Nash doesn’t like. I’ll just say that. Maybe not like, but doesn’t feel is deserving of minutes on a basketball floor,” Winfield said. “I mean you had Blake Griffin basically just wasting away most of the second half of the season because he just couldn’t hit a shot. That’s what it was he missed, I don’t remember, it must have twenty or twenty-plus straight open threes. People were just daring him to shoot. But he did everything else pretty well… he hustled, he grabbed rebounds, made the right pass. He did those things well, but for Steve it just boiled down to, he just couldn’t hit an open shot, and that was a liability so that was it. I think that’s probably why they didn’t sign him because why sign him if you aren’t going to play him?”
Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge
Both Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge were big men left without much playing time at the end of last season, and the two are currently free agents. There has been some, but not much chatter on their future. Aldridge has been linked as a possible signing for the Miami Heat, and Griffin has also been floated in South Beach by fans but their isn’t confirmed interest so far.
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