LA Clippers GOTE 2009-2017: Blake Griffin
Here’s that little change to the eras on Wikipedia that I mentioned. On there, this timeframe is split between the pre-CP3 trade and then Lob City. I decided to combine those two eras, because to me Blake Griffin is the GOTE for both.
That is possibly a controversial opinion, Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards to ever play, and he was at the peak of his powers with the Clippers. But I still give the edge to Blake here for a couple reasons.
First, Blake is the spark that started it all. If there were no Blake, then there would have been no Chris Paul trade and no Lob City. That has ripple effects all the way to where we are now, and I think it’s worth rewarding that.
Second, when he was at his absolute best, Blake was in the conversation as one of the five best guys in the league. In 13-14 he put up 24 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. That passing would continue to improve, and he would end up turning into a 5 assist a game guy. He also worked on his shooting. His rookie season he shot a total of 24 threes and made 7 of them. His last half-season with the Clippers he shot 113 threes and made 33.6% of them.
When Blake was on the court, you could never take your eyes off the action. You never knew if he would dribble around half the defense, or if he would take flight and dunk over the tallest guy on the floor. His dunks over Kendrick Perkins and Timofey Mozgov remain legendary in Clippers lore.
With his style of play, you always felt like an injury was waiting to happen, and they always seemed to happen at the worst moments. He missed his entire first year, and then he played a total of 173 games in his last 3 full seasons as a Clipper. Still, not counting his missed first year, the Clippers went 345-182 in the 7 full seasons they had Blake.
The playoff failures are well documented, but this was still one of the most fun times to be a Clippers fan. Blake was a perennial all star and a 5 time All-NBA, in addition to a Rookie of the Year and Slam Dunk competition winner.
I just think that Blake had a higher level when he was at his absolute best, and when you combine that with him being the reason Lob City was formed, I think he’s the greatest of this time frame.
Honorable mention goes to, no surprise, Chris Paul. Don’t take the Blake love to be CP3 hate. He was still the engine that made Lob City go, and his arrival in LA marked the transformation from “fun team that you want on League Pass” to championship contender.