Blake Griffin, Dime #49

Who would have guessed that the first NBA dude to put Blake Griffin on his ass would be skinny JaVale McGee? Blake finished with 19 points, 10 boards and four steals against the Wizards in yesterday’s Vegas Summer League, but one time he came through the lane with the rock and McGee (19 pts, 7 blks) gave the rookie a good, hard, welcome-to-the-NBA foul. Blake stayed on the ground for a second, but he was OK. Then later in the fourth quarter, McGee caught an alley-oop on Blake’s head and screamed on him. (JaVale is still doing the salute thing whenever he dunks, too.) … Rodrigue Beaubois scored 23 for the Mavs in a game against the Thunder that was just ugly. OKC had more turnovers (23) than made field goals (20), shot 35% from the field, and ended up with 54 points. The Mavs weren’t that much better; they had 25 turnovers and 28 field goals … Other notable rookie stat lines: Ty Lawson had 21 points (8-16 FG) and three steals against the D-League Select team; Sam Young scored 20 on the Suns, while Hasheem Thabeet had 10 points and seven boards; James Johnson scored 20 on the Knicks, while Jordan Hill had 16 points, nine boards and nine fouls; DeJuan Blair posted 16 points and 11 boards against Portland; and Darren Collison put up 18 points against the Wolves, while Jonny Flynn went for 24 points, Wayne Ellington had 17, and Gerald Henderson (playing for the Wolves since the Bobcats don’t have a summer team) added 12 points … Although you’ve still got Allen Iverson, Lamar Odom, David Lee, Andre Miller, Ray Felton and a couple other big-time players left on the free agent market, most teams have officially hit the “plugging holes” portion of the offseason. Case in point: Chris Wilcox agreed to a two-year, $6 million deal with the Pistons. It’s not exactly a risky move for Detroit, since the money isn’t that much, but Wilcox certainly isn’t the answer to replace Antonio McDyess and/or Rasheed Wallace. On his good days, he’s a guy that can give you 15-18 points and 7-9 boards. But on those days where he’s basically asleep in uniform, he’s just another dude out there … Meanwhile, Walter Herrmann is leaving the NBA to sign with a team in Spain. We’ll miss hearing those ridiculous Dr. J comparisons made by announcers every time Herrmann does something that proves he has really big hands … The Knicks are reportedly trying to get Ramon Sessions, either in a sign-and-trade or with a mid-level exception offer. Sessions is a restricted free agent, and it’s believed the Bucks will match any reasonable offer, but the more Brandon Jennings looks like he’s ready in summer league, the more likely Milwaukee lets Sessions walk … Apparently the Rockets were serious when they picked up forgotten draft pick David Andersen from the Hawks in a trade the other day. Andersen’s buyout with his Euroleague team has been completed, and the Rockets inked him to a two-year deal yesterday ($4.8M). If Houston doesn’t make another move, Andersen may very well be their opening-day starter, unless Rick Adelman goes small from the get-go and starts Luis Scola at the five … E-mail from Dime’s Austin Burton: “I caught Pistol: The Birth of a Legend on the Christian channel. First time I’d ever seen it, but I remember seeing an interview with Luke Ridnour where he said he learned how to dribble from that movie. Halfway through, I started wondering if the actor who played eighth-grade Pete Maravich (Adam Guier) went on to play college ball or something, ’cause obviously the kid had to develop (or already had) a sick handle for the role. I looked him up, and all I could find was that he only did that one movie. Anyone know what happened to him?” … Pistol’s varsity coach was mostly a jerk throughout the movie, but he also had some of the best lines. One time when the team lost screamed, “We ain’t worth a plum nickel!” Another time when a player questioned him during a timeout, the coach said, “How old are you?” The kid said 18, and the coach shot back, “If you wanna live to be 19, DO WHAT I’M TELLING YOU!” … We’re out like Herrmann …