It feels great to be watching real basketball. No more preseason and no more summer charity games. In fact, even college wasn’t filling it enough. Too many missed lay-ups, stupid plays and insane, attention-seeking coaches. As the season began yesterday on Christmas, two of the most watched teams – at least with hardcore NBA fans – could be the Clippers (definitely) and the T’Wolves (probably). The two major reasons for that? Two of the biggest young stars in the game: Blake Griffin and Kevin Love.
While Griffin has taken the league by storm, Love has been busy putting in work every single night that true basketball heads can appreciate. They have different styles, but at the end of the day, both get it done. But as two contemporaries playing the same position, there will inevitably be comparisons.
So now we’re question the question. Who’s better: Kevin Love or Blake Griffin? We argue. You decide.
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Kevin Love
Like a 6-10 Russian nesting doll, Kevin Love reveals a little more about his game each season.
The dolls, that sit in another that sit in another and so on, seem hardly a metaphor for a power forward on the face of it. But that’s just it; Love has proven to be a shape-shifter in his career, owing to his historic versatility. To say that Blake Griffin doesn’t have this potential or is inferior to Love is ridiculous. However, until I see a track record of development on par with Love’s, I’ll take the latter.
When I watched Love play in high school, he was the biggest kid in the state and it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility — expected, really — he might break a backboard in a suburban gym somewhere. What he showed as a rare, athletic big man beating up on all comers was what was expected from a guy his stature.
At UCLA he showed his outlet passing vision wasn’t just a high-school fluke to go with his boilerplate 20 points and 10 boards clip. And on a team with three other future draft picks — Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Russell Westbrook — Love showed an ability to take over a room, per se, as the new guy and lead UCLA to a third straight Final Four.
We all know about his progression in Minnesota, where he went from Kurt Rambis‘ “doghouse” to 53 straight double-doubles last season. Then, of course, he led the League with 15.2 rebounds and averaged 20.2 points and launched a fake fragrance line (#numbers) to boost his All-Star candidacy. He eventually became an All-Star when his minutes increased and his starts spiked, but don’t forget he was the best offensive rebounder by percentage his first two seasons as well.
[Related: Dime’s 2011-12 NBA Preview: Northwest Division]
The whole time I’ve waited to see Love trumped by the bigger and the more athletic. It’s something Kevin McHale tried to find during the Wolves’ pre-draft camps in 2008 too. McHale, like me, was won over by Love’s ability to adapt to competition.
“You wondered how Kevin was going to do against these big guys, but when they started playing, Kevin got way bigger and the other guys got way smaller,” McHale said in 2008. “He was the biggest player on the floor. There’s just certain guys that get bigger. He’s one of those guys. We brought as much length to the workout as we could, and Kevin was very impressive. There were no issues whatsoever.”
No issues, and few to compare him with. As Justin Kubatko of basketball-reference.com wrote last February, Love’s style is historic, becoming the first rebounding leader since Dennis Rodman in 1991-92 to also attempt at least 100 threes — where Love shot 41 percent. That was 13th-best in the league last season and tied for the youngest, at 22, with Steph Curry.
Love, for all his beach volleyball training during the lockout, will never jump over a sedan like Griffin. But as he loses style points, I believe he prolongs his career. Make no mistake: I want to watch Blake Griffin play every game because he plays like a can of gasoline sits, waiting for a single spark. But I doubt his body — fine, his knees — can withstand a career based on his two outstanding gifts: freakish athleticism and a relentless pace. Call it a belief Love will deliver more at a diminished ability (see: late-career Arvydas Sabonis) than Griffin could.
Don’t downgrade his effect in the present, either. His 11.4 win shares rating was the league’s ninth-best in 2010-11 and he was the the only player in the top 19 who wasn’t on a playoff roster.
It’s easy to be seduced by the leapers, and many a League Pass has been bought because of Griffin alone. But the numbers Minnesota’s forward has put up in his career show true Love — and value.
-ANDREW GREIF
Blake Griffin
True story: I tried to trade Blake Griffin for Kevin Love in my fantasy league. Actually, it ended up being more of a façade then anything else. I was feeling out the competition in my league. Okay, if I offered this cat BG straight up for Love, would he do it? Even in a dynasty league, Love is probably the better fantasy pick than Griffin. But this ain’t fantasy. This is real. Bro.
First things first, Griffin is about six months younger than Love. That doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it could down the road. And the injury problems? Please. Just because Griffin can jump doesn’t mean he’s more prone to screw himself up than any other player. Michael Jordan broke his foot as a 22-year-old, missed 64 regular season games and defied doctor’s and team wishes to come play and push himself. Was he not explosive? Was he not a freak of nature? Did he not have one major injury? Griffin is not Greg Oden. He had one random injury, and he’s never had problems with his body. Get over it.
Griffin’s numbers as a rookie were off the charts: 22.5 points and over 12 rebounds a night. But to think, he’s only scratching the surface. Already in the preseason, we’ve seen him hit more jump shots, lead fast breaks, make CP-like ball fakes in the lane and look more comfortable at the line. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Quake average 27 a night sometime soon. Plus, while Love is a fabulous rebounder, this will also be his fourth NBA season. Take a moment to visualize what Blake Griffin will look like in his fourth season… I think my hands are shaking.
One of the major criticisms of Griffin early in his career is that he’s not a good defender. The bare numbers can back that up. For someone who’s more explosive than a Tracy Morgan stand-up routine, Griffin averaged only .5 blocks a game last season. Okay, so he needs work. But what about Love? He’s not exactly Bill Russell either. In fact, in their four regular season meetings against each other, not only did Blake’s Clippers DESTROY Love’s T’Wolves on more than one occasion (they won three out of four), but Griffin’s scoring numbers looked like this: 26, 22, 29 and 29. Spare me with the “Griffin sucks defensively.” Love isn’t any better (In those three wins, Griffin also had at least five assists every time, a quality no one seems to recognize.).
[Related: Dime’s 2011-12 NBA Preview: The Pacific Division]
And now for the real catch: Blake Griffin is the better passer. I’m serious. It’s true. Check the facts. Normally, I don’t base all of my assumptions on stats. No one can tell me Jay-Z is a better rapper than Nas simply because he’s sold more. But in his first year on the court in the NBA, Quake averaged just below four dimes a night. Love? 2.5. That’s a pretty big difference, enough to tell me Griffin doesn’t get nearly the credit he deserves for being able to pass out of a double team.
Just as Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan before them, these two represent the future of the four. As yin and yang as two things can get on the surface, we’ll be arguing over which player is better for the next decade. But for me, at this moment, Griffin is the better scorer, the better playmaker and most of all, the more disruptive and demoralizing force.
I love Love’s game and his versatility. For all of Griffin’s “Oh SHEET!” moments, he’ll never be taking spot-up threes or be throwing picture-perfect outlet passes that would make Wes Unseld s#$% a brick. But he does do things Love can’t. Griffin does things that NO ONE can. Old-school graybeards love to tell us a dunk is only two points. But Griffin’s are worth more. He scares people. He destroys team psyches. He invigorates entire fan bases. He’s the real life Achilles.
Y’all can have Love and his incredible traditional game. I’ll take Griffin and his once-in-a-lifetime uniqueness.
-SEAN SWEENEY
Who would you take?
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