FanPost

Is Blake Griffin to Ben Simmons as Victor Oladipo to Markelle Fultz?

Once upon a time, there was a 6’10 #1 pick in the NBA Draft who won rookie of the year despite the fact that he sat out a whole season due to injury, and also despite the fact that he can’t shoot the ball into the basket from anywhere past 3 feet.

Blake Griffin came out of University Oklahoma as a physical specimen, as ferocious and strong as Ben is quick and perceptive. A competent shooter he was not. Griffin’s rookie year, he hit only 64% of his free throws and 29% of his attempts from three (7-24).

Doesn’t sound like Ben, you say? You’d kill for Ben to hit nearly 30% of his threes, you say?

Blake’s sophomore campaign, Blake hit a nasty 52% from the free throw stripe. From the arc, he hit on only 2 of 16, for a paltry 12.5%. Look more familiar?

Blake shot almost twice as many his third year and three times as many his fourth year…to little success: 17.9% (‘12-13) and 27% (‘13-14). He did, however, fare better on the free throw stripe, hitting 66% in year three and 71% year four.

Development often works, and from that point forward, Blake Griffin’s shooting has been more than adequate. 40% (3pt) his 5th year, then 33.3, 33.6, 34.5. This year, Griffin is hitting 36.4% of his threes, and we’ve seen personally how some of them are now significantly behind the three point line. His 72.2% mark from the free throw line this year is his worst mark since then, having reached 78% twice.

I believe Ben Simmons can be a hall of fame point guard. But he must do two things for him to reach his full potential and for the Sixers to win a championship. One is to dribble better with his right hand, thereby better enabling him to beat defenders to the rim in half court while at the same time cutting down on his turnovers. The other is to shoot well enough that he is threatening 20pts a game. Far from selfish, it is harder for other players on the Sixers to score when Ben is not a threat that requires help, or at least a wandering worried eye that allows for a teammate to back-cut to the rim.

Blake Griffin’s shooting trajectory speaks well for the latter. Ben Simmons hitting 34% of his threes and 75% of his free throws is a Monstar. The attention he and Joel would draw would make things phenomenally easy for whoever is on the floor with them. I got time to wait for that.

I've previously compared Markelle Fultz to Victor Oladipo, another 6'4 DeMatha product with long arms from the DMV who also was taken in the top 3 of the draft but took several years including three in college to be considered a reliable shooter. Now we compare Ben Simmons to a formerly woeful shooter like Blake Griffin. And ask ourselves. Wouldnt it be nice to have Blake Griffin and Victor Oladipo on the same team?



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