Some players style of play translate very well when they come into the league. Others fail miserably despite being drafter relatively high. I think Patterson falls into the first category.
He practiced with NBA players. He was in NBA environment. He learnt Clippers offence and defence (whatever that is). Even Griffin himself admitted he learnt a lot from just watching from the sidelines. That is a huge luxury compared to the other rookies.
bla bla bla doesnt matter what blake griffin learned last year, he is head and shoulders above any other rookie this year, the only way he doesnt earn the award if he gets a season ending injury with in the next month.
There are players that have been mentored by coaches and teammates for years in order to bring out their full potential. Most never succeed. If Blake Griffin could learn all he knows simply by watching off-the-court in less than a year, then he deserves ROY just for possibly being the fastest learner in the NBA.
I agree, not only is Blake the head of the class by a good margin but he's already as good if not better than many power fowards in the league, the guy is a flat out beast. On Patterson, he is just so fundamentally sound, very similar to Fields in the sense that they both have high BBIQ, solid defenders, efficient and just produce.
Yes, he had an advantage by being introduced to the league and team he would be playing for. Acclimating to the travel and having an NBA salary and all that stuff so that now he can focus more on his game certainly couldn't hurt. How much it helped is hard to say. JUST LIKE it's hard to say how much of an advantage a guy who gets drafted after 4 years of college has over a guy with just one year. A few extra years of maturity as a person almost always helps a guys work ethic, for example. But both are still rookies and you didn't hear Derrick Rose or Dwight Howard out there complaining that Courtney Lee and Tony Allen were three and four years older than them during their respective rookie campaigns. Bottom line is, Blake Griffin is good, he deserves to win it this year, and he would have won it last year too.
Did David Robinson benefit from being in the Navy? Did Tim Duncan benefit from 4 years of college and being on the Spurs? Did Brandon Jennings benefit from playing oversees? Did Toni Kukoc? Or Yao Ming? There are lots of factor that can influence the production of a player. Comparing players who are playing their first season of NBA basketball currently Blake Griffin is the most productive and thus the ROY. Fierguard Bleed Red Rocket's Red
i dont care if ur around or watching on the bench, rehabing, u can pick whichever u want. if ur not on the court playing ball, ur not gaining anything. i can stay and watch Ronaldinho on youtube for yrs but it doesnt mean i can do whatever he does by just watching.
None of those guys you mentioned had the luxury of learning the team's offence and defence. In fact, unlike other rookies, Blake Griffin could spend all his time rehabbing and learning from the game. And Blake Griffin wasn't watching and observing for the entire year, he had practices with the team. I don't why this is much of an argument to be honest. A lot of people don't think Griffin deserves to be ROY, a lot of others do. Both sides have legitimate arguments, but both sides agree that he is one heck of a player.
I think it's either Kenny smith or david Thorpe on one of the NBA today podcast brought this up --- as a player, you gain a lot by just sitting on the bench watch them go to work. Blake griffin deserves the Roy award thus far, but his whole year on the bench with NBA level players definitely helped.
if pp keeps hitting his jumpers and the rockets make a playoff run post-trade-deadline, he will get ROY consideration, but still lose to griffin.
Griffin is a future star. In fact, I wish Morey would cast his lot with Grffin when he becomes a FA rather than spending it on a guy like Melo.
