Kevin Love is better because he is more complete, and rebounds better. If Dirk is so much better offensively than Blake then why does he only score 1 more point per at a much lower fg%?
That wasn't sarcasm. There was no need to even bring them up in that situation. Dwight plays Center Dirk plays PF
If I have to pick who is better today? Dirk. He is just a game changer. He shoots 3's, has those unstoppable mid rangers, those fade-aways, and inside scoring. Blake can dunk and rebound better. He can't take over a game like Dirk. If I have to chose one to build a team around it's Blake. Blake is younger and nearing his prime, while Dirk is getting old.
It was because his reasoning for Dirk being better was that Blake can't shoot, so I responded by naming another great player that can't shoot. The position isn't really relevant.
It's more then just a matter of end of game points, it's how he can score down the stretch, he can take over a game on his own, he can create his own shot, etc. And since he has to create his own shots, he has to take much tougher shots then just high percentage dunks.
If Blake is any good as a defender and rim protector as Dwight, then yes i would pick Blake. And right now i would even take Scola over Blake bc of again Blake's limited offensive skills and poor defense, Scola's defense is just as bad but at least i can go to the ice cream man for a couple scoops.
Blake Griffin is trash. All he can do is catch lobs and do spectacular dunks. He is a horrible rebounder and you can't have him in the game if it's close because of his horrid free throw shooting. He will be the Vince Carter of PF's when his athleticism is gone. I would take a 40 year old Dirk over him. PS, Kevin Love is 10X better than him and is the best PF in the league as of now.
Many of you are overreacting to Dirk's age here. On the Pacers board, we even had the discussion last summer on which "older" guy is likely to look much worse in 2011-2012. And Dirk was the obvious choice. Dirk had an extremely long season, he carried his team through injuries / fever vs. a very athletic team. He then went to the Euros to try and carry Germany, and played hard long minutes. And then he took his vacation because he was exhausted. Right when American guys were starting to come back into the gym. So is it really so surprising that he started the season out of shape / slow / with small injuries? He was good by the end of the season. His rebounding stats in the final 45 or so games were the best in his last 3 years. You are overreacting. Dirk is a more versatile offensive player. MUCH better defender both in the post and in terms of overall effort. Blake is just horrible defensively. AND he doesn't shrink against playoff competition. Something that Blake still needs to show. His Grizzlies series weren't so awesome. We are talking about 3 rebounds per 36 difference here, if we look at Dirk's post-injury stats. Does that compensate for all the other flaws? Not close, IMHO.
Dirk and it's not even close. Great FT shooter to close out games and he actually has a good offensive skill set.
Unless Blake adds to his game a reliable jumper and at least decent defense Dirk will at the end of both of their careers remain the superior player when all is said and done. We'll see in a decade, until then Blake has only played in the league 2 years.
As of right now if you Switched Blake and Dirk you would see a dramatic change on both teams. Dallas would be a lottery team and LAC would be number 3 in the West behind OKC and the Lakers. And Dirk can take over a series so it wouldn't be a longshot to see LAC in the finals. Blake is still extremely young though, Dirk was terrible his first season and Dallas wasn't even 500 his second year. This will be a better question when Blake has about 6 years under his belt.
Dirk still does more to help his team win. Don't know why everyone is acting like Griffin all of a sudden has this amazingly well-rounded game...and that he frequently doesn't get entirely neutralized at times. By next year, maybe the tables will have turned. But probably not because being determined to be the best monster masher of all-time seems to be the only thing Griffin cares about. Which is insane because he almost seemed more well-rounded in college....
