Found this quote in today's chronicle. This remark struck me because of something that crispee mentioned this summer. Good shot blockers go for the ball. Great shot blockers anticipate what the other guy's going to do and plan ahead accordingly. Seems like Griffin was trying to do this, even if he got burned. And if he's operating primarily off of anticipation, it's evidently working. I remember that crispee and someone else both thought that Griffin needed to work harder on anticipating at the beginning of the year. Is he doing so now? Does he look like a "great" shot blocker to you, instead of just a good one? I loved Eddie in college. Now I'm really beginning to love his NBA game. Maybe i'm just feeling optimistic on the heels of a hard fought win... But Francis, Griffin, Mobley, and Taylor pack a huge punch (note: Hopefully, Kelvin Cato will have to be included in such statements!). The Rockets primarily weakness is defense, as evidenced by their dead-last ranking in opponents fg%. Perhaps Griffin is already proving to be the erasor Houston needs in the paint to make up for Francis and Mobley's mistakes.
He's the best shot-blocker to come into the league since Mourning, and even a player like Mourning had to exhude more energy to block shots than Griffin has to. He is great, and could become one of the greatest ever in this department. What separates him from guys like Garnett, etc., is that he, like you said, anticipates and reacts to what a player does. Take for example the game against Boston. Antoine Walker does his little move where he jabs steps into the lane and steps back for the slight fadeaway. Griffin knew the move was coming, Walker then tried to pump fake him, but he didn't bite and still ended up blocking the shot. It doesn't hurt that he has some insane reach (84-86 inches), but his timing is unbelievable. He can jump so many times in such a short period of time because he relies on this reach more so than he does on his athleticism alone. That is a skill few players possess. He's very much like Bill Russell in that he 'only jumps as high as he needed to' to block the shot. What he needs to do this summer is put on 15-20 lbs of muscle. This will allow him to hold his post space and fend off the intial bump opposing players have been giving him, because that bump has been giving certain players, like a Martin, an advantage in that they get Griffin backpeddeling enough to where they can get a shot up quite easily. Offensively If he can get his dribbling game to a point where he feels comfortable taking it to the basket from the arc.........we'll be shaking our heads a lot next season.
