Unless, I am missing something, I don't see why not. You traded one injured prone player for another injured prone player. The only difference is that Blake would be younger with a more likey chance of recovering and playing longer than Yao who is career could already be over. Plus camby like the OP said? I agree the bigger question would be is if the trade would have even gone through, and I think that answer is clearly no.
Yeah, probably not...but at the time of the poll Yao simply had a small stress fracture that needed rest....... And Griffin was just coming out of college..... DD
I'd much rather have a 21 year old future superstar who'll miss a season to injury than an injured 30 year old never was a superstar who's played 5 games in 2 years and is ready for his next surgery.
Yes....I would have...especially after his first surgery.....but I have always believed that BGriffin would be an all timer in the league. DD
with yao, he just wouldn't go to that extra step even if he stayed healthy his entire career. blake griffin is putting up prime yao #s in his rookie year, and it's so obvious he has so much to improve b4 he reaches his ceiling. blake is a once in a decade player, ala a lebron or a kobe or a duncan.
The last player to average 20-12-3 in his rookie year? Larry Bird. I would take Griffin over LeBron. DD
Page 5 in '09. I'm going to have to hear yours and a couple others opinion on the upcoming draft. Great call.
Current Yao, yes in a heart beat. Only if we know that we can resign him at a minimum. Yao at his prime, NO FREAKIN WAY!
No I would not trade Yao for Griffin. Griffin's contract is not good for us. It expires too late. we need to clear the books for 2012
whoa whoa... the clips are STACKED with talent if you're talking about pure talent. lebron helped the cavs improved greatly record-wise, while the clips are fairly disappointing. griffin has the stats, but he is just starting to turn those into "impact" stats. if griffin had the same impact as lebron in his rookie year, the clips are a playoff team, if not better.
I would have been on the fence at the time this thread was made for the same reasons you were. I thought Blake Griffin would be good (not an all-timer but definitely a multiple all-star), but he's really surprised me and the rest of the league. For all the people saying "Well of course you would have traded Yao for him!", hindsight's a b****. There was no way that trade was going to happen, not while there was even the sliver of hope that Yao would play (China $ at work). One thing I'd like to point out is that just about every year there's a rookie who takes the league by storm. Just last year it was Tyreke Evans averaging 20/5/5, the first rook to do it since LeBron James. I'm not suggesting that BG will have a similar sophomore wall (and he seems to be a much more hard-working player than Reke), but there will always be rookies that flash hard.
I just think Griffin's attitude and demeanor on the court is more suited to being a leader for a team. DD
Imagine you trade Yao for Griffin, then Griffin sits out the 2009 season with his injury, McGrady misses half the 2009 season with his injury, and you end up with a lottery pick. Let's say that lottery pick falls into the top five, very possible. That gets you a shot at Demarcus Cousins. A Griffin/Cousins front line would be pretty exciting.
tyreke is one of 4 players all time to avg 20, 5, 5 and he did it in the west. u mean u would draft him over lebron? griffin's future looks to be very promising. but he needs to vastly improve his defense, and learn how to force teams to play at his pace. eventually, teams will learn to curtail his athletic plays and he will have to score in a variety of ways like he did tonight. it's up to blake to improve his overall game to where if teams force him to shoot, he can still get his 20 points.
OK now you going too far DD. Griffin is great but the way he dunks the ball I think hes going to have a lot of injuries in his career. Everything time I see him dunk I think to myself here comes the injury as soon as he lands. I never say this about a player but he dunks too damn hard, he needs so calm it down a little.
