Along with exclusive soirees, memorable pre-game introductions, and no defense, each year the all-star weekend coincides with a serious snub (or two). It happens in every sport, but in the NBA, where only 12 players on each side can make it, a misplaced coaches vote is all the more glaring. Sometimes it seems like an individual player is having an anomaly of a statistical season yet he’s left off the squad due to poor team performance. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good of a first half you had, as the game’s participants usually shift in traditional cycles, like some sort of premier fraternity—if your name wasn’t Kevin or Tim right around the turn of the century and you were a forward playing in the West, chances are you had an annual three day vacation.
This year, in the Western Conference, a terrible snub is brewing at the forward position. Five forwards should make the team. Four are as good as in: Carmelo Anthony (unless he’s dealt to the East), Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, and Pau Gasol. The fifth spot will come down to three double double machines and a supremely athletic swingman: Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, Blake Griffin, and Kevin Love. Randolph and Gay are two shiny spots on a stuck-in-mud Memphis franchise, but the two more intriguing players are Griffin and Love.
They’re both young (a combined age of 43 with just three seasons between the two), extremely gifted, clear cut franchise players, but their styles are contrasting to the point of philosophical difference. And so the question is presented: If you were a general manager and had to pick either Blake Griffin or Kevin Love to be on your roster for the foreseeable future, who would it be? Who is the easier player to construct around, the rarer building block, the key to victory?
What these two players symbolize, on a larger scale, is a clash between the unanswerable, see-saw, which-would-you-rather basketball question: Do you prefer fundamentals or athleticism? Do you enjoy having your jaw hit the floor after witnessing a thunderous throw down from the hand of one behemoth on the head of another, or are you simply content with doling out polite golf claps in response to a solid box out? Thank Dr. Naismith, for a left handed lay-up and a 360 degree, between the legs slam are both of the same value.
Here, we as basketball fans are lucky enough to have two living breathing vessels to serve each side of the debate. In the corner of brute athletic ability: Blake Griffin. For undeniable rudimentary dominance: Kevin Love.
First up is Blake Griffin. (21.9 points, 12.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists per game.) The name alone rips through T-shirts like a bulging muscle. When his team has possession, he virtually owns the paint, which is something that hasn’t been said about a non-center rookie since Charles Barkley. Not even at his first all-star break, the current that is Blake Griffin is already sloshing waves onto the league’s shore and more than a few opponents aren’t happy about it. There have been several instances, most recently with Lamar Odom and Mario Chalmers, where opposing players simply have no answer for his brute style. And how can you blame them? He plays the game with the recklessness of a sky diving adonis and through 39 games already wears the crown of “Most Exciting Player” on his skull. The hype surrounding his participation in the Dunk Contest is so unprecedented, it currently stands as front runner for most-talked-about-event of the weekend—something that hasn’t been said since Vince Carter. If you were to pick the top 10 plays of the 2011 season, at least five of them would involve Blake Griffin.
The former Sooner averages 4.3 made baskets at the rim per game, which is more than Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, and the rest of the NBA, and is at the front of the line on his own team when it comes to shot attempts (despite shooting a poor 33 percent when he’s 10-23 feet from the basket). But he’s working on that, and once he crafts his jumper into something more accurate than a wearisome 15 foot bank shot, things will officially get horrific. He’s recorded something like 768 consecutive double doubles, is a dominant, respected, possibly feared presence, and happens to be 21-years-old. Check and mate.
Now, moving onto Kevin Love. (21.2 points, 15.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists per game.) Meet the 22-year-old greatest rebounder of his generation. At a generous listing of 6’10”, Love leads the NBA in offensive and defensive rebounds, both overall and per game. Much like Griffin, he plays the game with a ferocious, almost animalistic method, but what he excels in won’t be a consistent find on Sportscenter’s top 10; the half court chest pass to spark a fast break or the one handed offensive rebound. Where he puts his body when a shot goes up is more often than not the right spot, which is an integral ability all great rebounders must possess.
Basically, Kevin Love is the new Mr. Fundamental. There’s no flash to his game, but he plods through night after night with a double double to his credit and a sheepish looking opposing front line wondering what storm just flew through the gym. The word “dominance” is frequently used when talking about the league’s best players—Dwight Howard’s protection of his rim, Rajon Rondo’s wizardry on a fast break, Kevin Durant’s ability to make contested jump shots look easier than depositing quarters in a meter—but nobody is more dominant at their craft than Love when a basketball clunks off a rim. With his rear end on an opposing big man and his mind adjusting to the shooter’s tendencies (through study, Love knows the different ball flights a certain player has on his shot), Kevin grabs balls like they’re falling to him in a phone booth. He also, as a power forward, shoots 44 percent from behind the arc, attempting three three-pointers per game. Add it all up and you’ve got the definition of “one of a kind”.
To debate who is the better player is extremely difficult. So is debating who has the brighter future (both are limitless). Both players currently compete for losing teams that are built for the future, evening the score in the all-star debate, but for my money I’d select Love for this year’s all-star game and Griffin if I were playing general manager. At the end of the day, Love will likely never be a crunch time scorer. In order for his teams to find success, he’ll have to be a second, or even third, scoring option. Blake Griffin is that go-to player today. Imagining how insanely commanding he’ll be in two or three years makes my head hurt.
