If you watch SportsCenter every night you would be thoroughly convinced Blake "The Barbarian" Griffin is the best power forward in the NBA. His posterizing dunks have made him a crowd favorite and a legend in the making. Blake is without question one of the top 5 must see players in the league. Although I've been singing his praises since before the 2009 NBA draft I'm a basketball purist at heart. Sure the thunderous jams are spectacular to watch, but at the end of the day it's only worth two points. There are other facets of the game Blake needs to master.
Enter Kevin Love. The Minnesota Timberwolves franchise player just won the all star 3 point contest, grabs 14 rebounds a game (2nd in the NBA), and trails only Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and Lebron James in scoring. If you put the stats of Blake Griffin and Kevin Love side by side and never watched an ESPN highlight you'd definitely think Kevin Love was the better player. Blake "The Barbarian" Griffin gives you the style, but Love gives you a little more substance.
The comparison between these two superstars is reminiscent of Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett back in the day. The Big Fundamental was never as popular as The Big Ticket and some fans even argued Garnett was the better player. 4 championships later Timmy put an end to all that nonsense, but Garnett still got the praise. Basketball is still about entertainment and exciting slam dunks are part of that equation.
I'm not closing the book on Blake "The Barbarian" Griffin just yet. His upside is tremendous and once he learns how to harness all that athletic ability the sky's the limit. You can't go wrong with either guy, but if you had to say who was the better player today the correct answer would be Kevin Love. Until Blake gets a few more weapons in his arsenal the discussion on the back burner. Your thoughts?
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