Blake Griffin is ready to take his game beyond the three-point line.
Shooting threes isn’t an especially new concept for the Los Angeles Clippers superstar. In recent years, it has become a slightly bigger part of his game. He has jacked up 87 triples over the last three seasons after tossing up 68 through his first three. That increase has come in roughly 50 fewer appearances.
Still, we’re talking about marginal upticks. Griffin has never averaged more than 0.6 three-point attempts per game, even as he’s developed his touch on long twos. The three-pointer has never been a consistent staple in his game.
But that’s all about to change, per Dan Woike of the Orange County Register:
As people around the Clippers have hoped over the past three seasons, Griffin seems ready to take his game beyond the 3-point line. Now, it’s on him to take the shots when they present themselves.
“I want to be someone who shoots from there confidently, for sure,” Griffin said after Thursday’s practice at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center. “A lot of us power forwards, our strength is inside or our versatility. You look at the best power forwards, Anthony Davis, LaMarcus (Aldridge), Draymond (Green) … they can all shoot but they can all put the ball on the floor and they can all score inside. I don’t necessarily think falling in love with the 3-point shot is a good idea, but shooting it confidently from there is great.”
Imagine a version of Griffin that’s a consistently lethal option from beyond the arc. It’s simultaneously terrifying and not all that hard to picture.
Griffin has shot at least 37 percent between 16 feet and the three-point line in each of the last three seasons, according to Basketball-Reference. And the percentage of his shot attempts that come from this same range has been on the rise since he was a rookie, culminating with last season, when nearly 46 percent of all his looks were between 16 feet and the three-point arc.
Efficient three-point shooting in volume is about the only thing missing from Griffin’s offensive game. And now, it seems, that’s about to change, which doesn’t bode well for the NBA’s 29 other teams.
