It's this season's easiest award to hand out. It's like The Godfather winning Best Picture in 1972. There's really no other option and it was so good you almost want to give it two trophies.
Blake Griffin is the Rookie of the Year. He was so good, he may have staked out Rookie of the Decade.
There isn't any kind of debate here. No discussion to be had. It's the anti-MVP debate. Whatever metric you use -- advanced stats, regular stats, your eye ball, YouTube hits -- Griffin is your winner.
(Really, the biggest debate there was with Griffin was about a potential nickname. Blake Superior, The Blake Show, Quake Griffin, Captain Planet as Deron Williams dubbed him -- nothing seemed to totally fit but darn it, we were all trying.)
Let me go over his resume briefly in case you somehow were in a bomb shelter the past six months: 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game on 50 percent shooting, a Clipper franchise record for double-doubles in a season (60) and 500 jaw-dropping plays. He was the first rookie All-Star since Tim Duncan, won the dunk contest and participated in all three nights of All-Star Weekend. And just remind yourself again quickly here, he's 21 years old and just finished his rookie season.
Most likely, Griffin will become the third unanimous Rookie of the Year selection to go with Ralph Sampson (1983) and David Robinson (1989) since the NBA/ABA merger. You really could make a pretty strong case that Griffin had one of the best rookie seasons in history.
Griffin is such a sure thing that if you're just dying to discuss this year's rookies, you've got to talk about the runner-up. It's most likely John Wall, but players like Landry Fields, DeMarcus Cousins and Greg Monroe have had really strong seasons. Coming in to the season, most were unsure of Griffin and had Wall, Cousins, Monroe, Evan Turner and Derrick Favors as their favorites. But this race was actually pretty much over by the end of November where Griffin averaged a double-double and blew us away with a flurry of ultimate highlight dunks.
I think one of the most interesting things about Griffin's rookie year though is how he almost overshadowed himself. He became more of a novelty, more of a highlight machine than a basketball player. And what was overlooked is that Griffin is a terrific basketball player. He plays like an animal that's caged for 22 hours a day but is let out for two hours every few days on a hardwood floor. That may be his kryptonite too though -- he might actually play too hard. Every Clipper fan -- and NBA fan for that matter -- lives in fear every time he rises high off the floor only to come crashing down like a pile of bricks dropped from a ladder. But it's also a reason Griffin is so intoxicating. He plays each game like it's the only chance he gets to do it for weeks.
He's a 6-10 monster of a man, built of a adamantium that can run like a wide receiver, leap like a high-jumper and is strong like a bull. He's graceful in his movements, skilled with the ball, can handle in traffic, pass masterfully to cutting guards, post guys bigger than him and score in any situation. He even stepped out to 3-point range a bit (30.4 percent). If that's what's next for him, well, God help us all.
My favorite game of the season was also his best, but one that didn't have a high-flying dunk in it. Against Indiana in December, he notched 47 points on 19-24 shooting, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out three assists. He only dunked once so instead of wowing everyone above the rim, Griffin showcased his complete game. He posted, he nailed jumpers, he spun, he ran the floor, he finished in traffic -- it was just an awesome performance. Don't get me wrong, he had about 50 awesome games this season, but that was his best one and it was because he actually had the chance to show how good he really is.
It's almost a shame Griffin became such a sensation because of that. Between jumping over the car, the YouTube clips and all the buzz he manifested in every arena he walked into, Griffin's actual game was almost an afterthought.
Don't get me wrong, the dunks were awesome. I mean, watch this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this or this or this or this or this.
But I get the feeling we sort of got all of it out of our systems this season. By the end of the year, every dunk Griffin had wasn't exploding on Twitter and uploaded to YouTube 15 seconds after it happened. People sort of chilled on him, which is a good thing in the long run. Now people can begin to appreciate how fantastic a basketball player he is, instead of seeing him only as a dunking machine.
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