Who’d You Rather Have: Kevin Love or Blake Griffin? | Weekly Round-Up
Is Blake Griffin better than Kevin Love? How is DeMar DeRozan playing so well? And much more!
Hey all,
Welcome to the Weekly Round-Up on the Old Man Game Newsletter, where I share with you the best and most crucial NBA stories from the week, plus some other cool stuff.
This week, I want to start off by asking: Would you rather have Blake Griffin or Kevin Love?
A few years ago, maybe 9 or 10, these two were the best young power forwards in the NBA. They were supposed to be the future of the big men.
I remember reading articles and watching videos of analysts debating who the better player was.
The ones for Griffin said he was more skilled than Love. The ones for Love said he was more efficient than Griffin.
If my memory is serving me right, I picked Griffin over Love because Griffin, at the time, did show more skill and upside than Love.
Love was a fantastic rebounder, passer, and shooter for a power forward in that generation.
But Griffin was physically more dominant, had better footwork, and was violently dunking every chance he got. He just seemed like he had more to build off of.
However, it’s now 10 or so years later. The landscape of power forwards and centers in the NBA has evolved.
So, rewinding back, which of the two would you pick to build your team around if they were young players today?
You can use this resource (it’s just a YouTube highlights video of one of their games) to help you make a decision.
Blog Post of the Week
What Is The Triple-Threat Position?
In this week’s featured blog post, I talk about what the triple-threat position is, why it’s important, and what you can do to work on it and to improve it.
The Wire
DeMar DeRozan’s Upturn Is Fueled By Haters And I Love It
The Chicago Bull’s DeMar DeRozan has been on a tear lately. He’s averaging a bunch of points and is even in MVP conversations. The Bulls are stellar as well.
In this article, I dig into his history and discuss what motivates him to keep playing at high level.
Anthony Davis Says All Teams Lose, But You Have To Lose While ‘Doing It The Right Way”
Via ESPN:
"What we can't do is, one, point the finger," Davis said. "You know, 'It was you.' 'It was you.' 'It was you.' 'This play was you.' Like, we got to stay together. And we'll stay together. But also, we got to learn from the film. And so the film tomorrow is going to be big for us to have another heart to heart about these type of games. We hate feeling this way. Obviously, if we lose -- we're going to lose games, everybody loses games. But doing it the right way. Having a team actually beat us. Not beating ourselves.
"And those are the frustrating ones, when we beat ourselves."
Klay Thompson Is A Month And Half Away From Return
Via Jordan Schultz
“Source: Klay Thompson is making ‘steady progress’ and is 5-6 weeks away from his long anticipated return. I’m told Klay is in ‘great shape’ and close to playing 5s, which is paramount to him being cleared.”
DeMar DeRozan Attributes Success In Chicago To Bulls Allowing Him To Be Him
Via ESPN:
"I never looked at age as being an issue,” [DeMar DeRozan] said. “I never looked at it. People put the age limit on everything, and I never did. The way I worked, the way I take care of my body, the way I prepare, I knew what I was capable of doing. I just took different roads the last couple years of playing basketball, trying to do the right thing, figuring it out.
“This time, just knowing my ability was always there, I never lost confidence. I never thought I couldn't be who I was before. Chicago allowed me to completely be myself."
Steve Nash Admits Nets Are Not Yet An Elite Team, Needs Kyrie Irving And Time
Via Sportsnet:
"I think offensively we have all these different lineups, different backgrounds, styles of play, 10 new players on our team. It takes time," [Steve] Nash said.
"We started the year with a continuity plan from last year that got thrown out the window obviously when (Irving) didn't come back, so we're trying to build and figure it out."
Old Man Game ‘Da Week
Just For Fun
Final Thoughts
Well, that was, once again, a jam-packed week.
Anyway, hope you all have a great rest of your week and I’ll see you all again next week!
Nam
P.S. Need a gift for a basketball player? Click here to check out this gift guide. It lists items, such as basketballs, apparel, sneakers, and other gear, that basketball players (and fans) will want and love.