Why David Lee Should Be An All-Star Over Blake Griffin

One word. Overrated. No disrespect to Blake Griffin or Clippers’ “fans”, but I feel like Griffin, although a huge force for the Clippers, isn’t all-star worthy. Unfortunately, fans and the NBA Community seem to like players who generate only highlights. While Griffin can certainly produce amazing highlights including breath-taking dunks, he struggles to create his own offense. On a night where he isn’t doing well offensively, he has no other ways of helping his team.

The commentator is only disagreeing because he has to. Griffin is good, but his numbers don’t earn him an all-star spot. With fan love, however, he will likely start in the game.

I’m not chastising Griffin, but I feel as if David Lee deserves an All-Star spot over Griffin. Lee has led the Warriors to a 22-10 start—the best in 30 years for the Warriors. Griffin, on the other hand, although a huge factor, is at a loss to Chris Paul, who is a guaranteed All-Star. Paul single-handedly led the Hornets to the playoffs and has done so in Los Angeles with the Clippers. This time, however, he has the help of Griffin. Only one of them, however, deserves to be an All-Star and it’s not Griffin.

Before the arrival of Chris Paul, Griffin failed to lead the Clippers to the playoffs: they had a 30-52 record. Some may argue that he was just a rookie, but if Chris Paul were to get injured, the “hot” Clippers would drop in the standings.

For David Lee, critics could argue that budding point guards and shooting guards in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, give him all the help he needs. While that may be true, Lee’s individual stats speak for themselves. The only two games where he hasn’t scored double-digits were in the beginning of the season, and even so, he instead contributed with rebounds and assists.

This season Lee has recorded 20 double-doubles and one triple double. Griffin, on the other hand, has only had 13 double-doubles. Lee is also shooting 53 percent from the field, and averages the most assists as power forward amongst all NBA power forwards. He’s smart, he plays efficiently, and he cares about scoring rather than creating a little razzle-dazzle like Griffin. To boot, he’s the only player in the league averaging 20-plus points and ten-plus rebounds.

Don’t believe me? Both at the PF spot, let’s take a look at the statistics (leader in bold)

PPG: Lee, 20.2    Griffin, 17.4

RPG: Lee, 11.1      Griffin, 8.7

FG %: Lee, 53%    Griffin, 52%

Double-Doubles: Lee, 20      Griffin, 13

Triple Doubles: Lee, 1             Griffin, 0

APG: Lee, 3.7        Griffin, 3.0

Flops: Lee, 0         Griffin: You can decide this one.