Steve Blake will be a good back up to D-Fish? WHAT!? START THIS GUY!

Ever since I saw Steve Blake play for the Clippers live, I've been so high on him. I argued that he ran a better offense than Baron Davis. Twice. I wanted the Clippers to trade Baron Davis for a good post player and hand over the reigns to Steve Blake. He's a great personality. Works hard even for the lottery bound Clippers, even as a back up PG. Yes it was a contract year, but Steve Blake has always been known as a good character guy and good professional.
Gut reactions to the signing:

He's a pass first guy and that will work well in the Laker offense:

• Fact. He is a pass first, almost to a fault. He barely looks at the basket and is always looking around to find open men. But he's so much more than that. He's a GOOD passer. If it wasn't for Kobe and Shannon Brown's hectic ability to grab errant lobs, a lot of those high low passes from Pau at the free throw line and Luke Walton from the 3 point line would have sailed out of bounds. Steve Blake throws a GREAT lob pass, in transition and in half court sets. Granted Shannon will probably leave for more money, Andrew Bynum is a good target to pass to on the lob.
  
• Steve Blake is a great pick and roll passer. And with his ability to knock down a jump shot, if teams cheat and go under the screen set most likely from Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum, he'll make you pay for it. Granted most all pick and roll situations come from Kobe Bryant, this will probably rarely happen. But if Blake plays with the 2nd string players, depending on who else they sign, it adds more to the Laker offense arsenal.
  
• To sum it up, he makes the right pass, but in addition, that right pass is a GOOD pass in the receiver's comfort zone, making him able to finish the play correctly.

He's a good shooter.

• Fact. Albeit he's more of a spot up shooter. He can create his own shot but mainly off of screens but he's a good catch and shoot shooter, from 3 point line and midrange.
  

He's a good defender.

• Depends who you ask. He's a pesky defender but if an oversized point guard posts him up, he'll need help. He's got a small frame at 6'3 172 lbs (compared to Fisher 6'1 210 lbs). But he does have the ability to keep his man in front of him.
• However, he is a smart defender. He knows how to rotate on defense and isn't afraid (on the Clippers at least) to tell people quickly where they need to be on defense while the ball is in play. If he plays with Lamar, I have a feeling the other 3 guys on the floor at the time will always know where they're supposed to be as Lamar takes a lot of pride in team defense as well.
  

He's got a high basketball IQ.

• Fact. Refer to what I said about his passing.
  
• But also, he knows basketball situations. He knows how to use his fouls, knows how to foul to stop a fast break. Knows where his teammates are going to be and knows how to play basketball the right way.
  
• The way I see it, he's a poor man's Chauncey Billups playing for Larry Brown on the Pistons. Except he's playing for the rich Lakers and still took a pay cut due to their payroll to the Laker core.

Final argument. Look, Fisher did great this playoffs. He was the MVP of game 3 in the Finals. But you cannot, YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT, ignore the 82 game season. Fisher was a liability on defense and shot poorly compared to his last couple of years (38% FG, 34% 3pt). The argument for Fisher is that he's clutch. Ok, yeah, he's clutch. But do you need a clutch player who hits big shots for 82 games of the season when you have so many other weapons and are probably going to/should be winning games with a comfortable lead with the players the Lakers have? No.

However, during the playoffs, you will need clutch performers and Fisher is exactly that, which is why the Lakers should still keep him. He needs to be relegated to the bench so that he can save his legs for the playoffs. He needs to do what is best for the team as Lamar did in 2008 and was benched for yes, Vladamir Radmanovic. Later that season, Lamar was still benched in favor of yes, Luke Walton. Luke Walton later told Jackson he should be starting Trevor Ariza. Lamar did what his team asked him to do and it ended up in a championship. Fisher needs to do what Ron Artest did for the Lakers this season, took a pay cut to chase a ring and took a lesser role as not the number 1 option on offense but still performed. He did what his team asked him to do and it ended up in a championship.

As a Laker fan, and a Steve Blake fan, I'm so happy right now. I just feel that if they do sign Fisher and he starts, somewhere in the middle of the season, there will be talks of who should be starting at point guard. Why can't we just sidestep all of that and start Steve Blake at the end and have Fisher be the hero during the playoffs?

Regardless of what happens, here's to you, Steve Blake. I hope you get a championship ring and thank you taking less money.

Revenge Games - Marcus Camby vs Clippers, Steve Blake vs Blazers

(Photo from Yahoo)
First off, I love revenge games. There are a couple different kinds of revenge games - There's the Championship Finals Rematch the following season (Lakers vs Boston- Christmas Day 2008), A team that knocked off another team out of the playoffs (Washington vs Cleveland 06-07 first round of the playoffs, 07-08 first round of the playoffs after the 05-06 first round of the playoffs - this of course lost its steam when it was concluded that the Cavs had the Wizards' number, and forever would). But my personal favorite is the "Take a look at what you traded away" revenge game, one game of which I saw personally at tonight's Clipper game when Marcus Camby took on his old team, the Clippers and Steve Blake went up against his old team, the Blazers.

As far as revenge games go however, this wasn't as noteworthy as others, given the fact that (1) the Clippers are playing for nothing, (2) the Blazers are obviously the superior team, (3) Steve Blake and Marcus Camby don't dominate the ball/ball hog to really exact revenge on their former teams, and (4) Blake can Camby aren't killer instinct players. But let's go through a brief rundown of the game:

Marcus Camby: Pre game introductions, when Marcus Camby is announced, the crowd gave him a well deserved applause and cheer. Before tipoff, Camby exchanged high fives with the starting lineup of players he'd played with on the Clippers (Butler, Davis, Kaman, Gordon). During the opening minutes, he fouls Kaman who falls to the floor and Camby lends a hand to help him up. Later on during the game, coming out of a timeout, he shares a laugh with DeAndre Jordan. And that's pretty much it! He got 2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 2 blocks in 26 minutes, which is pretty much, give or take, his Portland averages.

(Photo from Yahoo)
Steve Blake: I have a totally rational fascination and admiration of Blake's play with the Clippers, and he was looking for his shot a little more than usual tonight while bodying up Andre Miller's fat ass on defense when he tried to post up (I counted 3 post ups by Miller, one resulted in a Blake foul, one in a 3 second violation on Miller, and one missed jump shot by Miller. Steve Blake is going to make whatever team he signs with very happy this summer). Blake ended with 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 2 three pointers, 1 rebound, 6 assists, a steal and a block in 28 minutes. His Clipper season averages are: 6 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, less than a steal, less than a block in 24 minutes.

Fun Fact - Andre Miller, Steve Blake and Marcus Camby have all played for the Clippers, Blazers and Nuggets!

And the Clippers made a little run at the end to make things interesting but the Blazers pulled away. It's been a long season for Clipper fans. But it was nice to see Baron Davis hustle back on defense not once but TWICE: one time he forced a missed layup, and later on in the game, he drew a charge on Andre Miller! I was stunned!

Here's a bonus video of more reason why I love Steve Blake:



Homie don't play dat!

After Monday's game against the Bobcats, Steve Blake still runs a better offense than Davis

(Photo from Yahoo)
First off, I'm not going to write about Steve Blake and Baron Davis after every single Clipper game. This is just a follow up to yesterday's post where I argued that Steve Blake runs a better offense than Baron Davis (note: running a better offense DOES NOT EQUAL better player).

I just came back from the Clipper game where they beat the Charlotte Bobcats for their 2nd win in a row. And to my surprise, Baron Davis suited up! Equipped with my little notebook and a pen, I took notes throughout the game on pretty much every possession where Baron Davis and/or Steve Blake touched the ball. My conclusion after the game stands firm: Steve Blake runs a better offense than Baron Davis.

Baron Davis started the game. He ended with 10 points, 10 assists, shot 3-8 from the field in 36 minutes. Per quarter:

First quarter: 5 assists, 2 points, 10 minutes
Second quarter: 0 assists, 2 points, 6 minutes
Third quarter: 3 assists, 2 points, 12 minutes
Fourth quarter: 2 assists, 4 points, 8 and a half minutes

Steve Blake subbed for him. He ended with 3 points, 7 assists, shot 1-2 from the field in 16 minutes. Per quarter:

First quarter: 1 assist, 0 points, 2 minutes
Second quarter: 3 assists, 0 points, 6 minutes
Third quarter: 0 minutes
Fourth quarter: 3 assists, 3 points, 7 and a half minutes

That's for the stat heads. 10 assists in 36 minutes and 7 assists in 16 minutes. But of course that doesn't tell the whole story. Let me bring you into my world of notes.

Steve Blake is a pure PG: Last post, I claimed that Steve Blake never tried to go one on five and take a bad shot and implied that Baron did. I have examples. At the 3:23 mark in the first quarter, Baron goes one on one with Stephen Jackson and gets a bucket about a step in from the free throw line. Hey, if you can take your man and get a shot that close, I say go for it. I'm not faulting Baron here. But at the 2:32 mark, he tried it again, only this time Stephen Jackson blocked him and the Bobcats get the ball.

At the 3:50 mark in the 2nd quarter, he got an open layup, good possession. But at the 2:26 mark, on a fast break, Davis pulls up from a step inside the free throw line extended- right side (I hope I'm describing this well enough) with no other Clipper under the basket for a rebound and being defended with 3 other Bobcats under the basket in case he drove- Bad possession.

At the 11:42 mark of the third, Baron goes on one one with Stephen Jackson and takes a fadeaway jumper from the right baseline. It goes in, it's an OK possession. Again, if you can take your man, go for it. But a fadeaway from the baseline? Eh...

At the 7:14 mark in the third, Baron steals the ball and takes a wide open 3 pointer that misses. I don't mind this possession. Free look at a 3 pointer, sometimes if you're feeling it, you gotta take it.

BUT HEY. Let's look at the shots he didn't take - Baron drives and kicks, he passed up shots to find Rasual and Eric Gordon for threes. He lobbed to DeAndre. He found Gooden on cuts. Hey, this guy IS a good basketball player!

But I still stand by my points from last post:

Steve Blake is a good teammate: Baron sulks. He sulks when he's losing and is cheerful when he's winning. Again, I have specific examples. Clippers are up 24-17 in the first and Craig Smith gets an offensive rebound, gets it to Davis who passes to Gordon who airballs a 3 pointer. It goes out of bounds and Charlotte calls a time out. Davis laughs it off and teases EG about it and high fives him.

Fast Forward to 5:45 mark in the 4th: Clippers are down 83-79 in the midst of a collapse. Tyrus Thomas blocks Craig Smith's layup and Travis Outlaw commits a foul. LAC calls a time out and Baron does that eye roll with a whole head roll like he's saying "ugghh!!!" I've seen this before and I'll see it again and I have yet to see Blake do it.

Steve Blake doesn't take plays off: 8:59 mark in first quarter, Kaman and Rasual Butler are fumbling the ball out of their hands and almost out of bounds while Baron is on the opposite wing, standing. 9:43 mark in the fourth, Craig Smith is chasing down an offensive rebound going out of bounds, Blake is right there behind him, giving Smith a target to save the ball to. Steve Blake is always... just, ON. He always seems to know what to do.

The Bobcats must've done their scouting report because when Steve Blake was in, they full court pressed him to stop his fast pace push the ball up the court style. DJ Augustin tried to prevent the ball from being inbounded to him and stayed with him tight to slow him down so that when Blake finally crossed the half court line, the shot clock was at 19ish rather than 22ish like the Kings let him do. Last play of the first quarter, Augustin is playing tight D on Blake and but when the ball is finally inbounded, Blake finds an opening and turns the inbounds play into a fast break where he finds Outlaw for an open 3 but he's right next to Clipper coach Kim Hughes who tells him to get the last shot, so he pulls it back out. Steve Blake, always working hard. I love this guy.

He moves without the ball. I counted three times when Baron Davis made the first pass in the half court set, and then drift along the 3 point line. When Blake makes that first pass, he sets a down screen, which on one possession, (first play of the 2nd quarter, 11:43 mark), he set the screen for Travis Outlaw who popped up to the freethrow line for a WIDE OPEN jumper which he swished. When he moves without the basketball, OTHER players move without the basketball and it sets up open lanes to drive and cut. It's simple basketball and Steve Blake gets it.

What it all comes down to: Blake and Davis are two different players. Neither is better or worse. You need a player who can drive to the basket, draw fouls, or kick the ball out to open shooters or cutters. That's Baron Davis. But when that happens, there is no movement. Four Clippers stand and watch Baron go one on one and wait for their man to help on defense and then they get the pass from Baron.

Steve Blake gets involved with the offense. He can't break his defender down but he can use screens well and if the screener rolls, he'll get the ball right in his hands for an easy layup. Blake makes crisp passes that comes with a two handed pass while Baron's passes (sometimes no looks, sometimes catches the fellow Clipper off guard) aren't quite where the player wants it but they're open enough to recover and set up their shot.

I like the screen aways for open shots and pushing the ball on offense. I stand by by conclusion that Steve Blake runs a better offense, but a team needs a player like Baron who can break a defender down one on one. I just wish he wouldn't take some of his shots trying to do too much.

Again, this blog isn't going to turn into a Steve Blake love fest, but I had to explain my thoughts after another game and lucky for me, I got to compare Davis and Blake in the same game.

(Official time marks from nba.com)

Steve Blake runs a better offense than Baron Davis

(Photo from yahoo)
I went to last night's Clipper game, a win against the Kings, one of the few teams with a worse record than the Clippers. With Baron Davis out with a "sore back," which I'm hypothesizing is, "We, the Clippers, are in official tank mode for a higher draft pick," Steve Blake is starting at PG. Based on watching most Clipper games live this season, I'm going out on a limb and saying it: Steve Blake runs a better offense than Baron Davis. I'll explain right... NOW: (Disclaimer: yes, this is against the Kings, not a team like the Hawks who they lost to the previous game. Disclaimer2: Steve Blake is in a contract year).

Steve Blake is a pure PG. He's always looking to set up other shooters, lobbing for dunks, and pushing the ball on fast breaks. He never went one-on-five looking to be bailed out by a foul or take an off balanced jump shot. Case in point: he had 2 points in the first quarter, 0 points in the 2nd, 7 in the third, and 2 in the 4th. Those 7 in the third - 2 free throws, a 3 pointer when Eric Gordon was trapped on the baseline and passes along the baseline to the opposite corner for a wide open Blake 3, and a jump shot at the free throw line extended off a nice screen where I believe it was Casspi who went under the screen, leaving Blake with a wide open jumpshot.

Assists by quarter - 2 in the first, 6 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th - 12 total (stats per quarter source: nba.com). Again, he was lobbing to Deandre and Gordon, setting up Rasual Butler and Gordon for 3 pointers, and doing some nice pick-and-pops with Chris Kaman. And by the way, he would have had 15 assists if DeAndre Jordan hand't gotten a case of the Kwame and had the ball slip out of his hands on 3 wide open slam dunk opportunities, which leads me to my next point about Blake...

Steve Blake is a good teammate - When the Kings were making a run, cutting the Clippers' 11 point lead down to about 5, there was a possession when Blake was double teamed and made a solid bounce pass to DeAndre right underneath the basket where all he had to do was rise up and slam it on NOBODY because he was left open, the ball some how slipped out of his hands and went out of bounds, to which the crowd reacted with "AAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" As the Clippers ran down the court to play defense while the Kings were inbounding, and DeAndre sulking with his head down, embarrassed, Steve Blake went up to him, smacked his ass and said something along the lines of, "Don't worry about it, get it back on defense," "Get it next time," "Keep your head up," etc.

From DeAndre's Twitter: I couldn't catch a cold butt naked in Alaska last night. Will be better tomorrow, promise!!

I've seen Baron Davis set up DeAndre before where he's missed scoring opportunities, where it's lead to Baron rolling his eyes, rolling his whole head, joining the crowd in a not so loud - "arrrghh!" Blake is a good teammate and knows that getting mad at a young teammate just for the sake of being mad at him is not going to help. OF COURSE, there's a time when a player must yell at his teammate, but there's a time and a place, and it's not in the midst of a lead almost lost when the team just needs to settle down.

Steve Blake doesn't take plays off - Defensive or offensive. I've seen Baron, on an offensive possession, stay in the backcourt to complain to a ref or to sulk about a blown defensive sequence. Case in point:

Defensive possessions: on a turnover that led to a fast break wide open layup, Steve Blake was sprinting his ASS off to try and swat the ball. He didn't, but that didn't stop him from getting the ball inbounded and running the offense to try to answer with a Clipper bucket. In half court defensive sequences, he's rotating to open guys, directing Chris Kaman to rotate to an open spot, it's mind boggling how high his basketball IQ is. Another example, on a turnover caused by Blake when he passed from the top of the key to the right wing, it was stolen and the Kings were off to a fast break. All of the Clippers hadn't gotten down the court yet (Steve is always pushing), so when it was stolen, it wasn't a clear path. Knowing this, Blake wrapped up the Kings player which led to an inbounds play rather than a layup, or free throws for a clear path foul. So smart.

Offensive possessions - Steve Blake is always running and pushing. Even on made baskets. He doesn't seem to lose any energy, he's pushing the ball up like it's a fast break. In half court sets, he's NOT one of those PGs that stays at the top of the key after the first pass is made. He's cutting to the basket, setting screens (however useless they might be - he's really skinny), and always looking to make the right pass. It's fun, it's exciting, and it produces results.

Steve Blake knows his role: At the end of the game, the ball was in Eric Gordon's hands. Blake wasn't trying to win it all. He knew who his scorers were and who had the hot hand and boy did Eric Gordon have the hot hand last night. He was driving to the basket, kicking the ball out, hitting the 3 pointer; he saved the Clippers last night when they almost gave up their 11 point lead, but it was Blake who got them that lead in the first 3 and a half quarters.

So what does this all mean? The Clippers got a really good PG, who I believe runs a better offense and plays better defense than one of the Clippers' so called "saviors," Baron Davis. Back to my disclaimer, these are the KINGS we're talking about, but are the Clippers that much better? Well, yeah I guess they are. The Kings had Tyreke and solid role players in Casspi and newcomer Landry. But it was a team the Clippers were supposed to beat, and they beat them (like they should have beat the Nets after beating the Lakers and Celtics earlier in the year).

So if and/or when Baron comes back, he'll start again. He'll run the offense for the Clippers. They've invested way too much money in him to bench him for Steve Blake who's gonna be a FA this summer anyway. But I stand by my point that Steve Blake runs a better offense and plays better defense than Baron Davis, at least for one game. I'm going to the Charlotte game on Monday, so we'll see how he does against a better team.

But the REAL question of the night? Where can I buy Blake Griffin's sports jacket. Stylish.
(Photo from yahoo)

Make way for the other players! (Camby for Steve Blake trade)

Kaboommmm!!!

(Photo from YouGotDunkedOn)
Marcus Camby's expiring contract was traded for Steve Blake's expiring contract, Travis Outlaw's expiring contract and $3 million dollars cash. Not a lot to read between the baselines here: The Clippers aren't making the playoffs and cashed in on $3 million bucks due to the expiring contracts canceling each other out. The Blazers needed a big man for a playoff push with Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla out with injuries and Juwan Howard as their only big man besides Lamarcus Aldridge.

So Portland filled a hole in their lineup and the Clippers got $3 million and two back up players and all three players are free agents in the summer.

So what else can we read into besides the obvious? This trade opens the door for some other players. Let's start with the Clippers:

The Clippers had a lot of big men. Kaman and Camby, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan (and Brian Skinner). Moving Camby out now means that DeAndre Jordan can get some solid minutes. Although he's a raw talent mainly getting his points off of putbacks and lobs, he does play good help defense (like Camby did) and can rebound well. Tonight's game in Portland (a loss) DeAndre put up 14/11 on 7-8 shooting, 6 offensive boards, and 3 blocks in 27 minutes. Take it with a grain of salt: as mentioned, the Blazers have a 6'9'' PF playing as a Center and the Blazers crushed the Clippers. We'll have to wait and see how DeAndre responds to more playing time but the in game experience will only benefit him.

And for the Blazers:

Spin move!

(Photo from Zimbio)
With Brandon Roy out due to injuries, Steve Blake and Andre Miller were starting together. If you remember to the beginning of the season, Andre Miller was coming off the bench in favor of Blake. Miller was getting 25-28 minutes a game and the Blazers started 2-3. Nate McMillan wised up and put him in the starting lineup which resulted in the Blazers going on a six game win streak. He was getting 30-35 minutes a game (this after a season in Philadelphia where he was averaging 36 minutes a game). When Roy went out with injury, Miller and Blake were getting big minutes as being the only playmaking point guards. But with Roy coming back from injury, Steve Blake would again take minutes away from Miller from the bench. Now that he's gone, Miller will get those 36-40 minutes a game where he can really run the offense efficiently.

The Blazers did lose a good 3 pt shooter and a good play maker in Blake but the lack of size in the middle was too overbearing and they would be exposed quite easily in the playoffs (if they had made it). If they do make it, Camby fills that void with some solid help defense, rebounding and outlet passing.