Philadelphia 76ers Should Not Trade For Blake Griffin

The Philadelphia 76ers reportedly have inquired about Blake Griffin, but that is not a trade should not occur.

Ah, the trade deadline. For Philadelphia 76ers fans, and especially team general manager Sam Hinkie, it’s almost like Christmas Day for a little kid. The deadline comes with a sense of opportunity. Other teams around the league are desperate to make one last move while they can, and Hinkie is desperate to take their assets, players, and even money.

The trade deadline is still a little bit away, but approaching fast. With that approaching is the circulation of trade speculation and rumors, and some have already started to come up for the team. Not too long ago, it was reported that Blake Griffin, forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, was on the trading block. This follows an incident where he broke his hand after punching a team employee. Shortly after that, it was reported that the Sixers had called the Clippers to inquire about Griffin and what it would take to get him in a deal.

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This trade intrigues some fans, but for others, including myself, this seems like a toxic deal that could only go bad.

Blake Griffin is a great player, and one of my favorite forwards to watch. He’s done well since he entered the league, and has shown a few different styles of play. For the first part of his career, he was a traditional power forward who made most of his plays on explosive dunks and close to the hoop shots, but with the evolution of the game and the emergence of the stretch-4, he has been asked to switch up his game and attempt more shots from beyond the key. In every season so far, he’s attempted a significant amount of more shots from the 16 foot mark to the 3-point line. This year, he is attempting 45.8 percent of his shots from that area, compared to just 15.4 percent from that area when he entered the league.

Still, despite changes in his game, he succeeds, and continues to score. He’s averaging 23.2 points per game, nearing a career high for him. His rebounds over time have gone down, but his scoring has improved.

So, with a player who has done nothing but improve in his scoring over the course of his career, why wouldn’t the Philadelphia 76ers want him? For one, they would have to give up a lot to get Griffin. I don’t see them getting him from the Clippers without giving up either Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel, and possibly Ish Smith or another promising player on top of that.

Secondly, it makes the front court situation even more confusing. Even if the Sixers traded Nerlens Noel for Griffin, that leaves Griffin, Okafor, Joel Embiid, and likely Dario Saric on the team next year, and that makes it hard to figure out how they all work into the system. Embiid and Okafor probably share minutes, and so do Saric and Griffin, but still, there’s only 48 minutes in a game. Griffin is used to playing 35 minutes or so.

And besides any compatibility issues that come along with bringing Griffin onto the team, let’s not forget that he is currently injured, for punching a team employee. That type of behavior doesn’t exactly make him an attractive option for the Sixers, that’s for sure.

Lastly, the Sixers would have to make this a multi-team trade to get it done, most likely, which makes it tougher to orchestrate.

Griffin, in my eyes, is an improvement over Nerlens Noel. Sure, Noel is a good rim protecter, but he has been ineffective as a power forward, but that’s not totally his fault. Griffin would work better with Jahlil Okafor since he takes more outside shots than Noel does, but we have to be looking forward to next year when Dario Saric will be coming over as well.

Next: Should The Sixers Trade For McCollum?

All things considered, I don’t think the Sixers have the resources to get Griffin–or at least, aren’t willing to give up what the Clippers will be looking for in return for him–and I don’t think he fits with this team. It would be nice to have a star as big as Griffin play in Philly, but I don’t think he is any sort of answer that the fans have been looking for in this rebuilding process.