OKC Needs Blake Griffin

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Although this year’s NBA Draft won’t be as exciting – or as painful – to watch for KU fans as last year’s draft when everybody but the laundry guy was drafted off a Championship team, for Big 12 fans there is plenty excitement again as for the third draft in a row, a Big 12 stud will be drafted in the top 2 picks, this year being the Man Beast, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin.

The last two years have seen Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley both go #2, and while I furiously campaigned at local gyms and massage parlors, err, barber shops, both times that each should go  #1, each time it fell on deaf ears because nobody outside of Big 12 Country cares about the Big 12.

That said, Durant has more than justified why he should have gone to Portland and KU alum Kevin Pritchard is still wondering how he ended up with a 50-year-old man disguised as a 7-footer who calls himself Greg Oden – apparently Oden is part Dominican and goes to the same birth certificate shop as Miguel Tejada and Danny Almonte. As for B-Easy, despite his whimsical approach to life on and off the court, Fatima’s son did have a solid rookie year, getting into a grove as the season wore on and finished the year averaging 14 and 5, and looks like he’ll be ready for 20-and-10 seasons real soon.

All that brings me to the point that if I’m OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti, I have to find a way to get Griffin, plain and simple. I don’t care if that means packaging my two first-round picks, 3 and 25, and even another player for Blake Griffin. I’m not saying you gut the entire team, but the possibility of teaming Griffin, a local guy, Durant, a perennial All-Star in the making, and Russell Westbrook, who really came on in the 2nd half of last season, not to mention Jeff Green – if you can hold on to him – and suddenly you’ve got one of the youngest and nastiest three or four man collections in the NBA – for years to come.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the NBA, you have to have at least two superstars, and no, Mo Williams doesn’t count… And it helps when you grow that superstar tandem, or trade for one in addition to drafting one, as the Lakers and Celtics have done in two different decades, the Rockets did it in the mid 90s while M.J. was out baseballing, the Spurs have done it this decade – although all three of their Big 3 were home grown (drafted) and of course the Bulls, who drafted M.J. and stole Scottie Pippen from the Sonics for Olden Polynice in 1987.

I know most of you are saying there’s no way the Clippers would do it, but if there is a team stupid enough to do it, it would be the Clippers. And that’s why I suggest that it would probably take a Jeff Green and both first round picks to consummate the deal, but if you look at the kind of player Blake Griffin is and what he has the potential to become – a Karl Malone-like game with LeBron-like athleticism – and pair him with a 6′10″ Reggie Miller-like Kevin Durant? Add a veteran wing and suddenly you’ve got the makings of Blazers Midwest.

I like Blake Griffin because the kid has an incredible work ethic and is a power forward that moves like a 2 Guard. Sure he still needs to work on his face-up game, but so does Dwight Howard, who helped lead his team to an NBA Finals and while he may have a slight edge defensively over Griffin, Howard doesn’t have the offensive nor Basketball I.Q. that Griffin has. I see Griffin as someone who could have a LeBron-like impact if he were to land in OKC. Sure, the local angle is one thing, but he’s such a likable guy and brings more to the court than just dunking, he’s a sound passer and an even better rebounder, and rebounding generally translates well from the college to the pro game, I think Griffin helps the Thunder get to the playoffs in two years and the Big Three in OKC could become the next San Antonio Spurs over the next decade.

Big Three in OKC – do the Thunder need any marketing help? 

Do I think it’s going to happen? I would love to see it, and in the NBA, who knows. And even if the kid ends up in L.A., he’ll still be great, but it’s the Clippers, and it’s hard to get excited about anything when the Clippers are involved. But in an NBA where Kobe just won his fourth ring, Dwight Howard is learning the Superstar Ropes, D-Wade’s uncertain in Miami, and oh by the way, LeBron still hasn’t won a ring, not to mention the 2010 Free-Agent-Palooza is nearing, if I’m trying to make it as a small market team in a league full of Superstars, Sam Presti better get creative and find a way to keep the next Big Superstar – Blake Griffin – at home in Oklahoma.