Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – It’s not just his 33 points, eight rebounds and four assists from the opener. It’s not just his 26 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal from the home opener. It’s not just his 67.6 percent shooting through two games or the added intensity.
For Blake Griffin, all of that is a culmination of a different mindset entering the 2015-16 season, his sixth year as a pro.
“I definitely have a different approach,” Griffin said. “This summer, I kind of evaluated everything. I evaluated literally everything, not just on the court but off the court.”
That meant physically taking care of his body better, but it goes beyond working out. He’s stimulating his mind.
“Doing a lot of reading since this summer, and all kinds of stuff,” said Griffin, who prefers actual books to digital copies. “I never really thought I was much of a reader until I forced myself to get into it. It’s just what I do now to pass the time, before games, on the way to games, in hotel rooms.
Next Game: 10/31
“It’s been awesome. There’s so many people, Lawrence Frank, George Raveling, people just giving you books.”
Griffin’s not particular about the kinds of books he’s reading, though most of them cover leadership. Books from Tony Dungy and John C. Maxwell come to mind first. He likes to educate himself, and it’s had an effect on how he carries himself and his leadership style.
“We really, as a group and myself personally, are just taking the approach of, we’re not going to let things slide this year,” Griffin said. “If we see something, we say something.
“We know how not to win a championship. Each year, we’ve been unsuccessful, you should learn from that. We have learned a lot from that. We know what losing teams do.”
And Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan want to change that.
“I think we all just sort of have a different mentality going into every game,” Paul said. “Especially me, Blake and DJ, we probably talk more now than we ever have before, in terms of game planning and how we want to approach every game.”
It’s a more serious approach for Griffin, and everyone can see it. He still has his humorous side, the one that comes out in his commercials and appearances.
But the Griffin who shows up to the gym is taking on a different attitude, one that head coach Doc Rivers has trouble describing but knows is better.
“It just is,” Rivers said. “He’s still fun and having fun, but he’s deadly serious, locked in defensively. Just talking more. I just like where he’s at.”
It’s hard not to. Changes may have happened off the court for Griffin, but it’s what he’s doing on it reaping benefits for the Clippers.
Griffin’s started the season 14-of-15 on shots inside five feet, but he’s also shooting 50 percent on shots 15 to 24 feet out, with the elbow jumper serving as one of his most lethal options.
“He’s more confident, but that confidence comes from working,” said J.J. Redick. “Jokingly, I always say form, repetition and confidence are the three things to shooting. But you can’t have confidence unless you have something resembling good form, and if you put in the work – and Blake puts in the work, he’s worked to have good form -he’s shooting the ball confidently.”
Redick also said he’s noticed a different, more serious, more vocal player in Griffin.
“When the lights were on, it’s game time, as evidenced by his numbers,” Redick said. “But he’s certainly stepped up his leadership.
“It comes with age, it comes with years in the league, it comes with… I want to say it comes with disappointment. As you move along in the NBA and winning matters to you and you come up short, you assess. You figure out what you need to do better and how you can change. Blake has done that. He’s been, not a different person, but a more vocal person.”
