Blake Griffin is known for his incredible athleticism and dunking ability, but it’s his range from roughly 24 feet that the Los Angeles Clippers star is aiming to improve this offseason.
Griffin, a career 27-percent shooter from 3-point range, said this week that he wants to improve his ability to hit shots from beyond the arc.
“I want to be someone who shoots from there confidently, for sure,” Griffin told reporters on Thursday, per Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. “A lot of us power forwards, our strength is inside or our versatility. You look at the best power forwards, Anthony Davis, LaMarcus (Aldridge), Draymond (Green) … they can all shoot but they can all put the ball on the floor and they can all score inside. I don’t necessarily think falling in love with the 3-point shot is a good idea, but shooting it confidently from there is great.”
Griffin averages well less than one 3-point attempt per game, so it has hardly been a part of his arsenal. However, as Woike notes, his jump-shooting has improved significantly over the past several years. After shooting just 22.3 percent on shots beyond 16 feet in his second season, Griffin hit an impressive 45.8 percent of those shots last year.
If Griffin can become a threat from long range, defenses would have to spread out more and not commit to clogging the lane.
“The further out I can stretch, the more I can help open up the floor,” Griffin said.
Of course, we are still going to see plenty of ridiculous slams like this from Griffin. But if he can merely earn respect from opponents and force more close-outs, that can only be a good thing for the Clippers.
