Blake Griffin blockbuster

The List: 8 takeaways from the Blake Griffin blockbuster

The Los Angeles Clippers and Detroit Pistons agreed to a massive trade. Let’s try to figure it out.

The best thing about blockbuster trades that no one saw coming is the flurry of instant reactions. So when Blake Griffin was traded to Detroit for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, plus a first-round pick and a second-,

my initial thought was as follows: I don’t get this trade?

Upon further reflection, I still don’t get it but at least I have somewhat more coherent thoughts. Here are my takeaways:

The Clipper teardown began a while ago: There have been bad vibes around the Clips for a while now. Chris Paul orchestrated his way out of town, J.J. Redick didn’t think twice about moving East, and who could forget the time DeAndre Jordan agreed to sign with the Mavs, only to be kidnapped by his own team?

While DeAndre remains — how’s that for a surprise ending? — the Clippers as we knew them are finally dead. The saddest part of all of this: There are no eulogies for a team that never made it out of the second round. The Clippers might’ve been a contender, but they never really were and that will be their lasting legacy.

Blake Griffin is the best player in the trade: The very fact that this can be debated — Tobias Harris is younger, healthier, and owed much less money — says quite a bit about how far Blake’s star has fallen the last few years.

Griffin hasn’t made it through a full season in four years and he hasn’t been an All-Star for the last three. Blake still has a dazzling skill-set. There aren’t many players who can put up 22-8-5 every night, even if he doesn’t shoot 3’s like a guard or rebound like a center.

Perhaps a change of scenery will be good for him. Perhaps this will jumpstart his career, much the same way it did for Chris Webber when he was traded to Sacramento. Perhaps. Hope he has a nice warm coat.

The Clippers did really well: Harris is a good player. Bradley is a strong on-ball defender, but he’s also in the last year of his contract, and that makes him an expiring contract more than a cornerstone. We’d all like to see Boban unleashed, or at least get a bit part in a movie.

None of that matters as much as the fact that the Clips cleared a huge chunk of salary off their books and got a lightly-protected first rounder out of the deal. They can maintain the illusion of competitiveness — at least for now — without committing to a flawed team.

Maybe they can get into the free-agency business. Maybe they can even get into the LeBron James free-agency business. Maybe Chuck the Condor will go the way of the Brooklyn Knight and Pierre the Pelican. It feels like a new day in Clipperland.

This was a Jerry West move, clearly: It will be interesting to see how the Clippers spin this trade going forward, but this has all the earmarks of a Westian coup. After years of losing trades on the margins and in the details with Doc Rivers calling the shots, the Clippers covered a lot of bases with this deal.

It will also be interesting to see which way they go with their other pending free agents. DeAndre Jordan has been in the rumor mill for months. Lou Williams is one of the best stories in the league, but now would be a really good time to sell high on Sweet Lou.

Wanna talk more about the Clippers?
Check out SB Nation’s Clippers site

It will be really interesting to see how this all plays out for Doc, who has one year left on his contract beyond this one.

The Pistons have a weird habit of making good trades that don’t pan out: Remember a couple of years ago when the Pistons traded D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler for Reggie Jackson? Or the time they swiped Tobias Harris for Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings? In a roundabout way, the latter deal paved the way for Blake’s arrival.

The moves that Stan Van Gundy and general manager Jeff Bower have made over the last few years have looked good on paper and they’ve generally worked out in their favor, but they haven’t brought the Pistons any closer to contention. That’s the conundrum that has them running in circles.

I’m not convinced Griffin truly helps: On paper, Blake is an upgrade over Harris and rookie Luke Kennard can slide into Bradley’s role at guard. In reality, there still isn’t enough shooting on the roster and unless Jackson can return from injury and recapture his form, they have a problem at the point. (Blake might kinda/sorta be the point guard now.)

A bigger question is how Griffin plays with Andre Drummond. Both are excellent passers and superior finishers. Both like to operate near the top of the floor. Both need space to score around the basket. Both have huge deals with multiple years left on them. This doesn’t sound promising, but it might get weird and that’s better than being stuck.

One way or another, it better work because Van Gundy is running out of cards left to play.

Wanna talk more about the Pistons?
Check out SB Nation’s Pistons site

No-trade clauses are going to be in demand: As a player with eight years of service and at least four with his current team, there was nothing stopping Griffin and his reps from insisting on a no-trade provision when he re-signed last summer. They did get a fifth-year, and that’s not nothing for a player with his injury history.

Still, one can imagine players across the league taking note of this deal and insisting on some level of control over their futures. No-trade clauses will become the next big status symbols in contract negotiations.

Ain’t no such thing as loyalty: Once more for everyone in the back. Loyalty. Does. Not. Exist. The world would be a much happier place if we moved beyond that tired old trope. (That goes double for jilted teams.)