New Orleans Pelicans: The 7 Most Hyped NBA Rookies of the last 20 Years
#5: Blake Griffin, 2009 Los Angeles Clippers
The late 2000’s saw several rookies with a ton of hype and Blake Griffin was one of them.
Griffin had just come off a season at Oklahoma where he averaged 22.7 points, 14.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, numbers that won him every major NCAA award.
It wasn’t just the numbers though, Griffin did it in exciting fashion, jumping out of the building some nights. Griffin was as athletic a big man as the league had ever seen and everyone knew he was going to go first in the draft.
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Griffin was promptly injured and missed an entire season, so he was really hyped twice, his “real” rookie season and then his second year when he made his actual debut.
Griffin was worth the wait. He provided nightly highlight-reel dunks on his way to winning Rookie of the Year and being selected as an All-Star.
Griffin has been hampered by injuries and his game is much different now, but people seem to forget what he was like as a rookie.
Like Rose, Griffin’s career is a big “what-if” as Griffin was on his way to being one of the greatest power forwards of all-time if not for injury.
It’s easy to forget that at one time Griffin was the future of the league.