MARCH 8, 10:08am: The Nets have officially signed Griffin, the team announced today in a press release.
“We’re fortunate to be able to add a player of Blake’s caliber to our roster at this point in the season,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement. “Blake is a versatile frontcourt player with a long track record of success in our league, and we’re excited about the impact he’ll make for us both on and off the court in Brooklyn.”
Griffin’s minimum-salary deal will pay him $1,229,676 for the rest of the season, with Brooklyn taking on a $776,983 cap hit, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
MARCH 7, 6:08pm: Griffin has formally agreed to a deal with the Nets for the rest of the season, his agent told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. It’ll be a veteran’s minimum contract.
Wojnarowski adds that Brooklyn envisions using Griffin as a small-ball center option off the bench.
MARCH 7, 4:16pm: Free agent Blake Griffin has cleared waivers and is expected to sign a contract with the Nets, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). No corresponding roster move will be necessary, since Brooklyn has three open roster spots.
Griffin recently agreed to a buyout with the Pistons, allowing the six-time All-Star to reach free agency after he gave up more than $13MM on his previous contract. The 31-year-old quickly registered interest from multiple teams, including Brooklyn, Golden State, Miami and Portland, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
By signing a deal with the Nets, Griffin will reunite with former teammate DeAndre Jordan in the frontcourt. Griffin has averaged just 12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 31.3 minutes per game this season, shooting 36.5% from the field in 20 contests.
Brooklyn currently holds the second-best record in the East at 24-13. The team has won nine of its last 10 games and must decide whether to start Griffin or bring him off the bench, which would likely allow sharpshooter Joe Harris to remain as a starter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Now he can do commercials again with DeAndre, maybe Harden and KD too.
Sorry, folks, the park’s closed. The moose outside should’ve told ya.
You work at Walleyworld Mr. Lasky (John Candy), not WallyWood.
Someone kept saying the Nets, done deal… who was that…
Who ever it was they were smart
Good signing…Nets just need another defensive big and they will be complete and scary..using dinwiddie as a trade chip would be smart
He has a player option heading into next year. Add that to the fact that he’s out for this year and you don’t have much value.
He got waived by the Pistons, he doesn’t have a player option any more. Detroit will have to eat all that money up still.
Dinwiddie
He was bought out. Waived. Not claimed. That contract is done.
alot of teams are interested in Dinwiddie from what i saw on the news
Defensive? You must be joking
Well, defense be for suckers. Dantoni and Nash at the helm = offense is the best defense.
In fairness, you can win any game by scoring more points than your opponent. Even if you give up 140, you still win if you score 141. Conversely, if you give 85, you still lose unless you score 86.
Defense makes it easier, but offense is more important in my opinion.
John Madden has entered the chat.
Thank you for comparing me to a Hall of Famer. I appreciate it.
Today’s NBA yes, any other sport nope.
Any sport or game that keeps score. No matter how good your defense is, you can’t win if you don’t score. But I guess some people like watching a 0-0 game in soccer too, so to each their own.
Last year’s Mavericks were the best offense in history, with 115.9 points per 100 possessions. Where did it take them? You certainly need a solid defense, no matter how good is your offense, in order to get a ring.
Yeah and the New York Knicks of the 1990s were one of the best defensive teams of all time and yet they consistently lost to Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams. Sure the Bulls were good defensively too, but they were primarily an offensive team.
Losing to Jordan’s Bulls is not the same as finishing 7th in the conference. Plus Jordan and Pippen made the all-defensive first team nine and eight times, respectively. Sure they were “good” defensively, as you said (and I’m not even talking about Rodman). The current Nets could crash against many teams because of defense, or lack thereof.
Tell that to Bulls fans this year. They have lost 6 games by a total of 14 points, all of which were lost in the final minutes due to poor defense, most of which they had a commanding lead heading into the 4th quarter. Defense wins, not offense. You have to score, but once you have an offensive scheme, team mates need to learn how to get stops and help each other make opponents’ scoring more difficult.
The problem with that logic is that the Bulls don’t have a good offense either. Bad defense is not costing them games, bad basketball in general is.
Spurs vs suns (with a primed stoudemire, nash, etc) would have won the chip, but they did not because spurs D was so good. Also, lebron’s miami heat. In crucial games and in the playoffs, Defense win games, not offense, IMO.
hiflew, I’m going to go against you on this one my brother. Defense wins championships.
My Warriors of the 90s and Run TMC could score on anyone at any time yet when the playoffs started their lack of a good Center and defense exposed them.
In baseball it’s all about pitching in the playoffs. A good Bullpen takes you a long way. Don’t take this as a reflection on you or your general postings because you’re spot-on always. On this one though I’m going to say defense is way more important than a good offense. All good bro just opinions here. I still love you.
“In fairness, you can win any game by scoring more points than your opponent…”
So offense is more important.
Have you ever thought this out before?
In fairness, you can win any game by keeping your opponent from scoring more than you.
I remember seeing on these boards Laker Fan predicting Blake was gonna be a Laker because……. well, because they do that with any name that is a free agent….
See Carmelo Anthony, Kawhi, Paul George, Kevin Durant, Marcus Morris, and pretty much every other player that was a free agent.
They’re all still bitter about losing out on Chris Paul.
Actually that Chris paul trade that was vetoed was actually better then clippers gave up. Hornets were inline to acquire Kevin Martin, Luis scola, Lamar odom, goran dragic and a pick.. that was nixed in favor of Eric Gordon, Chris kam an, al Farouk aminu and a pick.. which was the better trade package?
You won’t see any of those trolls for awhile now. You heard of bandwagon fans. Well these are bandwagon trolls.
I just don’t get what he will be doing, can’t dunk and can’t shoot
Is Griffin a better player than boogie Cousins now?
No they are about the same give a little on offense and nothing on defense . But who knows how Blake will play on a real team
The Nets must think so since they signed him instead of Boogie.
As a Pistons fan, I really don’t see how Griffin is going to be helpful to BKLN. I wish them all luck, but set expectations low…
I’d guess it’s vet min contract
The Warriors probably would have used their $9.3M DPE to sign him since they want to spend as much money as the league will allow them to.
From reading Bob Meyers interview the Warriors want to bring in a couple of players not just 1. So they would not be spending it all on one player.
I now officially hate all NY sports teams.
Another body adds depth. But their D might of gotten worse now. Gotta make stops in playoffs.
“More Big Noise” ….
You know how you slow down even stop Nets. You play 10-11 guys. You pick up full court half court for most of gm. Especially to close out. Make them eat clock. Then play perimeter D. And dare them to come inside. Sixers n Bucks can take care of Nets.
If the Nets are fully healthy (or as healthy as possible given the injury histories of KD, Kyrie, Blake and Dinwiddie), they would be a tough out for any team.
I agree but the Team D is a real issue. Ben can control either Harden or KD in seven gm series. Sixers match up well imo. Nets get hot they will be tough to beat. 7 gm series you can prepare for them.
The Nets are coming out of the East even before Blake. He will help them a little bit as a scoring option but the Nets are already solid and there’s no challenge in the east.
Sixers lack Shooters, even with a curry on the team, Boston is not deep enough with smart out/banged up and Kemba limping. Tatum can’t do it by himself even with brown stepping up this year.
Will Miami surprise again? Maybe, maybe not. Indiana’s not there yet and Toronto has fallen off.
Raptors are a Derozen return away for example from contention. Some of you just are so interested in the raptors. How’s your team doing? Was it your team from the jump or do you bandwagon?
I’ve been a Warriors fan since 1987. I’ve seen The Good The Bad and The Ugly over 34 years.
I totally respect the Raptors for winning it all two years ago. Kyle Lowry stepped up as a grinder and they finally wised up and got rid of one of the two guards. They went nowhere for 7 years with that tandem.
Right now they’re young and have good wings but they let their two big men walk. How does that happen? You have to keep at least one don’t you? Anyway the Raptors will be back, they’re a good team.
I’m still waiting for it now, headline after championship series “lebron defeats the most talent roster ever, something mj never did”
The writing is on the wall, nba setting the table for lebron to be massive underdog to the nets. Lebron to win in 7 games against them and supposedly cement himself as the goat in the minds of a lot of casuals. It has the makings of a true blockbuster.
Where do you buy tin foil hats this big?
LeBron is facing a lot of tough competition this year in Utah, Suns, and Clippers. Any team can jump over another team because of injuries. Nets are not a sure thing too. 76ers could give them a push or if celtics ever get healthy.
I guess Blake is a big body they can throw in there but unless his shooting improves he will overall be a liability. They would have been better off signing a young scrapper. Maybe they will get lucky, but I doubt it. This really does not address their depth issue at all.
If Blake can contribute at a high level and shoot the ball very well then he will be a valuable asset going forward.
Like um or hate um, everyone will be watching Brooklyn come playoffs
Now if the Nets can only land:
Peter, Chris, and Stewie Griffin,
Their season will turn around
BUT
If they can land Brian Griffin,
That would REALLY get the Nets out of the………
DOGHOUSE !!
Think most teams chasing Blake understand the dudes been tanking it up on the Pistons. It’s the only way to waived. Now the dudes get most of his salary and plays for a contender. Well played. If Nets used the injury exception, they now can trade Dinwiddie. More moves to come.
This stuff right here is why they losing so many fans buy letting these teams build super team so most teams lose their fans because there’s no competition so by the time the season starts the championship is basically already a lock it’s just sickening to watch
Yes it’s disheartening as a Pistons fan on the surface, but is it really if you think about it? They’re dumping Blake Griffin who’s been a disappointment and that will maybe help them next year with fresher guys.
Then, if I’m a basketball fan in general I’ll be watching the playoffs this year for sure. No fan losses at all. When my Warriors sucked last year I still watched the playoffs.
At this point, Jordan can play a full 48 minutes on the defensive end without having to step foot on the other side of the court, providing he doesn’t foul out.
I doubt there’s much of a decision as to whether he’ll start (when Durant is back), particularly in place of Harris. Harris is a core piece, who’s game fits with the 3 stars. Green’s been starting as a small ball C, but I don’t see it continuing after the buyout season.