During a recent podcast appearance, NBA veteran J.J. Redick and Brooklyn Nets star Blake Griffin talked about superteams.
Griffin explained that he felt that former Miami Heat superstar LeBron James caught an unfair amount of flack for creating a superteam in Miami. Redick pushed back and explained why Griffin’s logic was flawed.
“I think it’s really funny. You know how everybody really s— on LeBron. LeBron was kind of the first guy that everybody s— on for joining — the [Boston] Celtics did it,” Griffin said. “They brought K.G. (Kevin Garnett) and Ray Allen to team up with Paul Pierce.”
Redick then cut Griffin off and explained why he disagreed with Griffin’s take.
“Yeah, but I’ve said this before, and I’ll stick by it,” Redick said. “The Celtics did it by front office, right? It wasn’t — the LeBron thing sort of set off this player empowerment era. By linking up with D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) and Chris Bosh, and we’re all going to go to the same place together, having these conversations behind closed doors with USA Basketball, whatever it may be. Whereas with the Celtics, it was Danny Ainge the mastermind, up in the front office, putting up the superteam.
Superteams are certainly a very inserting topic in the basketball world. Many folks feel that superteams are bad for the NBA, while others feel that it makes for an exciting brand of basketball.
Griffin finds himself in a position where he is currently a part of a superteam. His Nets have a Big 3 that features Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Brooklyn is the overwhelming favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference in the 2021-22 season.
Griffin would presumably love to make a big impact for the Nets in the upcoming campaign. He’s coming off of a 2020-21 season in which he averaged 11.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.