Blake Griffin vs Kevin Love – Who’s the Better Player?

by Trev

Two young All-Star PFs with great careers ahead of them.

Griffin is known for his explosiveness — Love for his well-rounded game.

Griffin scores a loud 35 — Love a quiet 20 and 20.

Griffin’s ceiling is higher — Love is more fundamentally sound.

Griffin intimidates and imposes his will on offense — Love stretches the defense.

Griffin has flair for the dramatic — Love is the better rebounder.

After having seen both play plenty of times, I’ve decided that I favor Love slightly. My choice was validated after I looked at some advanced statistics.

Love topped Griffin in all the following:

Player Efficiency Rating – a measure of per-minute production
True Shooting % – a measure of shooting efficiency based on 2 pt FG, 3 pt FG, and FT
Turnover % – an estimate of TOs per 100 plays
Offensive Rating – approx points produced per 100 possessions
Defensive Rating – approx points allowed per 100 possessions
Win Shares – an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player

I like both of their games a lot and this is not an indictment on Griffin – barring injury, I believe both of them can become all-time greats.

But as it stands now, Love is the better player.

Stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com

Photo by uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

Tags: Blake Griffin, Defensive rating, Kevin Love, NBA, Offensive rating, Player Efficiency Rating, Win Shares

This entry was posted on February 13, 2012 at 12:22 AM and is filed under NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Blake Griffin vs Kevin Love – Who’s the Better Player?”

Jeff Gehring Says:
February 13, 2012 at 2:49 AM | Reply
I do agree. How close were the scores? I am betting it was a small margin of victory.
- Trev Says:
  February 13, 2012 at 8:14 AM | Reply
  It was actually not as close as I thought it would be. I think that just accentuates what a great season Love is having right now, bc last yr’s advanced stats were a lot closer
  - Jeff Gehring Says:
    February 13, 2012 at 4:55 PM | Reply
    Wow! All the media attention is around Blake and his aggressive offense.(aka dunks) I guess watching a guy box out to get 20 plus rebounds is not as exciting to watch by the average joe on youtube.
    - Trev Says:
      February 15, 2012 at 11:37 PM | Reply
      Yep, you nailed it – Flash & Dash on Sportscenter speaks volumes apparently. A vicious dunk, however, is still not worth anymore than a layup.
      - Mojah Fukweh Says:
        February 24, 2012 at 2:46 AM | Reply
        I bet Kendrick Perkins told himself that so he could sleep better that night… You know the night.
Anonymous Says:
February 24, 2012 at 3:36 AM | Reply
That wasn’t a dunk. Helluva play, but he threw the ball through the rim

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