Griffin and it's not even close. The dude had 28/11/8 tonight and he's still just a rookie. Sure, the Clips aren't winning as much as the Thunder but Gordon is hurt and exactly how many games did Durant win his rookie year? Durant may not even be the best player on his team (see Westbrook). Griffin by a mile.
I voted for Durant and really don't think it's a close comparison at all, but what I bolded is not true. At their respective predrafts KD came in 6'9 barefoot while Griffin measured 6'8.5 or all of 1/2" of difference in height. Of course you don't play hoops with the top of your head which is why many pay more attention to wingspan and standing reach measurements. Durant holds a decided advantage in those measurements with a 7'4.75 WS and 9'2 Standing compared to Blake's 6'11.25 & 8'9 measurements. STOMP
Haha. Good old one game Kingspeed. Brandon Jennings Scored 55 points as a Rookie!! Clearly he is better than both and it's not even close. Jennings by a mile.
Griffin is averaging 22/13 and his team already has more wins than Durant's Sonics in his first season.
That's up for debate. Durant did measure 6'9", but that was as an 18 year-old at the June 2007 draft camp. He didn't turn 19 until October of that year. There are many rumors of him growing another inch or two since he was drafted. Unfortunately, he has no need to ever be measured again, but many in the NBA claim he is now closer to 6'10" or even 6'11" than the 6'9" he measured as a draft prospect.
Durant was also handicapped by PJ Carlisimo as a rookie. That's probably a loss of 5 PER right there. I voted Durant and it isn't even all that close in my mind.
I think Griffin is overrated too. Dude is Dwight Howard, but without the gigantic frame. He's an athlete, and that's about all I've seen so far. I also think the guy is insanely coddled by the refs right now. How many free throws does he average per game?
As people know Championships are built on defense. KD has the ability to be a much better defender then Griffin due to his length. Also KD is an amazing scoring machine who can create his own shot from anywhere. Griffin is an athletic freak who is going to be great for 5+ years but the moment his athleticism starts to falter so will he. KD game doesn't rely on athleticism as much and should be someone baring injury that has a career late into his thirties while he is still productive for that long. The real bad thing about trying to choose a guy who has been in the league 4 years vs a rookie is that we can speculate a lot on Griffin but we wont' really know what he is going to become for the next couple of years. Is he going to stay an athletic freak and rely on it so much that he ignores everything else. Will he develop into an undersized good defender? A lot of if's with him. KD you pretty much know what your gonna get at the moment, only a few things the guy has left to work on. A nice post/near the basket game and getting his defense to be more consistent/lockdown type.
