Has any other great Clipper gone on to greatness while remaining a Clipper? There track record tells me it isn't totally unfeasible to pick off their talent.
I actually think LMA has a higher ceiling. Now this is an extreme view and its based on a few things. LMA is taller and has more length then griffin. Griffin is stronger and faster then LMA. Offensively LMA is going to get his points threw a lot of different post moves and outside shooting. Griffin is gonna get his points threw shear force of will and athletic ability. LMA is gonna play at a high level into his high thirties Griffin will drop off into his early thirties. Offensively Griffin will be a LOT better, wont have as many moves as LMA but he is just unstoppable near the rim. Why I say LMA has a higher ceiling is because he is showing that he can be a monster offensively but what i'v always liked about LMA is how he is built to be the next KG defensively. If LMA continues to develop defensively then he will be a better rounded player then griffin. A guy who can hold down both sides of the court while Griffin with all his athletics gifts and his ability to dominate in the paint offensively, defensively he gets abused. I dont' see anything changing in the future with his size/arm span bigger PF will always be able to take advantage of him on the defensive end. If you want a guy who is gonna be a MONSTER offensively and get you stats Griffin is hands down the better talent. If you want a guy who will be able to dominate both sides of the court LMA will be your guy. Of course Griffin could prove me wrong and somehow become dominate on the defensive end. I doubt it but i'v been wrong in the passed and I will be wrong in the future so I guess in a few years we'll see.
Aldridge is averaging 25/10 or so since Roy went down. Griffin is at 22/12. I don't think Griffin has a lot of upside in the rebounding area (historically there isn't much room to expand beyond 12/game), so his upside will mostly be realized in scoring improvement and defense. When people say Griffin will be much better than Aldridge offensively, what does that mean? That his team will be able to throw it into him in the post and he'll score against anyone like Shaq did, thereby garnering 27-30 ppg, year after year for a decade? It doesn't seem likely. He doesn't have those kind of skills. So what you are really talking about is a Nowitzki/Amare/Barkley level of offense. A perennial 25 ppg guy who maybe jumps up to 28 ppg for a few prime years. Which is pretty much the same career path that Aldridge seems to be on. Griffin got on that path 4 years earlier than Aldridge, so maybe he racks up more points over his entire NBA career. But he's also ridiculously reliant on his athleticism and he's already undergone major knee surgery once, so even that isn't a sure thing. Then you have to bring in how both guys are used in the offense. Griffin seems to be in the Nowitzki/Amare mold of big men where you design the offense around timing ball movement so that he's in position to get a great shot. Aldridge seems to be more in the mold of big men like Shaq and Duncan where you throw the ball into the post and then watch the other team scramble around trying to deal with it. The first type of big man augments a well-functioning offense. The other creates a well-functioning offense. I'll take the latter any time, all else being roughly equal.
It will be interesting to see how Griffin does as he gets more experienced - if he can turn into a Karl Malone style and execute in a structured offense without it coming from being so much more active than anyone else - if he can, it's Griffin, if not, it's Aldridge. Either way - both are fantastic.
