The Keltner List is a series of subjective questions formulated by famed sabermetrician Bill James used to help assess whether or not a player should be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Although the system was designed to evaluate baseball players, with a few minor tweaks it can also be used to assess the Hall-worthiness of basketball players. In this post, I will examine the recently-retired Blake Griffin’s case for the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Was he ever regarded as the best player in basketball? Did anybody, while he was active, ever suggest that he was the best player in basketball?
No on both counts.
Was he the best player on his team?
Griffin was the LA Clippers’ best player in 2010-11, his debut season in which he was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year. However, the Clippers acquired All-NBA point point guard Chris Paul in the offseason, and from that point forward it was pretty clear that Paul was the team’s best player.
Was he the best player in basketball at his position?
Griffin was a five-time All-NBA selection but did not make a First Team, so I think it’s fair to say he was never considered the best forward in the game. If we’re specifically talking about power forwards, then I think there’s a season or two in which Griffin could lay claim to being the best player at his position.
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