The Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Clippers set the NBA and Twitter worlds on fire Tuesday night when they agreed to a swap for All-Star Power Forward Blake Griffin. It was a move that many believed the Pistons were gambling on, having sent two players and a handful of draft picks to L.A. for Griffin.
Griffin was not in Detroit for the Pistons 125-114 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night, but he arrived via plane to Motown later that evening. Upon touch-down, he was greeted by some reporters that asked about coming to Detroit. Here’s what he had to say,
.@BlakeGriffin32 has arrived.
We caught with him at the airport last night and for the first time, he talks about playing for the Detroit Pistons. #DetroitBasketball pic.twitter.com/EvZZbz2k1V
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) January 31, 2018
From the video:
“This franchise, you know, has a history of tough, hard-working teams, that’s how I was raised, that’s my principle, so being here is an awesome opportunity.
Being in the League, now, seven years…I’ve been fortunate to play with a lot of really good players and learn from them, so hopefully, a little of veteran leadership, steering this team in the right direction, helping lay the foudation, helping the young guys, and just fitting in and doing as much as I can.
We’re going to be a hard-nosed team, we’re going to play really really hard, and I’m incredibly excited. I love this fan base, the engergy has been awesome, already, in just 24 hours. So, I’m super excited to be here and ready to be at that first game.”
Griffin sounds like he’s ready to work, and the Pistons could definitely use his veteran leadership. Griffin brings to the table a stat line that looks like this: 22.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game this season– definitely something the Pistons could use.
It doesn’t take much for Detroit fans to get excited when “big name” guys come to play for us. But when Griffin is making statements like this about your city and your team, you can’t help but root for him.