Blake Griffin has a reputation around the league as being pretty fan friendly and playing with an exciting style, but Los Angeles Clippers teammate Chauncey Billups believes the reckless high-flyer is a bit "too nice."
Chauncey Billups says Blake Griffin is ‘too nice’
Blake Griffin might need an attitude adjustment according to Clippers teammate Chauncey Billups.
Doug Pensinger
Griffin’s veteran point guard wouldn’t say that the burgeoning forward was soft -- which is often looked at as a demeaning term for players who like to smile and have fun on the court -- but Billups did seem to note that Griffin might be better off with a rougher image while appearing on ESPN’s First Take.
“I don’t agree that Blake Griffin is soft. But what I will say about Blake is that he’s maybe too nice of a guy,” Billups said. “Because there’s been times in games where people take shots at Blake. And I tell him if that’s me, you’re going to have to take this two- or three-game suspension, and I’m going to punish somebody.
“That’s just how I’m built. Blake is not really built like that. He’s ... too soft of a guy inside for him to be like, ‘All right, I’m just going to hurt somebody.’ He just won’t do it. I wish he would, and I think that people would look at him a lot different if he did that. But he’s just not that kind of person.”
It’s interesting that Billups mentioned later that Griffin might be “too soft of a guy inside” after previously declaring that his teammate isn’t soft, but that it probably isn’t such a bad thing that he doesn’t just randomly decide that he’s “just going to hurt somebody.”
Whether or not Griffin needs to alter his image, he’d likely need to factor that change in with all of the off-court opportunities he’s been given as one of the more marketable players in the NBA. If he switches from being a nice guy, the Sprite paychecks and such might not come quite as easy.
More from SB Nation:
See More:
