#16 biggest jerks in the NBA - sad to see

[BanjoCharley]

Blake Griffin

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Blake Griffin recently punched a Clippers employee in the face, and fractured his hand. He has a history of being a jerk.

He was in an altercation in 2014, and charged with a misdemeanor in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This guy is starting to surface as one of the biggest jerks in the league, and people are shocked. He appeared a nice guy when he won the Slam Dunk contest, and was loved by fans across the board.

Like NBA players, they lose their friendly touch as they progress in their career, sometimes.

 

[OUSKINS]

I actually don't think the NBA turns someone into a jerk. Either you are or you aren't. I don't believe that money or fame change the core of someone. What I do sometimes think happens is that in HS and college if a guy is either a "jerk" or a bit of a loose cannon, they are generally insulated, protected, and sometimes coddled. Might even extend to more serious things like cover-ups (see Tennessee issues right now). Blake always came across as a bit immature and a little goofball-ish. That's cool when you're 18 and 19. It's possible he's struggled in the maturity department. The longer you struggle with that the bigger problem it becomes and you start shifting from goofy kid to "jerk."

 

[usedtobe1]

I remember watching Charles Barkley and Shaq on a TNT broadcast saying Blake needed to start standing up for himself and quit letting other players bully him. They were saying he needed to fight back when players started pushing him around.

While that was true, I don't think they meant the team managers.

 

[WTSooner]

Some of us saw this coming back when he was a freshman at OU.

 

[Leroy]

I sure didn't see it. I always thought he was too passive. I agreed with Charles and Shaq in the pros but what do they know

 

[SoonerBounce13]

and here we go

 

[MsProudSooner]

I don't know Blake personally, so I don't have any idea what he's like when the lights go off. He screwed up badly when he punched the Clippers employee, no matter what the provocation. Since we've never heard of this type of thing happening before, you hope if was just a case of his temper getting the best of him. Hopefully, he learned his lesson from it.

But I do think the NBA is part basketball and part reality show. People take on the roles/personas that they think they need to have to advance their careers. Those roles/personas might or might not be similar to their true selves.

 

[sperry]

Blake's a good dude. Definitely one of the nicest and most approachable star athletes out there. Obviously he screwed up big time with the fight, but sounds like he is remorseful and will hopefully next time he'll make sure he keeps his temper.

 

[OUSKINS]

I don't know Blake personally, so I don't have any idea what he's like when the lights go off. He screwed up badly when he punched the Clippers employee, no matter what the provocation. Since we've never heard of this type of thing happening before, you hope if was just a case of his temper getting the best of him. Hopefully, he learned his lesson from it.

But I do think the NBA is part basketball and part reality show. People take on the roles/personas that they think they need to have to advance their careers. Those roles/personas might or might not be similar to their true selves.

When he made the inappropriate gesture with the team manager on the sidelines during a game that was a pretty good indicator of immaturity and not understanding time and place. The thing is that you can get away with being "immature" for awhile when you are still young, eventually "immature" turns into "jerk." I'm speaking on this in general terms as I do not know Blake or anyone that knows Blake, personally.

 

[DenverSooner]

I don't know if he is immature or not but when you are a superstar you don't necessarily have to mature. I am not saying that is a good thing. I am just saying the normal maturation process doesn't necessarily happen. You are not faced with the normal challenges of life and instead face completely different challenges, like the media as one example.

 

[scrybe]

This may be one of the most ridiculous threads of all time.

 

[BanjoCharley]

We all fit on the jerk scale from 0 to 100. Some of us may be 5's some may be 95's. The reason I posted this was not to slam Blake, he is who he is. My feeling that this is sad is because for several years, Blake has been the national face of OU basketball and this article shows at least one non-local viewpoint that reflects, unfortunately, on OU basketball. Blake doesn't really owe us anything but he is giving us something from a national perspective that regardless of how small it is, is negative.

 

[BanjoCharley]

This may be one of the most ridiculous threads of all time.

Clearly you post a lot and read little.

 

[scrybe]

Clearly you post a lot and read little.

Post a lot? My 2,000 posts are spread out over almost eight years. That would be around 250 posts per year, or 0.68 posts per day.

I guess that makes me a high volume poster?

On the other hand, I do read a ton of posts.

 

[usedtobe1]

My nephew played basketball at one one of the Edmond HS and graduated from OU. He was in between Taylor and Blake in age and knew both of them. He told me that Blake is a really nice guy and has a great sense of humor. He said he's a lot of fun to be around, and isn't cocky.

Honestly, I don't think they've had much contact since they both left OU.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

We all fit on the jerk scale from 0 to 100. Some of us may be 5's some may be 95's. The reason I posted this was not to slam Blake, he is who he is. My feeling that this is sad is because for several years, Blake has been the national face of OU basketball and this article shows at least one non-local viewpoint that reflects, unfortunately, on OU basketball. Blake doesn't really owe us anything but he is giving us something from a national perspective that regardless of how small it is, is negative.

i don't think this reflects on OU at all

 

[thebigabd]

If you ran into one asshole in the morning, you just run into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole.

Blake has been involved in enough stuff over the years on the court, we know this quote applies. He wasn't a target of random violence from other players all the time for no reason.