Blake Griffin reveals what inspired him to become avid reader

Blake Griffin decided to make some changes in his life this past summer, including becoming an avid reader, and he revealed what inspired him to do so before Wednesday’s practice.

“I just looked for something different,” Griffin said. “A buddy of mine told me about a book, I read it, thought it was awesome. That led me to another book. The ball just kept rolling from there. Now I’m in Oprah’s Book Club.”

Griffin was joking about his allegiance to Oprah, though his friend really did influence him in a profound way.

“We did a big weekend,” Griffin recalled. “He came out, we went hiking, all this stuff. He was reading this book called ‘A Long Way Gone.’ It was about this kid who grew up in Sierra Leone who was forced to be a child soldier. Read that, thought it was awesome. He told me about this other Tony Dungy book and I read that. I just kept going.”

Griffin said that buddy, who is a medical student, was his best friend when he was a child.

“We just kind of had this thing where we always pushed each other to become better people, smarter, always trying to learn stuff, always trying to do stuff,” Griffin said. “He kind of was the one who sparked it for me.”

This season, Griffin is averaging career-highs in points (26.6) and field goal percentage (55.8%). He’s also averaging nine rebounds a game and 4.3 assists. Coach Doc Rivers recently said that Griffin’s leadership this season is “off the charts,” and Paul Pierce said Griffin has far exceeded his expectations as a teammate.

“I guess ‘SportsCenter’ only highlights the major highlights, his spectacular posterizing dunks, things of that nature,” Pierce said Wednesday. “The way he handles the ball, the way he consistently shoots outside 15 feet, and his passing ability. I didn’t know he had that consistently.”

Pierce went on to say that Griffin is the best type of guy to play alongside because he’s not just a powerhouse, he’s a great teammate.

“He makes the game easier for everybody else -- the way he scores, passes, he takes the pressure off of [Chris Paul] because of the way he can handle the ball,” Pierce said. “A lot of the things he’s doing, he’s really developed his game over the years where he’s a complete player to me.”