The vacuum that was created by the self-destruction of LeBron James's image/humility/brain left a vacuum in the NBA and it has been filled by Blake Griffin. Derrick Rose is playing some great basketball but there is nobody that is going to catch the eye of the casual fan like Griffin. The league needed a new ambassador and Blake seems like the man for the job.

Honestly, if you don't like watching Blake Griffin play then I'm not sure you should watch basketball. No, the kid isn't perfect. He needs to keep improving his defense and there's a very real chance that he, like most every talented big man of this generation, falls in love with the jump shot and doesn't improve his post game, but for right now, he's an absolute beast and he's helping the Clippers win ballgames (which is a feat that most mortal players would be too afraid to even attempt.) Perhaps the most impressive feat, though, is that he's apparently lit a fire under Baron Davis's ass and the man who still might go down as one of the biggest wastes of talent in NBA history is looking like he actually likes playing the game again.

It's also nice to see a player tweeting little inspirational messages like, ""U have to put in millions of tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates b4 u achieve anything worthwhile." time to get better!" or "'The most dangerous thing today is yesterdays success' back 2 work.. love my teammates... we all know we got each others backs!" Granted, he's a rookie and once he stacks up the millions he start making himself look like an ass or complain about people hustling too much (ala Chris Bosh, whose done a lot to solidify his place as the softest player in the league) but for now, it's fun to watch Blake working hard.