I know Eddie Griffin failed to build of the promise he showed in his Rookie season, and in the Summer Leagues, but is his lack of offensive production all his fault? How much did the Isolation offense, over dribbling, and their being at least 4 players who are better offensive players than he is have to do with it? Don't get me wrong, Eddie definantly needs to work harder, and continue to develope his game, but the notion that Eddie Griffin is on pace to be a bust as to what some of the Sports Radio 610 broadcasters would leave you to believe in my opinion is short sighted. Maurice Taylor maybe the most under appreciated player on the team, few people fail to remember that we won 45 games with him as our starting Power Foward, playing along side Walt Williams of all people. Not to mention that he averaged something like 17 points per game over the second half of his first season with the Rockets. I do believe the injury set him back this season, but once again he picked it up over the second half of the season, I am by no stretch of the imagination saying that he is a great player in waiting, but in my opinion a good one. Here is a guy that has raised his scoring average in each of his first three seasons in the league, he was also the go to player on a team that featured Lamar Odom, and Derek Anderson. James Posey is not the terrible offensive player Charlie Pallilo makes him out to be, I think he is a decent outside shooter, who's man assets are things few players on this team showed in previous seasons; Hustle, Defense, Energy, and its's not a waste of time briging him back. Lets remeber he was the starting Shooting Guard in Denver, so he does not have to play soley Small Foward, taking minuetes away from Bostjan Nachbar, but could come off the bench and give you solid backup minutes at both the two and the three. Terrance Morris was one of the most suprising players on the team this season, producing in his inconsistant minuetes this past season, he is not the three point shooter they hoped drafting him out of Maryland, but he has worked hard, and now consistantly hits they 15-19 foot jump shot, he is also a solid if not good rebounder. You may say I'm overly optimistic, but someone has to be.
Eddie Griffin will not be the bust everyone seems to think he will be. He is 21 years old and simply does not have certain parts of his game yet. He cannot make a decent dribble move with either hand around an opponent and he has a very limited inside game. I think if he adds a dribble move like that of Kenny Thomas and adds a jump hook to compliment his fadeaway he will become one of our greatest assets.
People need to quit looking at Eddie Griffin as some one who has to score. People need to look at his strenths. Rebounding and Shot blocking. Eddie Griffin is never going to put up big numbers when it comes to scoring. Even in college he had just an average offensive game, even though he did score 17ppg. I don't think Eddie is a bust yet, not at all. Mo Talyor was a huge part of that 45 win season the Rockets had 2 years ago. I think Taylor is a good PF, but he is way overpaid. I think that is way people don't like him. Everyone knows he can score, but is 45 million dollars worth it for a PF than can only score? James Posey is over rated by most Rocket fans imo. He is a overrated defender, has a ugly shot in side the 3 point range, and forces alot of bad shots. I would like for the Rockets to re-sign him, if he signs for cheap, if not try to sign Stephen Jackson away from the Spurs.
I agree with everything said above. However the problem is none of our forwards has stepped up and answered all of the questions. All appear one dimensional. That is too strong of a term, but each certainly leaves somethig lacking. You can look at a lot of bad teams and see a lot of good players. the Clippers and Heat come to mind, but really just about anybody. Part of the problem is the players tend to be real good as some things, (I love Brian Grant's hustle, energy and defense), Eddy Jones is good and Caron Butler looks great. How did they do so poorly? Answer is good in some areas, (that tend to show, things like statistics and espn highlights}, but week in others like defense and rebounding (though not in Grant"s case, but overall). Mo Taylor. Good scoring average. May well be a go-to scorer. That is valuable. Rebounding and defense make this a week position for us. Griffen, huge potential, but right now good power forwards abuse him and we have to bring in Mo Taylor (for defense?). That is a problem. By the way, I like Griffen and I'm willing to give him another two to three years before I give up on him. Like Kevin, I also like Posey. Good as somethigns, defense, energy (sometimes) and runnig. But he really has no glaring weaknesses. His overall offense is not great, but neither does it suck. Mo Taylor looks better stat wise and may be on Sportscenter for a big fourth quarter. But a team of 5 Poseys will beat a team of 5 Taylors every time.
Charlie Pallilo is the same putz that said we would never win a championship with Smith and Maxwell as our starting backcourt. He over critisizes everyone...unless they're from upstate NY.
I don't even need to read what people replied. The thread title is enough info, that's 1 BIG, EMPHATIC YESSSSSSSSSS!!! Lay off, you'll be loving them when we're winning in the playoffs this season.
ima, are you sure you're not thinking of Barry Warner? I think the Rockets may have had the worst starting forwards in the NBA last year, but they will definitely get better. Agree on Mo.
Did we win that first championship because of Smith and Vernon? I don't think so. Hakeem put the rest of that team on his back and carried them to the title. Kenny and Vernon were virtual no shows for 6 of the 7 games of that series. Cassel had an impact, Horry had an impact, hell even Carl Herrera had a bigger impact on that first title than Mad Max and the Jet. Bottom line, I don't think Pallilo should be criticized for making that comment.
I'm pretty sure it was Pallio during his 740 days. Barry was earlier 80's if I remember correctly. Pallilo is a sharp guy, I just don't like his style. Barry Warner, on the other hand, is a complete boob.
Just thought I'd mention that Griffin's blocks and rebounds, if could just go by his average per minute, would be at about 10 and 2.5 if he played 40 minutes, which some starting power forwards do. Of course, his scoring would still be stuck at about 14, but we really don't need more than that from him. He needs to raise his fg % drastically, though. A good start would be to stop taking so many damn threes.
The fowards dodge alot of blame to me. Cat and Steve are the one's who are OVER critisized. They are our most productive players. Our fowards strick no fear or concern from other teams. Posey is a nice role player but we need some true consistant power from our power spot. If we up graded here our team would improve greatly. Griff will not be a bust but we need results now not 3 or 4 years from now. If we had a good starting pf then Griff would be great but he is just as good as any of our average fowards. Our lack of production came from our foward spots most games. We came to expect it and sort of except it. We sould criticize mediocer and poor play. I know I want more
Quote from "Pat" Explain how you've accumulated 546 posts, and haven't figured out how to spell Eddie Griffin's name correctly... Its not like its Hedayet Turkoglu- its American!!
If they are a member of the Rockets, they are sacrosanct. However, truly bad players would not make the professional NBA grade even with an unhealthy dose of nepotism.
Whats up Kevin, good talking to you the other day. Looking at it objectively, you make a good point about Eddie. I think most people just wish he would show more fire and determination on the court. As for Mo Taylor, he's the most consistant low post threat on the team right now. He lost a lot of his explosivness from the injury, I hope he works and gains some of it back during the offseason. He showed flashes of how good he can be during the season, especially in the 4th quarter of several games, Washington and Sacramento come to mind.
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Do you remember when the Rockets were down O-2 to Pheonix after blowing to 20 point fourth quarter leads at home and down 16 points at half time on the road. You know who led the team with 24 second half points to pull off the victory and forever change momentum for the Rockets to pull out of that series that changed Houston from Choke to Clutch City. You should be banned for your post.
