well according to very knowledgeable posters on this board eddie will NEVER be as good as nowitzki, duncan, garnett, etc. i assume they must have some inside information(ie. magic crystal ball) on this, so we might as well give up the idea of building around him. either way we definitely need these guys as scouts for the rockets. now my thought is that as a 19yr. old rookie he had a pretty productive season, at least on par with most or all of the comparative players. "never" or "definitely won't" are just words that bug me yet i seem to hear them all the time. i can easily accept, "eddie probably won't be as good as duncan, garnett," because these guys are the elite of the elite. also "probably won't" atleast leaves room for the idea that he could be something special. ok end of rant, i guess i'm just tying to say never is a bad word to use on someone who's 19 and has displayed a load of talent.
If Eddie was on the right team, he would DEFINITELY be close to duncan, garnett, etc. Rudy just did not utilize him correctly this season. His game is not shooting 3s. His game is inside. IMO, he just doesn't fit in the Rockets' system. Plus, the PF position is so packed on this team, he doesn't get enough PT. Therefore, I don't think we can judge Griffin yet based on this season. We haven't even seen a glimpse of his full potential yet. I think he would've turned out SO MUCH better on a team like the Nets. He fits their system so well, and their PF position isn't jam packed. He would've saw more PT, and I'm pretty sure Byron Scott wouldn't have had him shoot 3s all day. I think he would've developed nicely on that team. I just hope Rudy realizes that he is our future, and he better start using his skills correctly. According to Rudy, they're going to play him in the post next season. I'm looking forward to that.
I see a lot of Donyell Marshall in Griffin. He would never be a strictly back to the basket type of player. He would be there at times, but then other times he would drift out to the 3 pt line. The only thing I can say is that Thomas rookie yr and even last yr he shot 3 's for some reason unknown to me. Maybe Griffin will get smart and see how low a percentage shot that is and will work on his back to the basket and 15ft and in game. He can be a 15pt 9 reb 3 blk type of guy next yr if he starts which we know won't happen. He can be as good as he wants to be with hard work, look at J. O'Neal vs sorry ass Camby. One guy works out in the summer and the other don't.
I really hate reading crap like this. Rudy did not utilize him correctly?? Does anybody bother to look and see what kind of skill set EG had all season. Could he dribble? Barely. The extent of his dribbling skills are a few dribbles than stop. You don't have to look at the offense end, just watch when he got rebounds and tried to dribble. It wasnt pretty. Was there a post-up game? Even less barely. It consisted soley of a turnaround jumper, which, most often, was blocked early in the season. That in mind, apparently Rudy should have posted him up more??? The one thing EG had offensively was a great shot. It, and his defense, allowed him to stay on the floor. He has all the physical talent and atheltic ability to develope decent ballhandling and post-up skills and hopefully we can see more of that next year.
I don't think you can judge Griffin's performance in Rudy's system after one season either. Really?? You think he would have turned out SO MUCH better on a team like the Nets who happen to play in the worst conference in the league. Can you detect my sarcasm?? I'm fairly happy with what I got to see of EG and think he will come back an even stronger and smarter player next season.
How can you ever expect a 19 year old kid to develop into a post player (even if he's not a very good one right now) until you give him some opportunities to be that. Having him flirt around the perimeter is a waste of his athletecism. I LOVE Rudy and have defended him time and time again here...but this is one criticism that rings true to me.
First off, I don't even want to hear that Rudy fully utilized his skills, because he didn't. EDDIE'S GAME IS NOT SHOOTING 3S, FOR THE LAST TIME. Yes, he has a good shot, but that only compliments his post game. The majority of his points should be coming from the paint. Why? Because he's a POWER FOWARD. Did you even watch him in college? Obviously not. I've been following Eddie since he was in high school, so I know his game. Yes, Eddie can not dribble too well, but is that necessary in the post? Not really. He's not a guard. Second, Rudy did not even give him a chance to show off his post game. He posted up at most 2-3 times a game, sometimes none. Actually, most of the time, none. The reason Rudy absolutely needs to post him is to expose him to the banging that goes on inside. No one here can deny that Eddie's future is in the post, and he barely got exposed to it this season. On the other hand, he's only 19, so I'll refrain from criticizing Rudy yet. However, I do expect to see more significant time in post for Eddie from next season on.
I lived in Philadephia the last 4 years and followed him throughout highschool and college. Having moved back to Houston in December, I went to 95% of the home games after that and saw EG play both in person and on tv against NBA competition a number of times EG had little to no post game this year. He had no go to moves in the post. When he went there he was unable to use any power to get easy post shots close to the basket. His post turnaround jumper was often anticipated, making it a hard shot. He was unable to put the ball on the floor out of the post position because of poor ballhandling skills. EG's offensive capabilities last year were best suited to open jumpers (be it a three pointer or midrange jumper), offensive putbacks, and occasional fastbreaks. Off the top of my head I'd guess that for every successful post play EG completed, he either missed a shot or just didn't do anything from the post 3-4 times as many times. Rudy was trying to win games this past season (at least until the end) and feeding a skinny, 19 year old rookie with a generally useless post-up game agains NBA competition was not the way to do this. Were there a number of flaws in our offensive system? Sure. But the fact of the matter is EG does not have the same skills as a roookie as a Gasol or a Garnett. He does have the potential though, and with the proper training should eventually get there. We will know better come summer league time. I'd like to see Eddie go out and dominate those games as much as possible, while continuing to work on his post moves and ball handling skills.
i know but im not saying hes not got great talent. but this board has ALREADY made him a lock to be a superstar, along the lines of dirk and duncan. its insane and laughable. he had a hard time donig anything against our scrubs that last game. i could see him defintley being a solid player like a big dog or something. maybe a couple all star games down the line. but he has a ways to go. i mean whats to prevent every top 10 nba pick in the next 10 years from being the same? they all have mad talent and mad potential. they all wont be superstars or even stars.
Nugzfan: Hell no. Not even in the same ballpark as far as players go. Griffen is going to be a defensive stud. On the other hand I don't think he will be the same type of offensive player the Robinson is. If he focuses on the offensive end of the ball Griffen will be a 20 pts, 10 rbs, and 3 blocks guy easily.
i meant it stat wise...like similar success. big dog was an all star this year i think. but hes not a superstar type player like dirk, kobe, duncan, etc...
