For Hill's sake I hope that doesn't happen. I've never been a Duke fan but you can't say anything but good things about this guy.
Franchiseblade, That is just an ass of a comment. Grant Hill is a quality guy and to assume that he WILL go down is silly. Simply Put, Grant Hill is the perfect compelement to Steve Francis. He is heady, runs an amazing fast break and plays the point forward much of the game as Pippen did, allowing Francis to be a scoring guard. Francis gave his everything , 100% of what he had was left on the floor every night. I loved the guy, but he did have drawbacks. Having a team of a brutish (Howard/Cato/Battie) interior and a smart, point forward in Hill will suit him much better than the Rockets ever would have. I personally think both teams are better off, and I wish Francis nothing but the best. When he comes to town I am going to cheer and chant for him and anyone that boos him has no respect for how hard he played for us.
If we kept the picks that we traded I would speculate only RJ will still be on the team for sure. Collins I am not sure what may have happened to him, hopefully re-signed cheap. It would be nice to have a combo of Yao, RJ and T-mac now and having a younger backup C in Collins for Yao. But at the same time if Eddie did continue to play without his off-court problems a core of Yao-EG-TMac doesnt look too bad either.
That assumes that we would have drafted Jefferson for ourselves. As it is the Nets told us who to pick to make the trade.
We really need a Former Rockets Section. Griffin gives Wolves another dimension http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=knight-griffingiveswolvesanother&prov=knig ht&type=lgns BY MIKE WELLS, Pioneer Press AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Timberwolves forward Eddie Griffin isn't one of those players who grew up shooting NBA three-pointers as a kid. Because he usually was among the tallest players on the court, the 6-foot-10 Griffin mainly played in the post and only occasionally stepped out on the perimeter. It wasn't until the Houston Rockets drafted him that Griffin began to expand his range. In fact, Griffin mainly played on the perimeter with the Rockets. Seeing Griffin catch the ball and shoot a three-pointer might make some nervous, but the Wolves don't get an uneasy feeling because Griffin has the ability to make the shot. He went into Wednesday's game at Detroit shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc. And he has shot 33 percent on three-pointers during his career. "I do it because it stretches the defense out," said the soft-spoken Griffin, who was signed shortly after the start of training camp. "I shot some threes when I was at (Seton Hall), but I started doing it a lot when I was in Houston." When Griffin gets more used to the system, the Wolves would like to play him and Kevin Garnett together more often because it keeps the defense honest. Griffin has been putting in extra time after practices with vice president of operations Kevin McHale. "We thought he'd be a good mix with us because of his ability to play with K.G.," coach Flip Saunders said. "If teams are trying to trap K.G., he has the ability to knock down shots. He's got great range. No one probably shoots it with more rotation in the league." The one drawback to Griffin shooting jumpers is that he doesn't spend as much time in the post. "As I told him, it's still a process for him to keep on working the next two months to hopefully get to where he was two years ago," Saunders said.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/statistics?statsId=3517 He's still little more than a poor man's Robert Horry. He gave up on his career, the Rockets didn't give up on him. Our PF issues would hardly be smoothed by keeping him around. Players we could have gone after (to keep) in our 13/18/23 spots: Richard Jefferson Troy Murphy Jason Collins Zach Randolph Brendon Haywood Gerald Wallace (Samual Dalmbert) (Tony Parker) The 2001 Rockets were made up of Steve/Mooch-Anderson/Cat, Walt, Taylor, and Dream/Cato. The needs were focused on the frontcourt, especially center and 3 (still in a honeymoon phase with MoT). Jefferson would have been a good pick, but I have my doubts as to whether he would have worked in our system any better than Anderson. Troy Murphy was widely thought to be a Rudy T pick (he always drafted people that reminded him of himself). Zach Randolph was hurt by critics saying he was leaving too early. Collins and Haywood weren't and aren't much to get overly excited about. Wallace was (and is still) raw in his skills despite athleticism beyond measure. Dalmbert was a gigantic question mark and project. No way would we take a flyer on an unknown 19 yr old European PG when we had Steve. If I personally were to go back in time I'd make the following selections: 13. Jefferson 18. Randolph 23. Wallace Evan
Griffin will never be in the post. It's like trying to get Robert Horry in the post. It ain't gonna happen. Some players are born back to the basket, and other born with the face to it. Griffin was born with his face to it.
francis is playing like he was two years ago before the rockets played the blazers and rasheed wallace committed that hard flagrant foul on francis as he was going up for a dunk. he wasnt the same player that season after that foul. of course, last year, he had to deal with JVG.
Yeah he doesn't have a history of injuries or anything. He almost always plays 82 games a season. I know that Grant Hill is a quality guy. He seems to be a genuinely good citizen, and is very talented on the court. He's exceptional. I didn't say anything negative about Grant Hill at all. I don't have anything against Hill. I only commented on his durability. He's been injured more than he's played, so for me to think he's liable to be injured again isn't silly. I hope he's not.
he is a prime example of why players should not play injured. . .even to get your team into or through the playoffs. . . He left it on the court. . . Rocket River
Perhaps... I thought there was a knee, and a foot/ankle problem. That would be at least two. But I could be wrong. I do know that he has tried to come back a number of times and has even played in some games but went out injured again. I don't mind other people feeling confident he will finish this season. I hope that he does, I just have zero confidence that he will.
No knee, just the ankle. Played on it despite a stress fracture in his last year in Detroit when they made playoffs. Had surgery after the ankle didn't respond to rest, the fracture still didn't heal, prompting bone graft surgery, which still didn't help much and even gave way to bone spurs which had to be removed. The final development, in early 2003, was the decision that the ankle joint was never set properly in the first place and needed to be reshaped or Hill would just continue re-aggravating it. If you've ever been exposed to orthopaedics, this happens once in a while and is not a light-hearted matter. The ankle was refractured and remodeled in major surgery. Hill still has a lot of metal and plastic in his foot because of all of this. After taking the year off recovering and rehabbing, you now have Grant Hill, v3.1 Evan
It would have been pretty close to impossible because of the difference in money. We would have had to given up the whole team and some land...
Yeah I thought about that. That would also hamper us resigning Yao as well wouldn't it. But damn it would have been a nice team
