Eddie may have had only one or two great games, but he had ALOT of solid games. Oscar had 28 in one game. What did he do in the rest? Did he have nearly has many solid games as Griff? Judging by their season stats, its not really that close.
No, he played primarily PF next to Dalembert, where he average ~4 blocks a game. He was rail thin, and has put on over 20 pounds since then (is he still adjusting to the increased mass?). C'mon now. Torres was what, 24 with professional experience abroad? Griffin was a 19 year old rookie. It was a whole lot more than one game-the guy put up some strings and streaks, and provided some fearless late shots, was the first rookie to lead the Rockets in blocks since Hakeem. He showed all the flashes of a guy that was nearly the #1 pick, and all the inconsistency of a 19 year old rookie. That was expected. If you're denying Griffin put on some impressive shows last year of solid if not spectacular play, I don't know what to tell you. PS-crash (or anyone else): Right now 2 Rockets have a lower FG% than Griffin. Care to take a guess who they are?
Calm down people. Look at Kobe over the past couple of games and the lake show lost both of those games. Should we dismiss the lakers from contending and call kobe a bust? Look how long it took for olowokandi to come on strong. What about Dirk. He didn't tear it up his 2nd year either. TMac didn't blossom until he left Toronto after his 3 year. J O'neal didn't start to get good until after his 3 year also. Give it time.
for an 11 game stretch, Eddie Griffin led the league in block shots. I posted a thread last year with the numbers, here http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27273&highlight=games that said, we cannot deny that, at best, he is a streak shooter right now. No excuse about getting the ball where and when can explain 4 for 24, or whatever it is, nor his inconsistent midrange game last year, and lack of low post game. There is a clear difference between Griffin and Gooden's low post game. You can't say Griffin has a turnaround jumper just because he's made it a few times last year. If you do, then we might as well say half the PFs in the league have turnaround Js. Gooden has a turnaround J. Griffin does not--not consistently, not yet. And Griffin is also just not strong enough on defense, still. He remains a small forward trying to become a power forward, imo, and that is why you see opposing teams cover him with a small forward still, while covering Kenny with a power forward.
Crash, I apologize, but this thread was like the personification of every frustration vented here since the Pacer game. And I'm as frustrated as anyone. You have attacked some people very strongly with emotion while defending your position which I thought was way off your thought processes, I could be very wrong. You responded to me in a thoughtful way and without severity when I was confronting you. If you believe E. Griff's. was not worthy of a 7th pick that's ok for you and anybody else. But I think I simply have respect for your posts and I've become flabberghasted by some of your attacks after you defend your opinion. My bad, certainly. I am new to bulletin boards, and I've made an ass out of myself particulairly on 2 occasions (at least), and I don't think I'm necessarily an asset on this forum in any way. But the posters here that make me think and re-evaluate my god-awful sports momentary certainty, is helpful. I attacked after reading this thread for the first time, and I'm sure I regret it, but there's a certain amount of repect that went into it. You need to lighten up on your defense especially when you know you are starting a thread addressing all of our morning after doubts. Anyway, I obviously think your posts are worth reading otherwise I never would have ranted. And Eddie? Baaad two games. I wish I could retract my post, but I was reacting to something on page 2 or 3, I think.
Griff is in 2nd year and already shows more all-around skill than Steve and Mobley. Griff can play both ends of the court. Also, he's YOUNG!!!!!! Check him out later this season: after the all-start break.
How does he show more skill then Steve and Cat? All he can do is block a few shots and shoot threes. Other then that he has no offensive moves and can't dribble.
I'm talking about ALL-AROUND skill at his age 19. And with only 1 year experience in the NBA. I didn't not mean that he's better than Steve/Cat in scoring talent.
I think all-around talent is maybe not the right characterization since Griffin, at this stage of his career, is more of a defensive specialist. His shooting, dribbling and passing leave quite a bit to be desired.
This is the exact same crap we had to endure about Yao after game one, at least Eddie had a whole yr under his belt before they pasted judgement!
Who have I attacked in this thread? If you are talking about my reply to old man rock I only responded to him calling me stupid for thinking that Eddie had not lived up to what I think his potential is. Even when I got into it with ricerocket I never made it personal although I was talking some serious smack that ended up backfiring. Please try to remember that things don’t always look on screen the way they sound in your head when you are typing them. There are plenty of times that I type something that sounds witty or funny in my head but after I read them they look like someone is just being an ass. In any event apology accepted.
I have mentioned several times that Yao Ming gets a mulligan from me for quite a while. If he continues to rebound like he did last night while getting use to the speed of the game I will give him a ton of time to get used to the game. BTW, just because I am disappointed in Eddies progress I am in no way giving up on him.
The people who are getting mad at crash5179 and TheReasonSF3 in this thread are missing the main point. crash has said very clearly (and often) that last year, he thought Griffin would become a star. What he's worried about is that Griffin doesn't appear to have made the "leap" that star-caliber players who come out of school early almost always make in their first couple of offseasons. Kwame Brown is a perfect example of someone who seems to have made a leap. Kobe Bryant made enormous leaps in each of his first 4 years. For those who would defend Griffin, here's the question: What aspects of his game have improved? What has he done that would make you say, "Ahh, he worked on that over the summer?" It's not a crime for a 19-year-old rookie to have holes in his game. But if the all of those holes are still there as a 20-year-old... when do you think he's going to fix them? Becoming a perennial All-Star is a big mountain to conquer, and he needs to start climbing if he plans to get to the top, doesn't he? For what it's worth, I remember having a similar discussion with Warriors fans six years ago about Joe Smith (at the start of his 2nd year). Everyone treated me like a heretic for saying GS needed to trade him before the rest of the league realized he wasn't going to be a star. Just a friendly warning.
His offense is better, he's not hitting his shots. Hopefully he'll start. I want to give him a few more games before I write him off in this department. His shot blocking and defense are better. They were already good.
Crash, thank you. I reread the thread a couple of times and I can't decide what set me off, probably because I was just ready to go off I guess. You are so right about how things "sound" when you read them. I've reluctantly learned to put in the happy faces sometimes but even that often confuses content. Being on topic about Eddie: wonder if he's not a warrior? I do. Do you think his comfort zone on the floor is affecting his development? I do. Is Rudy to blame? No, not at all. Is he my greatest disappointment so far? Yes, and I keep beating myself up about it. But he and Yao are the only guys I don't trade under any circumstances. ( And as an aside to the M.A.SH. guys I say Steve's on the right team now, just as Bibby was last year). Eddie has a game. But even after last night I'm not disappointed at all.
I do think Eddie needs more time. He's shooting terrible. A lot of these shots were falling at the Summer Pro League and he wasn't missing near this badly at training camp. We saw some performances like this last season. He was pretty inconsistent and I was hoping we would see less of that this year, but I think time will tell. The discouraging thing to me is I was hoping his play would be strong enough in the first 5 games to not warrant benching him in favor of Mo.
It makes you wonder if he has some sort of injury too. Maybe a jammed finger or something? Hopefully we will see a different EG on the home buckets...
