I don't like to start threads on topics that are already being beaten to death, but I'm going to in this case because otherwise we're all going to tear our hair out forever over this debacle. Coulda woulda shoulda yada yada yada. We picked a very talented player in the draft. Something terrible happened to him. It'll be much easier to stop agonizing over the lost draft picks, etc., if we think of that terrible thing the way we think of the death of Reggie Lewis. Lewis had a fatal heart defect. Griffin had a brain defect that was fatal to his career, and maybe to his freedom. Yeah, there were some clues, but we didn't know, and the rest of the league didn't know, either, or they wouldn't have thought we scored such a coup landing him. Anyone who's ever been in a relationship with a psychologically messed-up person knows how stupid or guilty or frustrated you can feel, imagining that you can fix them, or could have fixed them, if only you'd done this or that, or they'd done this or that. We imagine that psychological tragedies, unlike most physical tragedies, are predictable or preventable. If it's too hard to compare a bad brain to a bad heart, try imagining that instead of Eddie shooting at his girlfriend and missing, it was her shooting him, causing an injury that ended his career. The point is, we couldn't have foreseen it, and we couldn't have stopped it, and it's just an awful tragedy, and let's all say our goodbyes, stop beating ourselves up, and move on.
I've been in a relationship with a psychologically ill girl, and as much as I thought that I could help her overcome her illness she didn't. Anyway, Eddie Griffin was given everything he basically wanted since he became a Rocket. Now, HIS DECISIONS has brought him to the point where he is now. HIS FAULT, he has no one to blame but HIMSELF. He let his organization down, his family, his team, his coaches, and mostly his fans. Rashard Lewis sure would look nice playing SF for us.
if the r****ded kid runs in the street it is his fault he got what he deserved??? I agree with Will on this. . . he is gone he had issues. MOVE ON Rocket River
I'm not moving on. I'm pissed. We had chances to move EG as late as this summer. Nothing. EG+ X for SAR, EG + X for Lewis, etc. All missed. It's not just the blown draft choice. It's the stupidity of looking the other way, being unwilling to deal. The same thing is happening right now with Steve Francis.
I'm gonna have to disagree with this threads sentiment, and to be honest I'm not really pissed or upset or even puttting any fervor into this, but I think its a very valid point to show the other side you have a 6 ft 10 inch human being, who at the age of 19 suddenly has millons of dollars and was put on one of the biggest stages of performance internationally, WE ALL HAVE PROBLEMS, mine just aren't in the newspaper yet but to go off a cliff as Jeff and say he has a mental defect is just ridiculous, I guess I have one? why? because I'm 23 years old and I don't have everything wrapped up into a succesful little shiny package, that being, my "whip" is a 1990 toyota corolla, I've seen so many people piss away everything that they recieve because of self destruction, was Eddie being self destructive with his actions? of course whos the only person who can really help eddie? eddie. the actual situation, is over, Eddie is gone. I just personally hate to see him not be given an oppurtunity at the age of 21 to understand HOW to make mature non self destructive decisions, its not like having him sit on the suspended list hurts anyone maybe this is good for him, which I hope, I know if it is, he'll come back and drop rashard lewis numbers on us, I view this as not a reggie lewis issue, but one of rashard a franchise I love giving up on its closest children oh well................................ god this is such a waste
That's a little harsh there buddy. Making fun of dem special kids. but will that was a great post, worth the thread imo as for you pasox. NO FOO
A Will post \o/! Good perspective. Actually, one thing I wonder is if more could have been done. Poor mental health among stars is often mocked, since most of us can't underestand being that wealthy/talented/lucky and being unhappy/screwing up... but there's not really that much of a difference between Eddie and a lot of other kids with problems.
b--b--but--we could have picked ---RIchard Jefferson!!!11!!!! Ihate you Carroll Dawson, you stole christmas!!! blah !! blah!!! Anyway, now that that's out of the system, the biggest problem with the Eddie situation, as I saw it, was that all of the negative marks against him from BEFORE the draft (tweener, bad attitude, can't shoot) ended up ringing true afterwards. Hindsight is 20/20, but....that sucks. Bad.
didn't mean it but my point is .. . Ed has Depression I don't think he got it from some skank I don't think he got it from partying too much HE GOT IT when depressed you do stupid stuff [see suicides] I'm not gonna say he not responsible for his mistakes but I will say he was not exactly 100% in his right frame of mine If he was not a millionaire he'd be another dude in prison at the most Rocket River
In hindsight, if we would have picked Richard Jefferson, we would not have had enough ping pong balls to get Yao Ming. That's the solice I take in the wasted pick. Its not the choice of Griffin that hurts, as much as who we could have traded him for, even up until the summer.
I posted something like this in one of the other 17 EG threads. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but I just never saw the "potential" in EG that everyone else did. He was a 'tweener' and not the Kevin Garnett kind, more like the Robert Horry kind. Too big for the 3, too small for the 4. I just didn't see where his game fit into our long term plans. That said, I wish nothing but the best to the guy. Clearly he has some demons. Let's move on now.
