I read the Hawks fan communities and mostly got the following. Elite shooter, but basically only shoot 3s and mid-rangers, not much of anything else on offense like passing or creation, as well as being a bad defender. So pretty much all negatives except shooting, which is plus-plus. Injuries obviously an issue and last year he had to go through a lot of family stuff. Not much to say except if the truth is even half as bad as what got out, I could understand him falling off a cliff last year. I'm tapering my expectations because unless he's gotten some of his bounce back from his younger days, we may just be looking at an improved Reggie Bullock here. Perhaps the Rockets can hide him better than the Hawks cause no Trae Young and more switching, but I don't see him as more of a 10th man for now.
I think Griffin was picked up partially as Green insurance. If Griffin can return to his old form or better, Green can be moved for another center piece or future draft picks to try again later. The natural progression for the starters appears to be: VanVleet ----> Sheppard or Thompson Green -------> no one or Griffin or Whitmore Brooks ------> Eason, Thompson or Whitmore Smith --------> no one Sengun ------> no one Eason, Whitmore and Griffin seem to be the odd men out when it comes to stepping into starting roles. Eason and Whitmore are starter level talent that I would hate to see want to walk elsewhere for that starter job and the big paycheck. Want to see those guys here long-term but the reality is some of these are guys are going to walk out, there's just not enough cash to go around unless you want to get into the 2nd apron.
To be fair, it sounds like he may have been going through some major personal issues last year. He was pretty solid his rookie season. Shot .39 from 3 and hit several game winners.
His game has a lot of issues. He can hit the three, but the rest of his abilities are questionable. Worth a second round pick as a flyer, but nothing more. Would rather make that same trade and get back a KMJ.
One things for certain. Ime is much more suited for a reclamation project than Silas ever was. And at least Griffin doesn't have a history of throwing soup.
AJ was worth the small gamble with the 44th pick. I imagine he is going to spend a lot of time at RGV proving he can step up his defense
I think Griffin is signed as Bullock's replacement, a 3rd string shooter off the bench. It will be bonus if he can give more than that.
Griffin is a good opportunity for a buy-low extension on a guy who could figure in as a bench role player down the line. You can envision him getting pretty low minutes this season but acquitting himself fairly well, then signing a cheap extension next off-season to keep himself in the league. Every contender these days struggles to find inexpensive bench players, so I'm good with giving him a shot.
