Did he manage to join Tmo and Walt in having a better percentage from outside than inside the arc? That was a nice 27 footer he made.
I dunno...do we really want Griffin hanging out around the 3pt line launching bombs?? We have guys that can do that now. Old School
Seeing those threes going up reminds me of Robert Horry. The last thing I want Griffin to become is a Robert Horry prototype offensive-wise.
Let him do what he wants...he could possibly be the 2nd most all around talented (from a pure basketball standpoint) player we have after Stevie. I just hope he gets the minutes. This is a guy who was the BEST high school player of his time, then the BEST freshman college player in the land. He will have to see minutes or else we may see the Lazy Eddie that everyone was worried about.
Actually, he often made a pretty strong case for being one of the best college players period last year.
UGH....I could understand if he was jacking up shot after shot from the arc and hitting 1 of every 5 but...... I was pumped to see he had that kind of range. I don't see how you could think that's a negative in any way. Don't you want your players to be as versatile as possible? Especially when Griffin could feasibly play multiple positions? This just further shows me how complete a player Griff could be. We have already seen a taste of his low post game, now we see he could develop a solid perimeter game. Let him play.....
My point was that I did not want to see Eddie Griffin falling in love with shooting the three. When watching Robert Horry, how many times did you want to scream at him to slash towards the basket? I wanted to scream that all the time. On occasion, he would, but most of the time, he would camp out behind the three point line and wait for a dump out pass (which was the offensive scheme at the time). I just hated to see Horry's athleticism go to waste by having him as primarily a three point threat. I do not want Eddie Griffin to discard any sort of low post game and hang around the arc. Griffin is tons more athletic than Horry and should be a better player. Horry was a role player and Griffin has an opportunity to become a superstar. I love the fact that Eddie has range...it will only add to his arsenal of weapons, but I would like to see him develop further offensive weapons, not just a three point shot.
Isn't the main problem with Kenny Thomas' offense the fact that he has TOO MANY offensive options? I've heard this said by the coaches several times. He feels he can do so many things with the ball that his judgement is poor when he gets the ball. Sometimes having too many options can limit your effectiveness, and cause you to second guess yourself... Probably isn't going to be a problem with Eddie, but it's a thought.
I don't know, I don't think Bird was less effective because he could hit a 3 off the bat, or that Magic or Jordan became less effective when they developed a 3 point shot to keep opponents honest. Of course am being a little facious here. But.... Of fairer comparison, I think when Wallace, Malone, Garnett, or Webber developed a better long range shot (Wallace can now hit some 3's, the others tend to limit around 20 feet), that increased their overall effectiveness. Just because you can hit the outside shot doesn't mean it is your bread and butter, or that you can't play inside too. Horry's limitation is he just didn't develop the handles to be a smooth 3, nor the strength and back to the basket skills of a solid 4, if it wasn't for his outside shot he would be a wasteland on offense. Griffin has a lot more potential skills to rely on, it is sugar on top if he gets a reasonably consistent 3 stroke.
That does not warrant limiting a player's skillset. There is no such thing as too many options in terms of versatility. The more the better..... The problem with Thomas is not his wealth of options, but his decision making abilities and judgement in how and what to use when.
My point is the Rockets need rebounders, not 3pt shooters. They have plenty of guys who can throw them up from outside. The Horry comparison was a good one. Once a guy realizes he aint gonna get bruised hanging out around the arc he may start to stay planted there. Yes, it IS good to see he has that offensive ability. Old School
We need a low post player not a 3pt shooter. I was actually disheartened that EG didn't get one post play. If he is going to be the next Rasheed Wallace he needs to play the post first then he can go to 3pt range. Please please Rudy T, don't abandon the low post for EG. We don't want Robert Horry, we want Rasheed Wallace.
I hear and understand your point....but my point is this: The Rockets need help on the glass, yes. But what would you rather have, a team of "specialists" that can do one or two things really well.....or a versatile, well rounded roster, where all or most of your players do all or most things well?
OS, developing an outside shot hasn't seem to hurt Sheed, Malone, KG or Webber, in fact I would be inclined to say it made them more difficult to content with. An outside shot was Horry's ONLY skill in offensive sets, big difference. Maybe KT's limitation is not that he doesn't have too many skills, it is that none of them are exceptional, plus he isn't a great defender. We do want foremost rebounding and block shots out of Griffin, especially the first year or two, but the sooner he has a diverse offensive game the bigger total impact he will have on the floor.
I might be worried if Eddie was going to play smallforward all the time. But it sounds like he wont be in that position much. If he was playing the SF spot, he might end up just hanging around the 3pt line (ala Horry), but by playing the 4 and 5 it should just be a bonus that he *can* hit the 3 when necessary. I mean, it's got to be better than the days when Barkley would fling up 3's even though he shot like 10% from the 3 line. That used to drive me crazy. Now that teams will use the zone at times, the more range you have the better. I was at the Mavs-Magic game last night and watched the Magic fall into a 2-3 zone at times. The Mav's just spread the floor and started launching 3s until the magic gave up and went back to a man D. --Drof
