Eddie has a much better chance at banging with the power forwards of the West than SAR IMO. I never said Eddie would be a bruiser like Brand but he will produce similar numbers rebounding and shot blocking IMO. I see Eddie's body developing into a similar body of Wallace or Webber. I definitely see him tipping the scales at around 240 at some point. That is plenty enough bulk to bang with the western conference power forwards. What is Brand about 270 at 6'8"? Your right Eddie will never have the power that comes with that frame.
Brand is not an exceptional player. He's also not on a bad team now either. He's on a very talented team but he fail to take them to wins. Individual numbers don't mean much to me. Brand's undersized at PF. He can't defend Duncan/KG etc. He doesn't have much range. He's not the "take over" type of guy. He doesn't make his teammates better. Natural talent and skills wise, I would take Wallace over Brand every time.
Some fans really know everything eh? The best EG showed last season was his shot blocking ability. And that doesn't make you a franchise player. His shooting % was also around 40% right? Why should Steve defer to him? I mean I am not saying "told you so" here but you only have to look at the form of his shooting and the number of moves he has in his arsenal you should know that he would never be the 1st offensive option type guy. Lebron James's jumper is not so good now, but you can see that his form is good, so I truely believe that he can develop a consistent jumper. But with EG's shooting form, I can't ever see him having a consistent jumper unless he changes his shooting form. You can't say that because one is young, then he can learn anything. I mean I can't ever see EG can develop the shooting touch of Dirk or the passing skills of Webber. It's something instinctive and natural born. You either have it or you don't.
This next offseason is very important for Griffin. But the following is even more important. Why? Because THAT's where we'll determine if he's a bust or not. Yao Ming is 22. So we can give Eddie till 22 to prove himself, and that's in 2 years (I believe). In the next 2 offseasons, Eddie needs to put on a solid 20lbs. In this first offseason, he needs to improve his shot (flatness) and mentality (no 3's). In the next one, he polishes his post game. That's what he should follow. Of course, I'd love to have a very experienced backup for him, someone like Kevin Willis, Ty Hill, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason....A tough guy who'll always be in his ear...Someone who made a living out of reboudnign and defense.... In 2 years, when Eddie is 22, Yao is 24, and Francis is 27...We'll still be too young to contend (judging by age of our core players), but still, can you imagine how good we'll be in 2 years with those 3 players? Despite my faith in Griff, I personally think we need a different TYPE of PF alongside Yao, someone like Brand.
Good points abound in this thread. Grffin just needs time to develop. Once he puts on more bulk, refines his footwork and develops a jump hook he will be a good player. At 20 years old he can still catch a late spurt to grow another inch or two. I am not worried about his future at all. One thing about Griffin is that he's already a good backup pf at age 20, and he will only get better. There is no lethal weakness in his game and physicality to hinder him from becoming a solid frontcourt player. Griffin's major problem is that he suffers from a little inadequacy in his all around game, which synergetically erodes his game while added up. A little improvement in his all around game - dribbling, shooting, footwork, strength, confidence etc.- will do wonders for his game, and that's not hard to attain given hard work and his talent. Look at the 1998 Spurs, a team with a dominant pf in Duncan and a good center in Robinson. The rest of team were scrubs. They won a championship with great help defense on the perimeter, tough interior defense, and an inside-outside game. Given time Yao may evolve into a Duncan and Griffin can play like D-Rob in that year, giving the team around 15 points and 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. Hell, even Griffin has that calm demeanor of Robinson. A bonus is Griffin is a good 3 point shooter that accompanies Yao's inside game. This Yao-Griffin combo imitating Duncan-Robinson situation is perfectly attainable and that's why the Rockets are not crazy passing on SAR(if the rumor is true), as Griffin has a better chance to evolve into a more compatible player to Yao than SAR.
Please. Brand is on a bad team, that is why their record sucks. Brand scores 19 points a game grabs 11 rebounds a game gets 2 blocks a game and shoots 50% from the floor against KG, Webber, Duncan and Wallace and you say he is not exceptional? If you would really take Wallace over Brand then this is where you and I will just have to disagree.
Brand is a victim of two cheapa$$ in his whole career: Jerry Crause and Donald Sterling. The Clippers underachieved for many years, it didn't start with Brand.
Please I didn't say that Brand is a bad player. I just think that he's just not as good as some Brand lovers here believe. He's not a franchise player. He would be a great 2nd/3rd option type and that's all. If I were an NBA owner, I wouldn't pay him the max contract and try to build my team around him as well. And didn't Chicago have a better record since Brand left?
Griffin will be very good. When we traded for Griffin he was labeled can't miss, future superstar, best talent and highest potential of the draft. A few NBA scouts labeled him the next tim ducan. He was rated the No. 1 highschool player in the country at 17 years old at 6'9 205. At 18 years old as a freshman he avg. 18pts, 11 rebs and 4.5 blks a game. He recorded double doubles in all his first 12 games as a freshman winning 10 of the 12 games. He was the only player ever for seton hall to get a triple double of 21pts, 12rebs, and 10 blks(and he was a freshman). He was freshman of the year. He was projected no. 1 for the NBA draft by USA Today, SportingNews, ESPN, etc. all but till the last 2 of weeks of the draft. ESPN and some NBA scouts were projecting him to be a 20pt and 10reb player right from the start. Some compared him to have stats similar to the then R. Wallace and S. Abul Rahim, the lowest of the players he was compared to was S. Marion. This is why we traded for him, he was our no. 1 guy right from the get go. The only reason he didn't go 1st was because he also was labeled a headcase. He knocked out his teamates in highschool and in college for not getting him the ball. After the great first 12 games start the next game Giffin punched his teamate and griffin was suspended and seton hall lost 10 of the next 12 games and missed the tourney. No one questioned his game or skills just his attitude then. What has changed? Besides growing to 6'10 230 now that he's 20, and still going to be 20 even when the season ends, he's still your avg. 20 year old superstar PF. Has he lost his game? No he still was dropping 20pt and 10reb daily against other 20 year olds superstars(Chandler, Curry, Gooden, Stoudimire, etc) in the summer league. He's just not ready to play with the vets, it doesn't mean he's just not skilled and talented enough. What happen then? Nothing, he's still not big enough yet to bang inside. He still has probably one f the the longest range of all true PFs in the league. He still rebounding. He still blocking. He still has the same calm look. Is he going to good in his prime? Why not, he's only 20 and he has demonstarted that he can dominate anyone his age. His peers aren't doing any better. Once these young guys get bigger they are the future of the PF position(except for Amare who has already developed his body now) Should the rockets trade eddie now? Why should they, he's shown he can play great at times. In time he will become more consistent. If they aren't going to trade Griffin for R. Lewis or S. Abul Rahim than he is the FUTURE. I seen the future, I seen him dominate these guys and he will be very good IMO.
Great post LA Rockets fan. Once upon a time, there was a young man named Jermine Oneal, and there was a crackwhore team named the Jail Blazers...
When we judge players, can we just look at their games and see their overall impact in the games and the contribution to their teams' victories to judge them rather not throwing up some stats like they mean everything? I bet that's the key difference between ignorant sportwriters and intelligent scouts. Sportwriters just look at the stat sheets. Scouts watch players play the games to judge them. Now you tell me what skills/talent Brand has over Wallace?
unless he fixes that flat-a$% shot and buys some trajectory viagra, Wallace and KG aint going to happen. He has no touch and a horrible shot. These have to be changed in this game for him to be an impact. Defensively, he is just as much an impact as horry...Horry could guard any 3, 4, and some 5s.....though he did not have the blocking skills that Eddie has--Eddie cannot guard the 3s one on one like Horry could.....
I don't see him ever being a superstar in the post, like Wallace or Garnett. Maybe if he were on a different team where there aren't so many offensive weapons, but not on this team. In his prime I think Eddie will be about as good as Horace Grant was at his prime. His main contribution will be his hustle, defense, and rebounding. His points will come from put-backs and open outside jumpers like Grant used to hit. His stats will be around 14ppg. 11rpg. 3bpg. 48%fg.
No talk of the other wallace?.. ben.. even though eddie can shoot better than him.. bens averaging this season 14.6 rebs 3 bks 6.5 pts.. i think in his prime eddie will be getting about 14 pts 12 rebs.. 3.5 bks ... close to the same kind of presence ben is..
Brand rebounds, blocks shots and has just as good of a low post game as Rasheed. Rasheed has a better outside shot. BTW, Brand is not the first superstar power forward to start his career and a couple of crappy teams. Have you ever heard of Cris Webber? Seems to me that his first 4 years that were spent with Golden State and Washington did not produce any very good teams. Like I said we will just have to disagree. If Wallace could rebound then he would have done it by now.
