To me Eddie is a catch 22 IMO. Giving up. Eddie has been a HUGE disappointment so far, but is still very young/raw. Giving up on him has the "bite us in the ass" potential. How does the organization look if they pull the trigger and EG turns out to be huge in about 2-3 years?? Time. Do the Rockets want to start winning now? If so, they do like Doc said and "bring in vets.... lots of 'em." I dont have a problem with that, but I think in my heart I want to give Eddie another chance. If he shows now vital signs of improvement this year, dump him next summer. Trade value. If EG sucks it up this year again what is that going to do to his trade value come deadline time? We wont get much in return. So if you want to trade "potential" the time to do that is now, before he is revealed as a possible bust. Eddie has all the potential in the world to be a 20/10 guy in 2-3 years. He needs the right person to get him going in the right direction. Whether or not that person is JVG remains to be seen. But if the dude doesnt hit the weights, keeps trying to drop 3's, and doesnt start to get more physical on both ends of the court. I give up.
I'd give him a year to show some significant signs of improvement. Not that he has to be a star by the end of the season, but just enough to show that he is starting to "get it" (to bring back the old vague expression).
This is a bit of a quagmire (my word of the day) for the Rockets. Its hard to trade EG right now because what you could trade him for would not be = to his potential. However, what they can trade him for now might be less than what they can trade him for in a year, assuming he has another mediocre year. So the Rockets are faced with either keeping him and hoping he develops into something worthy of the draft day trade or essentially, give up on him and get just a decent role player in return. I am for keeping him one more year (maybe a new coach will help him bring more of his game to the fore front) unless we can get a quality starting PF in return, which is not likely to happen.
Another major issue with Griffin is his signability after either this season or next. I look at Griffin and (fearfully) compare his situation to that of Tim Thomas, another Philly product with a somewhat similar skill set. He had a handful of mediocre years to begin his career, but Milwaukee gave him a HUGE contract based on his potential. If Griffin shows ANY sign of improvement, he may be difficult to sign. Remember, the Rockets are already flirting with the luxury tax, especially this season with Rice in the final year of his big contract and with Francis's huge extension kicking in this year. They will have to give Yao the max in two years also. Honestly, I don't see how the Rockets will be able to hold onto Griffin long-term if Griffin has even a moderately decent agent. As the eternal pessimist, I fear that the Rockets may have to trade Griffin mid-season in order to maximize his trade value. I cheered wildly when we got this kid in the 2001 Draft; but such is the reality of today's NBA business landscape.
Size and confidence. I give him this summer and the next SUMMER to put on a combined 20lbs. If he achieves this, I think he can be a great compliment.
Man, there's just no easy answer to this one. He has so much "potential" but of course that just means you haven't done anything yet. Of course if we trade him, you know he's going to become an All Star. I say let it ride for 1 more year with a new coach. He doesn't have to become J. O'Neal next year, but he must show improvement or else.
EG already surprised me with his ability to play well with others. He hasn't punched Francis once in two years! He has not really improved since coming here, though, and I suspect that is partly his youth and partly the fact that Rudy was not a harsh taskmaster. I'd like to see what JVG can do with him.
Just adding more weight isnt going to make EG a good player. He has to learn to develop. Maybe this was a product of Rudy's weak young player development and letting the players get away with everything like spoiled children. It will be interesting (if Eddie is still here) to see if/how he thrives under JVG.
While I have not been a EG fan, ok I frequently trash him, I would give him up to the trading deadline (1 year tops) to showcase his "potential" under JVG system.
The Rockets can't win. If he gets better they'll have trouble resigning him, and if he doesn't get better, his trade value slips even further. I think the Rockets should keep him, let JVG try to light a fire under him, then trade him right before the deadline while he is at his highest value. Raven
Its too late to trade him. The rockets and fans screwed around the last two years in optimism and now the entire Nba knows Griffin is a bust. EVen Bill Walton said it "in other words" over and over again on national tv. Might as well keep him now since word is out. You had your window and blew it. The other problem is that the backup is a fat piece of crap and injury prone. So tradeing a Griffin for Snow for instance would leave you with MO Taylor and thats not what I want. I dont want Abdur Rahim either. Basically should just keep him even though it wont pan out. The thing to do is trade Cat and package Griffin with him to net a star player in return because cat and grif are role players,but some dumb team probably would trade one superstar for our two role players.
I agree. I would not trade Griffin (packaged with someone else) unless I got something like Brand in return. I would not sell Griffin short for just a role player.
I'd rather move Mo Taylor or Kelvin Cato or Moochie Norris and package them or whatever to get a role playing power forward who can rebound and defend and maybe block shots too. This guy could start or back up and maybe play PF and C. I think we should keep Eddie....and I don't think his trade value is too high anymore. PJ Brown....Antonio Davis...Kurt Thomas...Brian Grant...Kendrick Perkins...ELTON BRAND....JERMAINE O'NEAL
Good point. Although, if Taylor were to be traded for an expiring contract, I don't think the Rockets would have any trouble resigning Eddie when the time comes. But you're right, it Eddie becomes good enough to have some bargaining room in the free agent market, the chance of us handsomely paying two players at the exact same position is hard to see happening.
That pretty much sums up my view. It's up to EG. He has the tools to do great things. Not sure he has the heart.
I personally think Eddie will be damn good in 2-3 years if not sooner. If the new coach gives him confidence, we could be seeing another A. Stoudamire (hate to compare him to a rookie but thats the way it is).
