With all the rumors in the air about moving Eddie Griffin I have to ask myself if I'd be willing to trade him. I don't think the Rockets should give up a 20 year old 6'10' pf who has a great future ahead of him for someone who can only give me 3 or 4 years (Antotnio Davis), or someone who has probably the worst attitude in the game (Rasheed Wallace), or someone who is a selfish player (Latrell Sprewell). To me it seems like Eddie Griffin is going to be an important player to this franchise and keeping him in my opinion would be the wisest choice the Rockets could make. The trade that I did like was the Cat/Taylor/Cato deal for Jermaine O'Neal. Future Starting Line-Up Francis Mobley Posey Griffin Ming
Possibly. But at least he seems to care. Something that I question about EG. I also wonder where on Earth people think EG can be a great player. Just because he was drafted high? Sam Bowie was drafted #2 overall... If you base your evaluations on EG ON THE FLOOR, rather than where he was drafted and how much we traded for him, I doubt anyone can see projectable greatness from EG.
Jermain O'Neal didn't even get off the bench for 3 years. Eddie's in a learning lab. Give him time. This is entirely theoretical since I live out-of-state and have only seen him play a couple of times.
Im with ya, there is no hurry for this team to win.Unless Eddie can help lure in a Sheed Brand etc than I want to see Eddie again next year. . Think of the Randy Johnson/Freddy Garcia deal only Snow or AD is not close the caliber of Unit and the Rockets are no where close to a championship level as the Astros. And Garcia and Eddie are both great prospects. If the Rockets were in a similar situation as the Astros Id do but there not. They will regret giving up on Eddie if they do
The Jermaine Oneal was benched for 3 years argument needs to stop.. For every Jermaine Oneal like situation, there were about 5 others that did not pan out.. Remember Diop of the Cav's?? My buddy would use that logic with Diop all the time. And he maybe out of the league pretty soon.
Wow griffin would still start if we got O'neal????? Well he'd definately get 6th man of the year, thats for sure
Alot of people talk up Chandler and Curry on the Bulls, two other players from Griffin's draft class. EG's numbers aren't that much different from either of them. If that's any indication, it's way too early to trade Griffin.
i hate to see griffin go.. if i have my choice, ima go let EG develop. i do believe that EG can be better and develop if we give him time and a good mentor.
I get your point but two things I want to point out: 1. Didn't Diop just complete his second year in the NBA? 2. Eddie has gotten significant playing time for two years. He has not just sat on the bench. He has shown something no matter how frustrated we are with his dormant stardom...
I don't think that you read the same board day in and day out that I do. Anywho, some draft picks pan out, others don't. I certainly hope that EG develops into the player the Rockets thought he would, and even though he hasn't yet, I would wait for the right deal. You can't just give him away; you don't trade potential for crap.
Sure O'Neal's situation was different, but there are important similarities to consider. Both came into the NBA very long, lanky PFs, extremely athletic, great leaper/shotblockers, good raw talent - bone thin and clueless. NBA.com currently lists O'Neal at 242 lbs and if you've seen that Nike commercial with him and Paul Pierce recently, you'll see it's all muscle. Correct me if someone has more exact information, but I believe O'Neal was listed at 6'11" 210lbs coming out of high school. It takes a LOT of time for such drastic changes to occur, especially considering the ammount of calories these guys expend every day as professional athletes. Now, I'm not saying weight and muscle is everything. It certainly isn't and I didn't see enough of O'Neal his first two years (no one did) to compare their games, but strictly physically speaking, it's a worthwhile comparison and it demonstrates how much time and patience one must have when drafting a teenager. Secondly, regarding the 5 losers for every O'Neal comment, that's hardly the case. The pro basketball world spends so much time spinning the terrible risks that players take being drafted from high school. Well, consider off the top of my head: Bryant Garnet Harrington Lewis McGrady Miles Stoudemire Say what you will about Miles or anyone else on this list. The guys above have all (at the very least) established themselves as valuable assets and none of them are leaving the league any time soon and Bender Brown Chandler Curry above are guys who are still figuring it out, but all have lots of promise and considerable trade value and all are in their teams' rotation Diop D. Stevenson are wild cards. Stevenson has shown a little, of Diop I know nothing because he doesn't play. Either way, Stevenson is 22, Diop 21. They've got plenty of time to figure it out. Of course there will be flops. Just the other night ESPN did a story on the guy from last year, Cooke. But it's a folly to just go with the old party line of "for every success there are a bunch of failures" because it's just not true. Sorry, I know this is a bit off topic, but I just wanted to respond to the one comment about O'Neal, etc.
While the pro-EG'ers have good points, it appears that Les wants to make some sort of impression, some sort of grand statement, to jar Houstonians into ponying up for tickets at the new arena. If that's the case, EG might be gone. But I wouldn't trade him for a player not worth the contract, or too old (re: Antonio Davis). Shareef Abdur-Rahim? Maybe. Jermaine O'Neal? That's some hell yes. Brand? Oh yes. Rasheed? Probably. Still, JVG might just knock some fire into EG's listless a$$. God knows Rudy couldn't be bothered.
I have said this before many times. I am not going to give Griffin away for just a role player. I feel we have to get quality in return. I don't think you can trade Griffin straight up for someone and get equal in return. Griffin would have to be packaged with someone. I would not give up on Griffin unless I was getting a Rasheed Wallace, Jermaine Oneal or Elton Brand in return. I would not trade Griffin for Antonio Davis (age + contract), Brian Grant (contract), Eric Snow (age and small) or Latrell Sprewell. I know a lot of people are down on Eddie, but please do not sell him short. Don't undervalue him. He has a lot to learn, has a ways to go but is still only 20 and has some decent skills.
I'm a big Griffin fan. But I get the feeling from some of his responses in interviews that he isn't very happy in Houston and doesn't intend on resigning when his contract's up. Maybe that would all change under JVG, but this could be a reason for why Les/CD may decide to just trade him in a preemptive strike.
I get the feeling he just isn't very happy period. I think EG's problem is his head, not his lack of skills. I know it's been said a million times but I just don't see any passion from him. Didn't he lose a member of his family recently?
Well, if we want him, he won't have a choice, right? But if what you say here is true, let's move him for someone who can contribute for a long time-- not someone like Antonio Davis or even Kurt Thomas... guys on the downside. I've hated every (I think) trade the Rockets ever made of youth for experience: Rick Barry (John Lucas as compensation) and Charles Barkley (Cassell and Horry) being the two that come to mind. Come to think of it I hate the OT et al for Clyde when you realize that OT turns into Darko Milicic 8 years later...
