I'm having a very hard time understanding what the hell I just typed, so I'll just leave you with this... [This message has been edited by Pete Rose Mobster (edited July 17, 2001).]
Some of you people are seriously selling Griffin short. I watched this kid in the Big East last year. He was perhaps the best player in the conference - better than Murphy or Troy Bell in the sense that he could do it all. He would have won all the awards if either A. he hadn't punched Ty Shine or B. Seton Hall had won more. Griffin is so dynamic: 1. You haven't seen it yet, but he can shoot. He's no Matt Bullard, but he's got a better shot than Anderson already. And when you're 6'9, that's plenty. 2. He plays excellent team defense. It's not just that he can block shots - he has very good instincts. Besides this, he's capable of guarding 3 positions. 3. He can play above the rim - rebounds and putbacks. He's rebounding better in the RMR than any other Rocket - including guys with more experience. If nothing else, that's going to get him more minutes than an 8th man immediately on a team short on rebounding. Griffin should start. If Anderson (and Hakeem) doesn't come back, he'll be the only Rocket besides maybe Thomas (yes, I'm serious) who understands defense well. You can put Walt or Langhi in there if you want... but neither is capable of the same kind of game Griffin is. With most of the other 19 year olds who don't start... it's because they'ren ot athletically ready. Griffin is. He might switch to PF eventually, but right now he's the "new prototypical" sf. ------------------ Clutchcity.net... source for all your Rockets, Astros, political, music, humor, and Gordita news. [This message has been edited by haven (edited July 17, 2001).]
I'm sorry Cat, but I have to disagree. I happen to think that Seton Hall was an exceptionally talented team last year. This was a team in 2000 that was 2 points from advancing to the Elite 8. Their only major loss from that team is Shaheen Hollaway. They returned their best player and leading scorer in Darius Lane. They added two All-Americans in Andre Barrett and Eddie Griffin. Also added a top 30 prospect in Marcus El-Toney. Yet they still underachieved. Should the entire blame be placed on Eddie Griffin? No. Should he shouldered some of that blame? Yes. Let's look at some facts. Griffin averaged 17.8 ppg on 42.9% shooting for the season. The first 10 games of his career came against an extremely weak non-conference schedule with only 2 of those teams even deserving to be in division I basketball. He feasted with a 20.6 ppg average and shooting over 47% from the field. During his next 18 games in conference play(keep in mind that it was a down year for Big East basketball), his average dropped to 15.83 ppg. His last 19 collegiate games, he shot just 39.5% from the field. The fact that they were ranked top 10 before conference play took place, and then failed to make it to the NCAA tournament obviously correlates with Griffin punching Ty Shine and the huge decline in his play. Let's not make excuses for Griffin's poor shooting percentage. It wasn't low because he was shouldering some massive scoring load. There are more than enough offensive talents on that team that can create their own shots. The mere fact that they have Darius Lane, who led a Sweet 16 team in scoring and finished 7th this past year in the Big East in scoring, makes it hard to believe that Griffin was forced to step up for the lack of scoring punch from his teammates. The fact is Griffin had talented teammates, and yet he played downright selfishly far too much last season. ------------------
Let's also not forget that Tommy Amaker was a horrible coach, Andre Barrett wasn't a good passer, and Ty Shine was in gunner mode all year. Not to mention the fact that box and 1's were constantly being thrown at Griffin, and he did struggle with his shot when opposing teams ran a man at him. Griffin was indeed selfish during his stint at Seton Hall, but the other players/coach of that team were equally responsible for that team underachieving. ------------------ Endtroduction..........
Even though Tommy Amakker was good enough to coach them to the brink of an Elite Eight appearance a year ago, I starting to agree with you about his poor coaching. In terms of sheer talent, that Seton Hall team was hands down a top 10 - 15 team in terms of talent. When a team underachieves that bad at the college level, the coach should take most of the blame. But I still am a firm believer that Eddie Griffin should be next in line when it comes to shouldering the blame. This team was ranked in the top 10 when the calendar year changed. But when he punch out Ty Shine and proceeded to score under 16 ppg with 39% shooting from the field during conference play, Griffin should be reprimanded for not stepping up as the best player on the floor when his team needed him most. Ideally, you want your best player to step up when March rolls around, not digress. ------------------
