With all the talk about how Brown's hiring might impact Franchise or even Boki, I was interested in opinions on how it might change the forwards of the team. Specifically, Eddie Griffin. Here's a positive... Griffin develops into a Theo Ratliiff-like player?
Griffin would have to grow up, real fast, he would finally be held accountable, as would the rest of the team. The Rockets are a PROFESSIONAL sports franchise, it is time their players started acting like it. DD
I think Paul Silas would do a great job here he's led his team very well through multiple injuries and is a long term solution unlike Brown
I see Griffin going a lot farther than Theo....im thinking more along the lines of a mix between camby and sheed. KT went from an ok, 3 pt jacking 4, and in half a season turned him into a double-double monster in philly. id like to see what hes going to do to a guy as gifted as griff is
Apparently, Brown is known for his TEACHING, so hopefully, Griffin will develop much better under Brown than he did under Rudy. He had his 2 seasons away from the basket, shying away from contact, and taking as many shots in the first quarter to compensate for lack of shots later in the game. That just won't work. He's going to have to stay down low, get STRONGER physically and mentally over the summer, and get his shots in the flow of the game and off other players' missed FGA's. I'm sure brown won't let his 6'11 PF in his 3rd season stand around the 3-pt line and launch 3-pters, while also taking shots in the first quarter, even if they are not in the flow. If you guys ever noticed, 50% or more of Griffin's shot attempts come in the first quarter. He seems to jack em up like Cuttino in the 1st.
Is it me or does Brown seem like a head case? They don't call him 'Leapin' Larry' for nothing and players seem to always butt-heades with him on and off camera. He is a great coach and all but something isn't right.
It's not aggresiveness. Clearly clearly, he's taking thos shots SOLELY because he knows he won't be getting any later. It's not a team concept. When he takes those shots, he doesn't get the best shot for the team. It's not aggresiveness, it's selfishness. Point being, Brown will turn him into a team player, and will let him KNOW that he's a role player at the moment.
I think of all the players on the Rockets roster Griffin should be the one player with the most to gain from Larry Brown potentially coming in. Brown will mold Griffin into a more defensive PF that works more in the low post and plays MUCH BETTER position man to man defense. Imagine if Griffin started to play similarly to Kenyon Martin? That would do wonders for our team. Griffin has A LOT to learn and Brown has a lot to teach. It is a good fit.
If we are to believe it is a result of Brown, in the 97-98 season, Theo Ratliff went from: 6.5 pts, 5 rebs, 2.3 bks per with Detroit (24 games) to 11.2 pts, 7.3 rebs, 3.5 bks with Philly (58 games). In the following three seasons with Philly, he put up roughly 12, 8, and 3 (although he was injured a lot). Pretty decent jump from his ~5, 4.5, and 1.7 with Detroit. Of course, it is unknown how much Brown had to do with it and how much simply maturing had to do with it - but that is a pretty big jump during the 97-98 season. Griffin is better than Ratliff.
I think Brown would be a great impact on EG , Larry could probably get some great weed for Eddie to smoke
Griffin needs to get bigger. He gets pushed around alot. Brown can teach him to box out and plant his ass prior to the bang. Can he teach him to initiate the contact? To crash and bully like Amare? I don't think so. Griff's never going to be that guy. He's got to use his length and wire to snag boards. That's his job. Dude also needs to learn to set a pick. Absolutely useless there. What the heck was Yao doing setting picks for guards? The pf needs to do that, so Yao can get the bailout bucket. Griffin also needs to be told not to shoot. Ever. When he masters tip ins, he can move out to 8 ft. Then 10. Then 15. Then 20. Then 3s. Dude has a lot of work to do.
Just an opinion on Larry Brown.. Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund has said he plans on hiring a 'system' coach whose specialty is teaching, not an `intuitive' coach who is better with veterans. Brown is known as one of the finest teachers in the game, earning the nickname `Mr. Fixit'' for turning around ailing franchises. In his latest effort, he took the 76ers from the bottom of the Atlantic Division to the playoffs in each of the last five seasons and the Finals in 2000. http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/5950506.htm In my opinion.. I don't think think he'll just help griffin.. he'll help yao as well.. Les hire him ASAP, who cares if he's off in a few years he'll give the players a framework to work from..
Not all great coaches are cool cats like Phil Jackson or Chuck Daly. Some of them are Rolaids-munching nutcases like Doug Moe or Don Nelson. Though now that you mention it, the rings all have belonged, for at least a couple of decades, to the cool cats: Jackson, Rudy, Daly, Riley, KC Jones, Doc Ramsey. Of course in many of those cases the main player was a coach's dream: Bill Walton, Bird, Magic, Hakeem, not the kind who give you an upset stomach.
I don't know about Kenny Thomas becoming a double-double monster once he joined Philadelphia. During his Philadelphia stint...he averaged 10.3 points and 8.5 rebounds. That's only an increase of .4 points and 1.6 rebounds with averaging 1 more minute per game. Hmmmmmm???
look at his feb stats 10 and 7. then march 10 and 8.8, and then april 12 and 11. I think you can see some real progress in there...
Brown will turn EG to a 17/10 player. He will help Rox's young players tremendously. Rox's starting 5 will benefit a lot from Brown's teaching. Yao EG Posey Cat SF These 5 are already very good or potentially very good players. Once Brown teaches them team concepts and works with everyone on fundamentals. Rocket will be a team to contend for the WCF.
