I say that we shove this guy into the starting lineup, and when the regular season begins, we give him 35-40 minutes every night. I want the Rockets to repeat what they did with Francis, and force Griffin to learn the NBA game quickly. I don't want him to become another Jermaine O'Neal, who rides the bench for several years, ends up being traded, and becomes a 20-10 star for another team.
The guy isn't physically ready yet to play 35-40 minutes a game. But he wont ride the bench unless he turns out to be a complete bust. Jermaine rode the bench because Portland had so many star forwards that he just was not going to see any time at all Griffin will get his minutes this year, will start some games, and if he plays well enough, will supplant KT as the starter later on in the season. quit being a gloomy gus.
I agree with your motive but I do not think we need to necessarily start him. I do agree that his workload should be heavy. In fact, we do not have a choice. As I have said elsewhere, he has to be fixture at the 4 and put in close to 7 minutes at the 5.
I agree with ZRB, I mentioned after the draft that the Rockets needed to treat Griffin like Francis. Griffin can handle 30 minutes a game. You treat him like O'Neal or Jonathan Bender and he will take years to develop. You put him into the heat of the match from day one, and perhaps you have another Francis.
How can we start him on opening night if he's had 3 games or less of preseason? We might as welll start KT and bring Grif in in the second qtr.
Sure would've been nice to have gotten Oneal instead of Cato. I often wonder why it couldn't have been him. But then Portland knew what they were doing!
I think having Griffin play major minutes is a big mistake! When Francis came out, he was 21 or 22 and had played 3 years of college basketball counting junior college. Eddie is 19 and has played one year. Big difference there in maturity, physically and emotionally. You don't think that Jermaine O'Neal could have torn up college ball as a Freshman like Eddie did? Granted, it took O'Neal longer to become the star that many had envisioned him for, but he was not ready to play major minutes when he first came into the league. Same thing for Eddie. Until he can add some bulk to his frame, he will get pushed around at the 4 or 5 spot, which are the 2 positions that I think Rudy and CD want him to play. I know some of you haven't been happy with Rudy and CD about their decisions, but this is one that I think they are dead on about.
( congrats. on making requirement for the clique, Manny....they should send your membership info. via e-mail ) Seriously, I agree I'm ready to be patient on this guy. He has a world of talent.
The thing about Griffin playing 25-30 minutes should not be a big deal. Yes he will get pushed around but that would be a great learning experience for him. No need to hide him on the bench. In addition his shot blocking and rebounding and court running are all NBA quality at this point. The last time I checked we need that now. Another critical consideration is the teamates. First Cat, Moochie and Francis will constantly be giving him layups and ducks, just ask Carlos and Cato if that is true. Second, Griffin has at least two solid go to move of his own and a good jump shot, right now. And third, he does not have to carry the team offensively. So why have him on the bench? In favor of who? Collier?!
First Cat, Moochie and Francis will constantly be giving him layups and ducks , just ask Carlos and Cato if that is true. Haha. I always knew Cato had ducks.
I agree, let him play. Shareef played early, brand played, Garnet, McDyess, Joe Smith, all these guys were no older than 20. Treating him like he'll break is a mistake i think.
I'm with ZRB. The worst that could happen is he has a couple bad seasons, but he will mature more quickly. The team might pay now, but in the end I think a good 25-30 minutes a game this season will help him along more quickly, and result in a better Eddie Griffin in a shorter time.
Right now the logjam is at small forward and our centers don't exactly look to be our strongest link this year. Right now I only count KT and EG as our only 4s on the roster. We spent 3 no1 picks on this guy because it was felt he was the one player in the draft that could rebound, shotblock and score, particularly down low. Without EG we will be faced with deficits in every facet of the game he was recruited to perform. Ready or not he needs to play significant minutes.
I think the Rockets should start out w/20-25 minutes and if he shows significant progress,bump him up to 30 minutes. He will get time. I don't think Rudy traded 3 players for him just to have him on the bench. Sometimes rookies start off slowly. Cassel didn't start get major minutes his rookie season until January of that season. Scotty Brooks was getting all the backup minutes at the beginning of the season. Going even farther back, Rodney McCray didnt start at first and took him a while to move into the starting spot during his rookie season,84-85.
The good thing about our situation is that we don't need him to come in and be our savior. We already have a decent team and shouldn't feel the pressure to press him into major minutes if he's not ready. Of course I hope he kicks @ss from the get-go and eventually becomes a starter.
I don't think he needs to be our savior, but we do need him to contribute early. If anyone saw the game last night, its pretty clear how teams in the west will play us. We saw what happened to #21 when he played against Duncan and the other trees. A player in the top 10 supposed to be almost like franchise player. Eddie is a top 3 talent and top 3 talent is franchise, not role player. I think he needs to get minutes to see what he can and can't do in this early going. Does he deserve to start? No, but you seen the difference when he was in the game defensively as opposed to our other options. Players were going into the lane head faking and pump faking and Eddie was still making them miss. My only problem was I think for a team that hasn't had much playing time together, the Rockets were playing real careless withthe ball. Instead of them trying to get timing down and run the fastbreak, they were throwin ally's and other stupid stuff. I watched the team try to run a fast break and it didn't look good. I mean Mobley had the ball in the middle of the court and Morris on one wing, instead of him keeping it in the middle, he passed it to Francis on the wing 1 step past half court. I know these guys are yong and full of energy, but I wish they would take the little time they have now and try to become a better team executing simple plays. The season is 8 days away and the Hawks are going to be tough, very tough. I just wish we can start to get sharp and quit all the bs. Great win though.
