I’m am continuing to advocate patience regarding the development of Eddie Griffin. While his sophomore season was largely a disappointment he did show flashes at times and he is after all only 20. Having said that, it seems fair to review what we gave up to get Eddie Griffin and see just how far he needs to come in order to meet his draft day expectations. In 2001 we had three 1st round draft picks, numbers 13, 18 and 23. We also traded another future 1st rounder for the rights to Terence Morris. So we essentially used four 1st round draft picks in 2001. So here are some of the players that would have been there had we kept our picks and not traded for Eddie Griffin. Richard Jefferson 6-8 215 SF Arizona Jr. – picked with the 13th pick in the draft. He would have clearly filled a position of need at the time. He is a very good defensive player and super athletic and better than advertised offensive skills. Stats: 2001 - 9.4 ppg 1.8apg 3.7rpg .457f/g% 2002 – 15.5ppg 2.5apg 6.4rpg .501f/g% Troy Murphy 6-11 230 PF Notre Dame Jr. – Taken with the 14th pick in the draft. He finished 3rd in this years most improved player of the year award. He is an outstanding rebounder and a good 3rd or 4th offensive option. Stats: 2001 – 5.9ppg 3.9rpg .421f/g% 2002 – 11.7ppg 10.2rpg .451f/g% Zach Randolph 6-9 270 PF Michigan St. Fr. He has put up only respectable stats in his first two years with Portland as Rasheed Wallaces sub. However he has been the catalyst to Portland’s rebound in the 1st round of the play-offs sparking the comeback in game 4 and playing like a true power forward in each of the play-off games so far. With all due respect to Scottie Quitten, with out Zach Randolph Portland would be on vacation now. Stats: 2001 – 2.8ppg 1.7rpg .449f/g% 2002 – 8.4ppg 4.4rpg .513f/g% Play-offs – 13.8ppg 8.5rpg .551f/g% 28 minutes a game Tony Parker 6-1 180 PG (France) 1982 – He is only 20 years old and is already a 2 year starter on a team that finished with the best record in the league this year. Stats: 2001 – 9.2ppg 4.3apg .419f/g% 2002 – 15.5ppg 5.3apg .464f/g% Gilbert Arenas 6-3 199 SG Arizona So. He was the steal of the 2001 draft and this years most improved player. He is one of three picks for the Golden State Warriors in the 2001 draft that will be very high quality starters for the next decade or so. Stats: 2001 – 10.9ppg 3.7apg 2.8rpg 1.5spg .453f/g% 2001 – 18.3ppg 6.3apg 4.7rpg 1.5spg .431f/g% As of now Eddie Griffin is not as good as any of those players. While it is impossible to predict how those players would have developed on the Rockets or how Eddie would have developed on one of those teams it is worth noting that Eddie Griffin did not improve on his game much in his second season (if any at all) while all of those players showed significant improvements in their games. So how would the Rockets look this year with Troy Murphy at the 4 instead of Eddie Griffin? Or how about Tony Parker or Gilbert Arenas filling in for Steve at the point instead of Moochie Norris. What if we had grabbed two of those players with our three picks? How about Richard Jefferson and Zach Randolph? If someone came to the Rockets tomorrow and said that they could have Zach Randolph and Richard Jefferson for Eddie Griffin do you think the Rockets would blink before making the deal? In case anyone thinks it is impossible to be lucky enough to land 2 impact players in a draft consider the fact that Golden State grabbed three: Jason Richards, Troy Murphy and Gilbert Arenas. Godlen State is very deep in talent thanks to the 2001draft and if Dunleavy ever pans out they could be one of the deepest teams in the league. Eddie Griffin will be 21 next year and IMO that will be an important mile stone in his career. He should be ready to take his game to another level. I’m talking 9+ rebounds a game along with 10+ points a game and 2+ blocks a game to go with much improved defense. He also needs to improve his field goal percentage this year. Consistency is also an issue with Eddie as he would have a game or two where he looked like a future star and then he would have some where he just disappeared. My first impression of Eddie’s season is that he just did not look like he put in the work during the last off-season. Unlike his rookie season he just did not have a string of games in his sophomore season that you could point to as what we should be able to expect from him on a regular basis some day. Two things that I thought were odd in Eddie’s sophomore season were that his blocks per game dropped and he turned into a bad free throw shooter, unlike his rookie year where he was a pretty good shooter. If Eddie Griffin can turn into a guy that gets 10 rebounds 15 points and 2 blocks a game while shooting a respectable percentage then I think no one will look back at the 2001 draft and say what could have been. Keep in mind that I thought the Rockets had one of the best drafts in 2001 but if Eddie Griffin never develops the way we think he should and Terence Morris continues to be an after thought in the Rockets plans then 2001 could turn into one of the worst bungled drafts in the history of the team.
15 10 and 2 is more than atainable for EG. I'm still believing he can be a 20-10 type of player. we'll see..
Crash, One name your forgot to mention is Jamaal Tinsley; he went somewhere in the late 20s of that draft iirc. Also, like I was saying before, I just dont think Eddie Griffin is the appropriate complement to Yao. The Rockets needs someone who wont get thrown around on defense that can match up against the tough PFs in the game; Eddie simply gives up way too much ground. That being said, I wouldnt just give Eddie away; the only way Eddie should go is if it is in a deal for a young talent that can really help this team ie Odom, Brand, Miller, etc or in a swap for someone like Gary Payton that could really help this team play more organized and consistently. I wouldnt trade Eddie and salary for the likes Dale Davis, Karl Malone, Brian Grant or PJ Brown. The Rockets do need that type of player badly but should not give a young, tradeable talent on a good contract like Eddie to get one of them.
I say keep him unless we get a trade deal we cann't turn down. I think EG should develop his defensive game to make up for his offensive faluts. The guy seems to have long arms. Maybe his defense will act as a catalyst on his offensive game.
Utweezer, I want to believe that Eddie is still going to be a stud HOF power forward some day but he just has not shown enough to make me a believer. With that being said if he can just develop into an Otis Thorpe type power forward that blocks shots it would be more than adequate to go along with Yao Ming in the front court. bigboymumu & x_trepidation_x This is not a trade EG thread. Mmanal, I actually thought about Jamaal Tinsley but it seems like he has had a bad year. He still seems to pass the ball very well but he shooting is pathetic.
I love EG and want his ass to succeed but it's too crowded in Houston. He's the 5th option at best after Francis Cat Yao Posey what saddens me is this: Richard Jefferson Jason Collins for Eddie Griffin Jefferson and Collins are very very good players right now. Not the best nor All Star caliber but they're GREAT ROLE players. thats' what we need on this team.
It was Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins, AND Brandon Armstrong just for Eddie Griffin. Man........those players would be nice. Arenas. Murphy....well I don't like him. But Zach Randolph! Tony Parker.....and definitely Richard Jefferson. But maybe if we had Randolph.....what if he was like Eddie Griffin? Maybe Randolph has gotten excellent training. Maybe Eddie had the most potential...but the Rockets haven't developed him properly. I'm not a believer. But we're stuck with him. And the Rockets aren't trading him..... Hopefully he will get better. First....fix his personal problems.
the hope that he isn't but what if they bring in a 'top flight' guy? then EG will still be one of the bottom feeders. hey weezer do you go to UT now?
have they ever developed anyone properly aside from Dream? this thought is the only thing that makes me stop thinking about Jefferson and Collins. B/c w/o Kidd and his leadership, I doubt Jefferson and Collins would be where they are at right now. The rockets depend soley on god given talent and skill and not enough on teaching. How much better would Francis be if a Larry Brown was coaching him? How much better would EG be if he was able to learn from Kidd?
We thought we were getting the second coming of KG; Right now, we would be happy if he became the second coming of Rasheed; If we keep him, we might be lucky to end up with a poor man's Theo Ratliff... minus the injury history, I hope. You can officialy count me out of the bandwagon, if ever there was one. Just find the right the trade and that's about it. I agree, no trades for old geezers, that wouldn't help us in the long run.
Yep...pretty sad. And Rudy wasn't the one who developed Hakeem.. Francis was already good. Yao.....hopefully he will get good training and will be used efficiently and well to win games!!!! WIN! WIN! WIN! I agree. Richard Jefferson wouldn't be that great if he were on the Rockets. Jason Collins would be nothing here.
The Rox management didn't have a crystal ball, so they didn't know what they would really get out of Eddie. Just like I don't have a crystal ball now (not that I would believe what it tells me any ways), so I still don't know how he'll do in the future. My views on EG had been pretty clearly stated before, but after seeing endless "how good is EG" threads I decided it's time I restated them again. First of all, I know we didn't have the roster space to fit 3 first round picks that year, but nevertheless, is Eddie worse 3 first round picks? Even in a weak draft year? I think so, the stats right now says so, and at least to a certain extent, stats don't lie. Several posters have already stated what we COULD have gotten that year as well as what we DID get that year and all of them seem to pan out better than EG. Secondly, there is the sense of direction. Eddie simply doesn't know what he wants. Is he a 3 or a 4? He can't shoot and is way too slow for a 3 but he's under powered and jacks up way too many outside shots for a 4. Again, somebody already mentioned, the ability of this organization to develop players is quite pathetic. This only compounded the problem this kid faces. Finally, I know some were excited about getting Eddie and thought maybe he's the next KG, etc. I can honestly say I never believed so, and this is proving now. One thing you have to say about KG is that he had TALENT even when he was drafted, aside from his athletic abilities. Eddie has the latter, but not the former. Also, KG, as well as all those players we traded EG for (Jefferson, Collins, etc), I wouldn't say they play with fire, but at least, they want to win. I can't tell that with Eddie. This means: The players (note: plural) we gave away wants to win The player (note: singular) we got wants to smoke weed This leaves us a player with little or no skill that doesn't want to win. For those that saw potential in him, I don't know what they meant by this "potential." I agree that EG has his upside, such as that he's very athletic but is that all we're satisfied with? Remember that Darius Miles was supposed to be the next Jordan because of his athletic abilities. This is particularly disturbing to me that Jefferson might just be what we needed. Certainly, he benefitted from playing with JKidd, but a spot shooting role player/outside shooter who's more consistent than Glen Rice is half of what this team needs right now. While ironically, our PF of the future, EG, leaves us a gapping hole at the 4 spot which is the other half of what this team needs.
I hope that people will try to utilize him as a SF rather than a PF. He's not the rebounder/hard worker we need as a 4. I think it would be easier for EG to do what he wants to do as a 3 rather than a 4.
Well, you know what, you really can't compare Eddie Griffin to Richard Jefferson or Jason Collins. Those guys are on teams with direction and everybody is on the same page. They feel the chemistry. Whereas Eddie, he's on a team with no offensive direction whatsoever. And c'mon man, use your brain, these guys play with one the best point guards in NBA history. Had Eddie gone to NJ, he would be a much different player with more intensity due to fact that Jason Kidd would inspire him to do better. Do the Rockets have that kind of a leader, not yet, but it will come. Kidd wasn't as good a leader, as he is now, in his 4th season.
