It's little more than a formality at this point, but the Nets will be officially cutting Eddie Griffin sometime over the next few days. They have negotiated a buyout of his $397,400 contract that is believed to be worth somewhere around $120,000. Thorn said the team is waiting for the approval of the players' association, which he expects to get soon. Griffin, who signed with the team Jan. 8, left Jan. 28 to seek counseling for an alcohol problem. He never played a game." Newark Star-Ledger For the same reason that I was unhappy with The Nets, of all teams, signing Eddie, a part of me wants to be glad that they made a mistake. But when I look at it more rationally, it is just sad.
Man, I wish I could sign with an NBA team, quit on them a week or two later, then pocket a cool $120,000 for my troubles.
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1077347579168090.xml I copied the article from inside hoops, they have a link that took me to the Newark Star-Ledger. That may be it above, I'm not ral good at this type of thing. But this is the entirety of the subject.
The Nets deserve to lose that $120K. They were awfully premature in signing Griffin, and assuming he would be able to contribute at all this season. I would be shocked to see EG get anything more than a non-guaranteed training camp invite next year. That is, if he is not in prison.
I repeat: It was ballsy of the Nets to sign Griffin, proving that they thought the guy they traded to us really did have potential, even with his head problems. You don't put up $120K for a stunt. This was a tragedy, not a con.
"Troubled Nets forward Eddie Griffin is out of jail, and he soon will be out of an NBA job. Former Cavaliers coach John Lucas paid Griffin's bond last week and put him in one of Lucas' rehabilitation centers in Houston. Griffin will have to spend 30 days there. The Nets expect to buy him out for about $125,000 of his $395,000 deal and then waive him." Detroit News
According to the very-enlightening article below (from the New Jersey Star-Ledger), Griffin has become a serious alcoholic -- even showing up nearly drunk for a 9:00 am court hearing just a week ago. Let's hope Lucas can get him turned around. ~~~~~~~~~~ Nets: Griffin's world gets messier Sunday, February 22, 2004 BY BRAD PARKS Star-Ledger Staff John Dodds knew he was in trouble the moment Eddie Griffin started flexing. "He was sticking out his chest, trying to scare us," Dodds said. "It was like he thought he was all-powerful, like he was King Ding-a-ling or something." Information from our Advertisers What began a few hours earlier as a chance encounter between a 21-year-old pro basketball player looking for a party and a group of young people just returning from a wedding was seconds from becoming violent. The Rutherford police later called what happened at the Renaissance Meadowlands Hotel, early on the morning of Jan. 25, a "misunderstanding," a minor dispute over Griffin knocking on the wrong hotel room door and, ultimately, being spit on and becoming the target of a racial epithet. To Dodds, a 23-year-old Orlando, Fla., resident, there was nothing to misunderstand. In that instant before his chin and Griffin's fist made contact, he knew exactly what was happening. "All I was thinking was, 'Holy (smoke), I'm about to get in a fight with a 7-foot tall monster,'" Dodds said. It was, all things considered, not exactly how Dodds hoped to end his wedding night. THE EXIT STRATEGY Soon, a marriage of another sort is expected to dissolve. The Nets have negotiated a buyout of Griffin's contract and are waiting for players' association approval, which is expected as early as tomorrow. That will end a six-week attempt to revive his playing career. Griffin has not been with the team since Jan. 28, when he abruptly left to seek counseling for what his lawyer has called a serious alcohol problem. The Nets said at the time that Griffin, who declined to be interviewed for this story, asked to leave because he was not ready to handle the responsibilities of being an NBA player. A member of the team's ownership group, who asked to remain anonymous, said Griffin's departure came at the team's insistence. The Nets, having discovered what happened at the Renaissance -- a violation of Griffin's court-ordered curfew -- told Griffin to get help and not return until he straightened out his life. Griffin's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said his client is trying to do just that, beginning with entering a residential alcohol counseling program under the tutelage of former NBA coach John Lucas. Hardin said Griffin's chemical problems are at the root of his knotted mess of legal troubles. Griffin has been indicted on a felony assault charge for allegedly firing a gun at his girlfriend last Oct. 25. He still needs to be sentenced on a mar1juana possession conviction that dates to an incident last April. He spent 11 days in jail earlier this month for bond violations, and Harris County (Texas) judge Mike Anderson has indicated he could send Griffin back to jail if he is on anything less than his best behavior with Lucas. In court on Feb. 13, Anderson chastised Griffin for appearing in court on Jan. 20 for a 9 a.m. hearing with a blood alcohol content of .07, just below Texas' .08 limit for intoxication. To Hardin, it hardly came as a surprise. It is, he said, an indication of just how serious Griffin's alcoholism has become. "We have to get everyone off Eddie's back and let us get him the help for his alcohol problem that he so badly needs," Hardin wrote in an e-mail. "It is time to lighten up on this kid and let him get help." The Nets signed Griffin on Jan. 8 for just under $400,000, hoping they could help him channel his considerable basketball talent. But he puzzled them. He never played in a game for them, but was nothing but a polite, quiet, likable young man in the three weeks he was in their presence. "I just hope he gets his life together and is able to get back to functioning again," Nets CEO Rod Thorn said. Thorn, the Nets, Griffin's attorney and hotel general manager Nancy Hellner have declined to elaborate on what happened at the Renaissance. Rutherford police say they were unaware of any allegations of assault until more than a week after the dispute, and no charges have been filed against anyone involved in the incident. Only the Dodds, John and Jamie, are talking and their story is perhaps nothing more than a glimpse into the life of a troubled young athlete and the violent flashes he has shown at Philadelphia's Roman Catholic High, Seton Hall University and the NBA. "Eddie Griffin was a maniac," Jaime Dodds said. "He was completely out of control." NO PARTY HERE Hardin declined to discuss what happened that night at the hotel, but wrote "it should come as no great surprise that a person with an admitted alcohol problem will periodically act erratically and show bad judgment." The way the Dodds tell it, the evening of Jan. 24 started innocently enough. The former Jaime Santoro, a 26-year-old native of Hoboken whose parents live in Nutley, was married to John Dodds, a co-owner of a Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop in Orlando, at the Westmount Country Club in West Paterson that Saturday. Some of their guests, who were staying overnight at the Renaissance, befriended Griffin at the hotel bar sometime around midnight, according to Dodds. Eventually, the Dodds said, Griffin followed some members of the party to the third floor. Griffin was talking basketball with some of the groomsmen, signing autographs and offering tickets to the Nets' game later that day against the Boston Celtics. Jaime remembered seeing Griffin in the hallway when she went out for cigarettes. John had a pleasant conversation with him sometime around 2 a.m. "I saw some of my groomsmen hanging out with this big, tall guy," John said. "And I was like, 'Oh, are you a basketball player?' And he said, 'Yeah, I play for the Nets.'" John said he asked for Griffin's autograph, but the player declined and then asked about John's sister. John remembered being puzzled for a moment -- "How did he know I had a sister?" he wondered later -- and said he didn't know where she was. Then, according to Dodds, Griffin asked him if he "wanted to party," and John said there was no party going on, just a few people looking to unwind after a wedding. "He was very nice," John said. "He congratulated me on getting married. I shook his hand. He patted me on the back and I walked away." John and Jaime retreated to their room, where they and two members of their wedding party were having a nightcap. A half-hour later, around 2:30 a.m., there was a knock on the door. John Dodds said it was Griffin, asking again if he could join their party. John said he told him they weren't having a party, and Griffin departed amicably. Another half-hour brought another knock on the door: Griffin again wanted to know if he could party with the Dodds. "At that point it was kind of strange, because I had already told him twice we didn't have a party going on," John said. "This time, I was pretty stern with him. I really felt like he was invading our personal space." AN UNWANTED CALL A little later, the phone in the Dodds' room rang. "I answered the phone and it was him (Griffin)," Jaime said. "He said, 'I know your (bridesmaids) are all out partying. When they come back, they're mine. Especially your husband's sister. I'm waiting for her. I've got my eye on her.'" Jaime said she began screaming into the phone at Griffin, telling him to leave the women alone. She then called her bridesmaids, who were out, warning them to be careful when they returned to the hotel. A little later, some time around 5 a.m., John Dodds said there was another knock on their door. John looked through the peephole and saw Griffin. "I couldn't believe he was back again," John said. "At that point, I just lost it. I started cursing him (through the closed door). I said, 'This is my wedding night. Leave me alone.'" Jamie said she called hotel security, which she said responded quickly, eventually knocking and telling the Dodds through their closed door that Griffin had gone away. But when John opened the door, he said he was baffled to find Griffin still in the hallway. "At that point," Jaime said. "All hell broke loose." HALLWAY CONFRONTATION Griffin, according to John Dodds, began flexing his muscles and making a move toward him. John, who at 5-7 is 15 inches shorter than Griffin, said he was frightened, spit in Griffin's face, and called him a racial epithet. "It was wrong to use that word," John said. "But I was scared out of my mind." John said Griffin then charged him. John said he went for Griffin's legs while the best man from the wedding, Ryan Kellams, tried to get Griffin's arms. John said Griffin got a punch off first, hitting him in the jaw. Jaime said she also saw Griffin knock down a hotel security guard with a punch to the face. Meanwhile, Jim Dodds -- who had been asleep across the hall -- heard his younger brother screaming. "I opened the door and I saw Eddie Griffin and two people from hotel security, and I saw my brother was on the ground and his friend was dragging him back into his room," said Jim, who lives in Atlanta. "I turned around and I started to swing at Eddie, but I never got a punch off. I didn't even see the guy hit me, to tell you the truth. The next thing I remember is just being on the ground not knowing what happened. He hits like a Mack truck." Kellams said he managed to get the door closed shortly before Griffin began trying to bust it open. "He started doing a bull charge," John Dodds said. "He was running at the door and hitting it as hard as he could. I really thought he was going to break the thing down." As Kellams braced himself against the door, John was in the bathroom vomiting and Jamie was calling 911. "I have a large black man trying to break into my hotel room," she remembered saying. "Please help me." POLICE ON THE SCENE Rutherford police arrived at the hotel at 6:54 a.m. Captain Thomas Farrell, in an interview last week, said reports filed by his officers noted that Griffin was calm, and the officers dismissed the incident as a dispute. Farrell said no charges were filed because the officers were not informed any assault had taken place. "The first time we heard anything about an assault was a couple days ago, when (Jaime's father, Anthony Santoro) came in to pick up a copy of the report," Farrell said. "We weren't told about the assault on the brother at the time of the incident. We advised him to come in and make a report and they have not done so." Jaime and John Dodds said the hotel security guard lied to the police about having been hit by Griffin. The Dodds said they felt the police were eager to give Griffin preferential treatment because of his star status. "The cops were looking down at us," John said. "One of them said to Ryan, 'Why would an NBA star who makes $3 million a year want to party with you guys?'" Farrell said his officers are accustomed to dealing with professional athletes, given the proximity of the Meadowlands, and would never say such a thing. Farrell said if the Dodds family wanted to make a complaint against the Rutherford police, he would perform an internal affairs investigation. "Generally, we hear pretty quickly if someone is not happy with us," Farrell said. "And so far we haven't heard a thing." Jim Dodds, the groom's brother, said he was afraid to make a formal complaint because he is separated from his wife and didn't want to do anything to jeopardize having custody of his daughter. John and Jaime Dodds said they just wanted to be done with the whole mess. CONTACTING THE NETS A few days after his daughter's wedding, Santoro, the father of the bride, called a number of people, from the police to the hotel, trying to find some closure. One of his phone calls went to the Nets. Santoro said he spoke to senior vice president of basketball operations Ed Stefanski, who had tried to mentor Griffin during his time with the Nets. Stefanski declined to discuss Griffin with The Star-Ledger. "We've said everything we want to say about Eddie," Stefanski said. Santoro said he found Stefanski apologetic, if a little resigned, when it came to the subject of Eddie Griffin. "He said it was a regrettable incident," Santoro said. "It sounded to me like he wanted the whole thing to go away."
You know, if someone is scared of me, they wouldn't spit in my face and call me a ******. Dude was baiting EG and got the crap knocked out of him. Dude was thinking about getting EG in trouble and getting paid. Just my opinion. Anyhow, since EG is a psycho kid with millions and has no idea what responsibility is, EG should be put away for a while in prison. I mean, damn, fukk that chemical imbalance crap. Stop giving him millions. Well, EG deserves to get the crap beat out of him until he stops acting like a psycho idiot punk ass kid. And that John Dodds guy needs to get the crap beat out of him when he tries to sue EG for hitting him. Fing liar. "I was scared, so I spit in his face and called him a racial slur". Jeebus. EG deserves long term jail. That dude didn't deserve a night of being harassed by EG, but he should of just called the cops.
