I don't care how young or talented EG is. The dude has GOT to go These late season antics of EG is proving nothing short of distracting. Add to that, his pathetic showing of late and you begin to wonder whether or not he's on the right team. Players like EG belong on PORTLAND. No coincidence that he played against his "role model" Rasheed Wallace yesterday. If there is one "consistently" bad theme this season, it's our poor productivity out of the 4 spot. Inasmuch as I like MoT coming off the bench, btw MoT and EG, I'll take MoT starting, ANYDAY. But more to the point is the fact that EG has NOT been the fiesty 4 setting the tone and protecting Yao. He is NOT a good 3 shooter and he's a marginal 2 shooter at best. Leapers are plentiful in this league and we ought be getting some more bulk and size in the 4 than lanky EG. After tonite's performance against Utah plus this mar1juana incident, I've all bad had it for EG. impatientSAGE
maybe i'm blind to basketball skill, but i don't see where all this talk about eddie griffin's limitless potential is coming from. i saw it was jermaine o'neal, he was so fluid and had moves and was always a competitor, just needed time. eddie griffin has had time. let's trade him before the rest of the league catches on (that is, unless they knew all along).
Antics? One singular incident, that is, as Larry Smith put it, "a legal issue". It's not like he punched out Moochie Norris (though I wouldn't mind if he did.) Please don't even try to tell me that this absolutely pathetic showing the last 2 games can be attributed to Griffin getting caught in possession of mar1juana, thereby "distracting" the team. We need a leader. I'd rather it be a guard (and in the cc.net spirit of mentioning a player we just played, #2 all-time in assists would be the perfect stabilizing influence., but we need leader(s) period. However, Eddie is definitely expendable in the right circumstances, and in particular, I wonder a combo of Griffin and Mobley would land. Barring extreme changes in our team play, personnel changes look like an absolute necessity if this team wants to move forward.
NIKEstrad, I'm not saying that EG's antics are the reason why lost these two games. What I am saying though is that more should be expected of professional ball players being paid $MMs to be at the top of their game. Last I checked, mar1juana does not improve one's game. But it's just really sad that it has to come out now. God knows, how long EG's had this 'habit' throughout this season. But as a regular ticketpayer, I'm not about to pay ANY dollars to see professional athletes play sub-par on the account of substance abuse or any such related 'personal' distration. It's simply unacceptable. He's a member of this team and a member of the starting five. If he's not contributing for reasons of these extracurricular activities, he doesn't deserve his minutes. b/c it IS a chemistry thing and there IS a domino effect. When one player struggles as badly as EG does, you bet there's a greater onus on other players to pick up the slack. When they slump, then everybody feels the pressure. EVERY player is accountable to be mentally ready come game time. But EG's off court antics are just personally irresponsible. This team GAVE EG his minutes and even traded a competing 4 to accomodate EG. Lest I remind folks that we traded away KT to give EG a firm starting job. It's starting to look like a bad decision. angrySAGE
The last line in the article says it all... "He (Eddie Griffin) learned Sunday night he won't have any basketball-related conflicts the week of his hearing -- the Rockets were bounced from playoff contention with the Phoenix Suns' 92-85 victory over the San Antonio Spurs." http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/1106/1457113.html Monday, April 14 Griffin to appear in May for pot possession charge -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESPN.com news services HOUSTON -- A court appearance scheduled for Monday in Houston Rockets forward Eddie Griffin's mar1juana case has been pushed back to next month, attorney Rusty Hardin said. Griffin's court date was reset to May 7 but likely will be before then because Hardin has a conflict, he said. Griffin, 20, was pulled over April 6 in west Houston and arrested for misdemeanor possession of mar1juana, punishable by up to a $4,000 fine and a year in the Harris County Jail. Griffin, in his second NBA season, is averaging nine points, six rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. He learned Sunday night he won't have any basketball-related conflicts the week of his hearing -- the Rockets were bounced from playoff contention with the Phoenix Suns' 92-85 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
