Eddie Griffin 27 minutes, 20 points, 9 boards, 5 blocks, 7-12 FG, 4-5 3pt shooting. That must felt great for Rockets junk to become a star elsewhere. Thanks Eddie/Rockets management, for leaving Rockets with old/slow forwards with long overpaid contracts.
JVG again...just dumps him....does he give him another chance, nope ! We just let him go for nothing. Great move CD and JVG....it is really working out well for you. DD
Even if he hadn't gone on to the success he's already showed thus far in this short season, I would have still insisted that letting him go was absolutely ludicrous. Really, were we trying to make a point or something? What exactly did we stand to gain from that? We invested so much into getting him, WHY WOULD YOU NOT take him back just to TRY and save face!?!? I don't get it.
Just say the highlights on sportscenter. At first i was mad at him then i was sad that he wasnt a rocket. Sniff snifff. He looked good with a goatee tho
I knew this was going to bring up when I watched that game. Boy was EG fluent in Minny's system, hitting treys, finding open teammates. We could use him like that, especially his rebounding and shot blocking ability. Too bad see him doing well for Minny not us.
How many chances was he supposed to get? He got 3 by my count. And of course, we don't know how many other chances he got that weren't documented.
He wanted to sign here THIS year after working out with John Lucas, and the Rockets did not even take a look. What would it hurt to sign him to a small contract? We traded 3 draft picks for him and we know he has talent and the guy is only 22 or 23 years old. It is just bad management, IMHO. DD
who said he wanted to sign here? and who said the Rockets did not take a look? assumptions DaDa ...you are good at that
Codell, he did a TV interview on Channel 26 I believe with John Lucas, and he talked about it there. Let me explain something really slow so you can understand it....mmmmkkkaaayyy??? We OWNED EG's rights, we could choose to not sign his 4th year, and still retain his bird rights, we didn't. The team let him walk...I agree with tough love, but at least be smart and retain his rights. DD
What? No, somebody posting out there arse claiming to have inside info claimed that not only did he want to sign here, but that he actually was going to sign here. That didn't happen because he quit on the Rockets in the process of committing various felonies, wasting his chances, and becoming a huge distraction and complete mess, on and off the court. Nice to see that he's putting his life back together though, but at the time it was the correct decision.
Apparently you are the one who needs the explanation: 1) We did retain his bird rights, but did not retain the right to extend or sign him to a max deal, money wise, but rather, were actually RESTRICTED to signing him to a max deal based a 12.5% annual raise of his 1ST YEAR'S SALARY. Mmmmmmmkayyy? IOW, having his bird rights did not put us at an advantage over any other team that wanted to sign him (especially since teams could use their MLE, which would be MORE than what we could have offered him). TRANSLATION: We were not at a disadantage by releasing him early, versus allowing him to become an UFA at the end of the 3rd year, so your explanation is both WRONG and MOOT. BTW ..I saw that interview on Fox 26 and am 99.9% certain he said nothing about wanting to come back to Houston. In fact, here is what he said in the interview: "Definitely L.A. with Rudy (Tomjanovich) over there, Miami, Minnesota and Atlanta," Griffin told Houston television station KRIV in a report aired Thursday."
Just don't forget that Eddie Griffin had a TON of problems... he had a failed stint in New Jersey between Houston and Minnesota also. They let him go. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1746707 "At this time I don't think Eddie is ready to play in the NBA," Nets chief executive Rod Thorn said. "He is a very nice young man and he worked hard when he was here. He has talent. If he gets his personal life together, he certainly could have an NBA career. We wish him well." I'd also like to point out that Eddie is a power forward who is still shooting 39% from the floor. His shot blocking and rebounding (at times) skills were nice, and are sorely missed on this current team, but I could get past the 3-14 outings from Eddie. I'm hopeful in a year or two we have a power forward who makes us laugh at Eddie, just as we have Yao Ming instead of Marc Jackson. Hopeful, anyhow.
It is kinda painful to watch the players we traded or discarded do well elsewhere. I know EG could regress at any point, but dayumn!, in training camp, our coaches told Mo to go ahead and start shooting the 3; but EG was dropped because he so liked the shot. So EG takes his 3 point shot to another team. Granted, it's one game, but.....sigh.
