I remember Van Gundy calling the Mavericks playoff games and him saying Raef Lafrentz was wasting his size and talent playing out on the perimeter and he kept stressing that and started to get crazy a few times when Lafrentz would float out on the perimeter. my point is Van Gundy hates big men who think there Matt Bullard so I doubt we'll see Griffin picking his ass at the threepoint line.
I think Griffin will backup the 3, 4, and sometimes 5. MoT should be the starter IMO, because his greatest weakness (rebounding) is something Yao does very very well. I'm starting to warm up to the idea of a Yao/MoT combination. Mo could be EXACTLY the type of player to take pressure off Yao if his jumper comes back.
He's a 4. If he get's bigger/stronger, he could play some 5, but it would have to be (situational) against smaller 5s at this time.
I got a better question for you. Who should we trade EG for, a 3 or 4 or a 5??? We could trade him for either a 3 or a 4 and it would be an upgrade to EG playing either position. We could also trade him for a 5 although I don't know who would be dumb enough to do that. Either way we would eliminate all these pointless threads about Eddie, which is like a dead horse we keep on beating over. I don't know is it that we're to proud to, or to stupid to admit we screwed up. We traded away 3 picks for him: 2 of which are good enough to start on a team; 1 is already much better than EG at this point; the guy we were gonna pick is also an upgrade to EG. I thought that would have ended all arguments. We keep talking this potential that he never shows, not to mention at this point I'm not sure he's got more of it than RJ. It's not like he's like Yao (ie. 7'5, amazing skills) that we can afford to gamble over. Traded for a decent PF or SF while he still has trade value and move on.
Interesting...I wonder what JVG thinks of Mo Taylor... Eddie just needs to get stronger and gain experience. I think if he applies himself both physically and mentally, he can become an integral part of a very good Rockets frontcourt.
I think the only reason he is even considered a SF by some is because he can shoot the 3. Unfortunately, that is his ONLY skill that allows him to even be considered at that position. He isn't a ball handler, and he isn't terribly quick. If you look at his offensive and defensive skills, he is suited to be a PF. Once he fills out a little, he won't lack in any physical attributes to play the position either. His shot blocking, footwork around the basket, rebounding skills, and height all point to him matching up against PFs. The only place that he would be consided a Center is the Eastern Conference.
Eddie Griffin is like a piece of property that's worth its debt service and liability, but not making you any money, so it's taking up money without creating a true return. This is his make or break year, and that will be in effect by February. As frontcourt players go, he's worth his salary, so he's not hurting us. If he gets better, we probably keep him. If not, he'll be gone by the end of February.
Let's just hope he's lifting at least as much as he did last offseason, and that he realizes that this is his make or break season. Griffin needs a lot of work: Strength Footwork Mentality (stay inside) Arc on shot Shot selection Hopefully, he'll be able to scratch Strength, mentality, and shot selection off that list for the upcoming season. If we're lucky, Ewing will fix the arc on his shot too before the end of the season.
I think he might be a 3 not because of his shot, but because he has not learned to mix it up yet, because he likes to help off the weak side, because he thinks of himself as a 3. I think he might be an effective back up 5, really. There were games he'd D the 'long' 4's and look good doing it, and that's what I hope progresses!
I remember when Griffin was drafted. We all thought he was going to be our SF. Then reports came that he was going to grow to 7 feet, so we all thought he was going to be our center of the future. But, I remember in his rookie season, he said he felt he was a 4 and that is where the Rockets played him. The Rockets too felt he was a power forward. And probably mistakenly they gave the ball too quickly to Eddie Griffin this season. Kenny Thomas as our starting 4 could have gotten us into the playoffs. But next year Gifffin will be entering his 3rd season. So far he has played Power Forward on defense and Small forward on Offense. Griffin in my opinion excells in defense against PF's. His lack of strenght is the only reason he is playing SF (better said "p***y Ball") when he is playing on offense. Eddie Griffin is a Power Forward. He is too slow to play SF. He is too weak to play efficient PF. Strenght he can work on, speed he can't do anything about.
