I've talked to a lot of Rocket fans the past few days and it seems as though this draft is unlike any previous drafts. The enthusiasm of the fans greatly boosts the expectations of the draftees. Of course i've always thought this was unfair... but I digress that this is a two way street, I dont remember anyone being enthusiastic about Rodrick Rhodes! lol I remember when we drafted Micheal Dickerson, a whole lot of people thought he was going to suddenly come in and solve all our scoring problems... He did eventually put up some good numbers it took time and his learning curve was not what I would call "perfectly sloped." In fact, I remember him being routinely flamed by many people on this board for lacking the mentality to attain the expectations placed on him. In the same breath I want to include the story of Eddie Griffin... like I said, many expect way too much of him. Griffin played 1 yr of College basketball, hardly possessing enough experience to warrant such claims. Although I believe that one year of college gives great High School players the added maturity needed to attain a higher level of competition (Shareef Abdur Rahim comes to mind) I do not think it is enough time to allow for such expectation. Or maybe, its just that the expectation is misdirected. The Rockets by no means drafted Eddie Griffin to fill the need of an Offensive Force, on the contrary Eddie Griffin was drafted to become a defensive specialist; The proper mold being Bo Outlaw. Through the two summer league games that I have read up on, I have only had my doubts erased as Eddie Griffin does in fact showcase his defensive abilities and show an added presence around the perimeter. Instead of expecting 30 point games and Garnett-esque numbers lets look at Eddie Griffin for what role he would most likely assume, that of a Bo Outlaw.... Running the break to throw down monster Alley oops by Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley... yet at the same time Block three consecutive shots on the other end and then snare the offensive board. I am highly impressed by his acceptance of this role and his great abilities to effectively rebound, block, and defend.. Three areas that the Rockets DO need help in. Great Work Eddie, keep it coming! --Rocketman Sooners forever ------------------
RM, Agree with the theme. Eddie is only 19 and is a tad nervous. He yanked down 13 rebs and played solid d from the reports. His shooting will come with some more time...with teammates and NBA environment. While I'll agree that if he plays Bo Outlaw like D his first year I'll be happy, I also think he'll be a threat on offense. Maybe not until the second half of the year and probably not 25-35 pts, but I'll bet he'll have some 15-20 pt games and help us in the low post. To all those whose expectations exceed reality, in those immortal words from Stripes "lighten up..." ------------------
Rocketman, I agree with everything you said with the exception of the Bo Outlaw mold statement. How can you mold Griffin into the player that Outlaw is. Griffin has far more skills right now than Outlaw ever possessed. Outlaw survived in the league this long off of hustle and grit, not skills. Griffin has skills and alot of hussle. He just have a quite demeanor (Tim Duncan), which makes it seems as if he doesn't care. But eventually he will become a force in this league far greater than everyone expexcted. ------------------ The intelligent prediction from Moses Malone: "Foe, Foe, Foe".
Something I can say from personal experience is that when your nervous it is 100x easier to play Defense then it is to play Offence. ------------------ Agent
Originally posted by Agent86: Something I can say from personal experience is that when your nervous it is 100x easier to play Defense then it is to play Offence. True, but that assumes one isn't nervous enough to pick up 2 defensive personal fouls in the first 3 minutes. ------------------ Raef to Rocks in '01-'02!
I think you start Griffin based on Rebounding, Shot Blocking and Defense. Morris may have a little better all around game but EG is still better on the defensive end and should not be an offensive liability. I think Morris will be the primary backup at the 3 and Griffin will be the second or 3rd option at the 4. Langhi on the other hand might provide Rudy the 6th man he lost when Mobley was moved into the starting rotation. He could come in and spell Cat or provide a little instant offense at the 3 if we needed a spark. The flexibility that rudy will have with three tall athletic fowards like Griffin, Morris and Langhi could provide us with multiple line ups where we can go small (Moochie, Francis, Mobley, Morris, EG) or TALL (Francis, Langhi, Morris, EG, Dream). Imagine the shot blocking and rebounding we would have with Morris, EG and Dream in the game at the same time. I think all three players will see a lot of minutes this year with EG getting the most because of his rebounding and shot blocking and also because I think as the season moves on he will log quite a few minutes at the 4 spot as well as his primary spot the 3. Langhi IMO will be next in minutes because of his offense and the fact that he may see minutes at the 3 and the 2 plus his ability to hit the outside shot can stretch the defense and punish the zone when people don't respect our perimeter game. ------------------
Full agreement guys. This is my projected rotation and minutes: C: Dream 24; Cato 18; Collier 6 PF: Taylor 28; Thomas 16; Griff 4 SF: Griffin 26; Langhi 18; Morris 4 PG: Francis 30; Norris 18 OG: Mobley 30; Williams 9; Morris 9 Considerations: 1. No Anderson 2. Uptempo game with team expecting to contend. Need to manage the times of Dream, Collier, Francis and Mobley. Taylor gets more if rebounding and defense improves significantly. 3. Do not leave Morris behind(no minutes like Dan in '00) 4. Williams plays more initially then decreases over the season to increase time for Dan and Morris. 5. Colson and Bullard are insurance policies. ------------------
I am not dissapointed in his play. He has rebounded well, and blocked shots. That is all I expect out of him in his first year. ------------------ It was the time of the preacher, in the year of '01 Now the preachin' is over, and the lessons begun . . .
Why do you have Walt backing up Mobes at the 2? At what point in his career has he ever played or shown the ability to play the 2 spot? ------------------
That sounds quite realistic. I would like to change it to: PG: Francis 35; Norris 10; Mobley 3 SG: Mobley 36; Francis 4; Langhi 4; Morris 4 SF: Griffin 21; Langhi 11; Morris 10; Bullard 6 PF: Taylor 30; Griffin 8; Thomas 10 C: Dream 28; Collier 14; Griffin 6 1) Looks like we can't get Webber, so I would like to resign Hakeem and Taylor asap. Taylor seems like the next-best option - defensively, his weaknesses (rebounding, shotblocking) can be offset by Griffin/Morris, offensively, he seems to be better than these two at this point - after all, he is quite a high %-shooter. 2) Anderson should not be re-signed, please. 3) I guess Walt will be on the roster when the season starts, Cat and Francis seem to like him a lot and perhaps he can give some veteran guidance, also, he is the other veteran 3-point shooter other than Bull. I always advocated getting rid of him if possible, but at least for the start of the season, he could be useful. But please don't let him take away too many minutes from the young guys as the season progresses. 4) Please get rid of Cato SOMEHOW. 5) That's a pretty young team - as much as I like Kenny Thomas, I think it would make so much sense to trade him for a hard-working veteran with a good attitude like Bo Outlaw...having a lineup of PG Francis, SG Morris, SF Griffin, PF Outlaw and C Hakeem would be a shotblocking wall that hardly anybody should be able to get through! 6) If possible, I would like to have a HUGE guy on the roster taking away some of Collier's minutes, someone who could lean on Shaq...how about Sabonis...
What I've heard about EG excites me. He is proving that he is a consistant Rebounder and shot blocker and plays very good D. We have been saying that those are the qualities that will more easily translate into the NBA. His scoring will come along in time but to me that is not even an issue. A lot of these guys that are scoring 20+ a game are going to find it a lot tougher to do it once the regular season rolls around. I'll bet EG will still be rebounding and blocking shots though. That alone will merit his playing time. As people like Jason Richardson struggle (and they will) to adjust their offense to the pro game they may find their playing time deminish unless they can provide some punch on the defensive end. Anyone that can play defense and rebound will find it easier to get playing time as a rookie. I'm not saying that it can't happen with an offensive player but it just requires a bigger adjustment IMO. I still think EG is going to be one of if not the top ROY condidate based on his rebounding and shot blocking alone. ------------------
EG is gonna be alright...his offense will improve and his defense alone is eye-popping. His skills and potential is unreal even at his early age. Yall might think I'm crazy, but I see him as mini-Dream, where Dream was this 6-11 beanpole out of college where he was known as having awesome rebounding and shot-blocking skills. Not known for his offense, but his potential and defense was unreal for his time....Now Eddie is like in the same mold, but probably more potential and skill, and defense. Yep, Eddie is gonna be a shining star! ------------------ Rarely is the question asked: Guns kill squirrels than REDRUM to fools across the nation?
I think Battier will be ROY, he will probably average something like at least 16pts/6rebs/4asts/1stl/1blk, while shooting more than 45 % from the field. For EG, I see a development more similar to Tracy McGrady's and Kevin Garnett's, albeit a bit faster and with less offensive output at the peak, and with a slightly lower fg % throughout his career. I think his stats will be something like 10.5pts/7.5rebs/1.5 asts/1stl/1.5blks, 43 % fg in the first year, if he gets the playing time. At his peak (when he is 23-32), he will probably average something like 21pts/12rebs/3asts/1.5stls/2.5blks or even better than that. The one thing that puzzles me a little bit is that we got two relatively similar players with Griffin and Morris, of which Morris is the more polished one, but Griffin the one with more potential. Who do you play more in the beginning? Plus, you have Langhi, who, at this point in time, seems to be more polished offensively than both Griffin and Morris. I would see Langhi a lot at the backup SG position and at the SF when you want some instant offense, maybe with about 12-15 min. per game (6 as the backup SG, 6 as the backup SF). Griffin as the starting SF with about 25 min. per game there and about 8-10 min. per game at the PF position. Morris as the backup SF with about 10-15 min. there, sometimes sliding to the SG position for defensive assignments for a few minutes per game. PLEASE DO NOT RESIGN SHANDON ANDERSON. We get the defense at the SG/SF position (which was the only reason to have him) from Morris and Griffin now. Thank you.
Good breakdown of the minutes, Det. I wondered about a potential logjam at the forward position, but you explained it pretty well and I see the benefit of our flexibility. ------------------ Rarely is the question asked: Guns kill squirrels than REDRUM to fools across the nation?
If NBA Live is any indication, Griffin will be a STUD!! Using the rosters from http://www.nba-live.com , and playing franchise -- he was the best player in the league by 2008, averaging 23 ppg, 16 rpg and 4.4 bpg I'll take that ------------------ I'm looking for a job, so hire me "And I just have to smile and say 'well, I hope so' while I'm really thinking inside how I'd like to just strangle them and take their job."
IMHO, Morris has just as much if not more potential than Griffin, just hasn't been exposed, and now probably never fully will be... Morris is more athletic, from what I have seen(Not Too Much)is a little longer, better reach, and has a better jumper at this point. ------------------ The title will come to ClutchCity once again.
I for one have actually been very pleased with Eddie's play, thus far. All he's proven is that he's a double digit rebounder, great shot-blocker, and handles the ball better than expected. His shot will come, I'm not at all worried. ------------------
