Unless he breaks out from eating too many chocolate bars, my guess is no. Eddie Griffin is the personification of wasted potential.
I never saw anyone with less personality or emotion than Eddie Griffin. I mean the dude is never fun to watch because he cant get pumped up, he refuses to get mean, and he wont give anyone an attitude. I want to see something out there.... I mean being humble is one thing..... My advice to Eddie: Grab your sack and hit the weights. Grow a personality and start to learn what the meaning of POWER FORWARD is. I hope he is still tradeable by midseason or sooner.
I do not blame solely Eddie for his slow development and ineffective play. Eggie has been getting wooped by PFs every other game. Alot of the problem rests with our GM. It is clear that Eddie is not qualified to be a starting PF for a "playoff" type team. He does not have the physique yet nor the mental game (understanding of basketball) to excel. So why are we starting the kid? I agree the kid has "potential" but why not limit his playing time until he is capable of performing like Jermaine Oneal. Frankly, we are just throwing him the fire and watching him burn in our faces.
Personally, I couldn't care less about EGs "emotion" and "attitude." I mean, one of the best players in the game (Duncan) shows about as much "emotion" and "attitude" as a pile of hair. I would rather have someone who acts like Duncan than an idiot like 'Sheed who gets Ts every other game. Just wait, you will be eating your words before the end of the season.
While I agree that EG got, as you put it, "wooped" by several PFs last year, but did you see the game last night? EG was aggressive both offensively and defensively and had 5 boards in the first quarter. JVGs system seems like it is designed to get EG more involved under the basket, where his FG% should go up and he should get more boards. Taylor seems much more comfortable off the bench and also needs the ball to score more than EG does. That relegates him to the second unit, where I think he is more effective as firepower off the bench when EG and Yao are out. In the end, EG will develop faster if he is given the starts and the playing time. Jermaine took years to develop because he never played on that Portland team behind 'Sheed and the other guys. I'm not saying that we need to blindly trust that EG will be our PF of the future, just that he should start now until there is a real, concrete reason to bench him. Last night, he did not show ME that he needs to be benched. In fact, he showed me that he is already playing more effectively than last year. Just wait until Yao is in the lineup.
Sorry, as much as I want Eddie to really blow up, his breakout will show him for what he is. He's not going to be a superstar or anything near like we first thought when we drafted him. I wish we would be, but I don't see it happening. He lacks too many qualities to be anything other than a poor man's Rasheed. That's not bad, but not exactly what we had in mind when we drafted him thinking he was the #1 talent and had potential to be some sort of Duncan/Rasheed/KG/J O'Neal combo.
Since Eddie's a big fan of the hippy lettuce.....I think he was trying to get the Blazers to trade for him. Our Power Forwards can really "light it up".
Obviously you missed that one game (25pts, 13 rb's) against the Lakers during his rookie season at Staples. Had you seen that, you would still believe...
for the first time eddie actually looks like he put on some muscle during the offseason. definitely in his arms but i can't say for his chest or legs. as for his performance, he played well in the first and we kind of went away from him. he had very impressive games last season as well but they were few and far between so it's too early to say if the hustle he showed last night is something that he will keep consistently. if yes then he can breakout this year.
I predict the rockets will NOT resign him and basically just let his contract expire or s&t him. He didnt look "bulked up" like so many people keep saying. He looks the same as he did in his rookie year(physically). Taylor will start and with Cornell playing good backup,Cato can now be our backup pf. We should trade Eddie this second before the rest of the league gets the memo this preseason that he still sucks.(like Donyell Marshell) TO bad CD didnt want to trade him for Rashard Lewis last year when he had the chance. Maybe CD listened to the rocket fans and made the wrong decision.
The point with the Zach comparison is to note how far away Eddie is. Eddie doesn't have the footwork, he doesn't have the midrange touch, he doesn't have the post moves, the hands, he's 30lbs lighter, less aggressive, less strong, and they are basically the same age. Eddie has been in the league longer. Eddie can block better. Zach won't take 3s. There's a lot of work to do. Basically, he's too light, and doesn't have any one skill to make up for that. He could be decent, but Patrick is going to have to teach him how to use the muscle he's got to get position and hold it.
