I posted the other day about Jermaine O'Neals progress in the NBA. He didn't even get more than 13 minutes a game until his 5th season and didn't truly "break out" until his 6th season. Now Eddie had one year of college so there is one year descrepancy in their age difference. So if we're measuring him against the Jermaine O'Neal scale Eddie shouldn't be expected to break out until his 5th season. This is just his third. I'm not saying Eddie Griffin will ever be a player of the quality of Jermaine O'Neal. But I am saying it is entirely too soon to rule out the possibility. Besides, we don't need him to be like JO. O'Neal has to carry his team. At best, Eddie just has to develop into our third option. If he develops into a player that averages 15 points 10-12 rebounds and 3 blocks a game and plays good team defense, we're more than set at power forward for alot of years to come.
I'm in with one modification. If he gets 20 points and rebs in any combination (10 pts, 10 rebs;8 pts, 12 rebs;16 pts, 4 rebs), we still eat at Perry's but split the tab.
There's one big reason I expect to see a significant improvement for EG this season, although it may be a slow start with significant improvement starting about 1/3 of the way through the season. JVG will be much more diligent in making Eddie aware of what he expects from him and in staying on him to make sure he gets it. (EG himself commented on that after a few practices.) I liked many things about Rudy as a coach, but I don't think he was the right one for Eddie. Eddie has potential in a lot of areas, but needs development in almost all of them except shot-blocking, which comes naturally. It's hard to improve all areas of your game at once. And it's never been clear how Eddie was supposed to fit in with this team -- last year less than ever because we had a team with a guard-oriented offense and an obvious need to try to play more of an inside game and no chance to actually implement a plan to accomplish that. I expect JVG to define clearly to Eddie what he expects for now, and Eddie to show continued improvements in those areas this season. Over the course of the next few years, I expect Eddie to be a very versatile PF, with both an inside and an outside game. (Personally, I'd like to see him shooting open 15-footers rather than 3's.) But it's hard to develop both at once, especially when the offense is in a complete state of chaos, you're role isn't clear, and its another new player that everybody is trying figure out how to accomodate.
