All of you who rip in Eddie for his lack of fire and apparent passion need to remember that the best player in the game right now is Tim Duncan. Duncan's a guy who rarely shows emotion, plays within himself, and is still a dominant force. Am I saying Eddie will be that kind of player? Not necessarily What I'm saying is that he doesn't have to yell and scream and call out attention to himself to be considered a great PF. It's simply not his personality. It's not a lack of passion holding him back, it's a lack of strength and experience. These things will come eventually and Eddie will mature into the player we all knew he would be when we drafted him. Be patient.
getting out-muscled and pushed around in the post and linedriving shots a few feet away as opposed to airballing 3pointers wnba style. Agree with heyp, thanks for the info, seems a lil scant tho.
Gundy is really showing that he knows what this teams needs to do. Hopefully he can convince the players to play his game. I especially like him emphasizing that Griffin shouldnt be shooting threes aand Yao is posting too far away. I tink he will definitely make a difference for this team.
I think he was only on for a few segments and it was too early for me. Besides, if you listen to 610, you know how they do their commercial breaks. They're actually longer than the segments.
No I didn't. He should 'get more time inside' when he shows that he can play there. Why would you post up a kid who's overmatched and has no post moves when you have two 'all-stars' on the floor and people whining about Ming not getting the ball enough? I don't think posting up Griffin was going to get the Rockets closer to the playoffs.
"Solid Moves" is also a nickname for pancakes. Like, at breakfast, you can say "pass those solid moves" and the other person should know to pass you the pancakes. My middle brother taught me that.
It is the chicken or the egg theory. Does he need more time to play inside to get better OR should he get better first and then get the time. Probably a little of both, but he DOES need game time to get better. Practice helps certainly but nothing beats game situations. Having Griffin be able to score downlow would be a great help to this team getting to the playoffs, no question. It is not the key cog mind you, but something that this team needs to get to the next level in my opinion.
For a moment you got me excited, then Eddie's last year's game flahed back to my memory. Hmm, if he could average that kind of number, playoff is a lock.
No one said anything about limiting his play time. But Jeff van Gundy *did* say that there are no more excuses and everybody better come to camp ready to play and in top shape. For Griffin, one has to believe that means he better be strong enough to not let people push him off the block so easily. There's nothing chicken or egg about Eddie being manhandled by power forewards last year. Until he gets better from bulking up and hard work...like right now in the summer...he isn't going to be able to play the low post no matter how much your order him to do it. and imso, he shouldn't be given the starting position like Rudy gave him. It's like ordering Joe Smith to go take on Duncan, Garnett, Webber, Gasol, Wallace, Brand, Malone, Amare... Eddie was a poor man's Joe Smith, last year. Since when is being an NBA starter not enough opportunity to play?? I feel like you are making the case that was made in Nov 2001, before Rudy started playing him. I'd be satisfied with Griffin being able to defend PFs. imo, JVG will not play him as much as Rudy did if he keeps letting Uncle Joe and Cousin Billy play family reunion ball on him.
You have to ask yourself... who would I rather run a play for and take the shot from the post.... Yao or EG.....Yao The reason he needs to get in the paint and out away from the 3 pt line is so he can contribute on the offensive boards. EG can be a big help to the Rox by not neccessarliy scoring on a play designed for him, but rather by crashing the glass ala Camby style (Knicks Knicks Knicks). JVG sees this and will get it out of him, or EG will be gone.
TheFreak said "He should 'get more time inside' when he shows that he can play there." So I was saying he should get more time inside to learn to get better. I agree, no one said anything about limiting his playing time...but playing time INSIDE. Personally, I feel all the playing time Griffin has gotten over the last year or so has been a waste as he was relegated to a 3pt shooter and I think he needs to work on his inside game. I completely 100% agree with your points about Eddie getting stronger. No question, that is part of the process and will be a HUGE determining factor in how well Eddie succeeds in the post both offensively and defensively. I said nothing about it being a chicken or egg about Eddie being manhandled by PFs last year. I said it was a chicken or egg scenario on how he could get better in terms of playing to get better or waiting until he is better to get played. This goes back to strength which I agree with. But make no mistake about it, he needs to learn to play inside instead of hanging out on the 3pt line if he is going to become a better player. I think we all can agree with that. Not sure where you are coming with all of this HP. My discussion was with TheFreak and I was discussing the difference of playing INSIDE versus OUTSIDE. That discussion is not anywhere present in your reply which is why I am surprised you quoted my points. Of course he got time to play last year, but not as much time in the post. That is what I am talking about.
Let's see.. They asked him about what he thought about the defensive capabilities of this team.. he said that we were very good in the post defense "in one of the two areas" .. ie that we were very good at giving helping defense against guys who penetrated.. specifically he mentioned Yao, EG, and Cato.. but he added that we were NOT terribly good at post defense when defending 'your own guy' .. ie that they were too easily pushed around .. added that Yao has a 'great base' .. (which we have all heard ad nauseum).. pointed out that we had to be so good at helping defensively because our perimeter players were 'getting beat off the dribble' .. hmmm what else.. they went into extensive detail asking about the perception that SF and Cat don't give the ball up to Yao enough.. JVG said that he had heard that a lot, but after looking at the film, it was clear that it was a case of 'myth versus reality' .. meaning that as far as he could see, Yao got his hands on the ball plenty; the problem was that he was not getting the ball in the right locations.. playing 12 and 15 feet from the basket instead of 6 to 8 .. that's when he mentioned that we needed to get better shot distribution, saying 'we cannot win with Yao getting 500 less shots than SF, and 250 less than Cat' .. talked about putting together film of the closing minutes of close games.. so that they could identify what, if any, were the glaring statistical changes which occurred at the end of close games compared to the bulk of the minutes before that - such as big swings either way in points, shots, rebounds, fouls, etc etc.. things that should help them be able to change a 3 - 10 record in games decided by 3 points or less.. hmmm.. talked a lot about non-basketball stuff.. the weather, NY fans, how nice everyone here has been to him and his family, things like that.. they tried to bait him into criticising past coaching philosophies, players, etc.. the things that stands out is that he absolutely will not say one single syllable negative about Rudy.. claims to have no interest or ability in personnel decisions, as far as the draft goes, because of how much time he necessarily has to spend on coaching and games, he would not have the knowledge that CD and Lindsey have.. but he did say that he would be able to help in one way - he says that he believes he knows who the 'winning players' in this league are, and who the 'losing players' are.. and that he will give his advice in that area for sure.. (since it came up - has anyone ever heard of him specifically mentioning, either as a coach or as a TV guy, any particular players he has deemed as 'winning players'? just curious if anyone has ever heard that from him in regards to specific players, or types of players) hmm.. he did speak a fair bit about Eddie.. almost going as far as saying that EG was not utilized properly.. he feels that EG should be much closer to the basket.. he did mention that EG really put serious defensive pressure on against the more 'big-time' 4's he had faced.. said he was surprised by how competitive EG was, because his reputation was something other than that.. that's about all I can remember from the drive in this morning.. have a good un
thx for the info Nero. Much appreciated. Deuce, I think Heypee is simply stating that it's pointless to argue whether or not Griff should be playing inside or outside if he hasn't increased his strength/mass enough to hold position in the post. Last year he couldn't hold his position, but Rudy wanted him getting experience, so what to do but have him float around. At least he wasn't ineffectively clogging the lanes. If he has bulked up from last year, duh, of course he should play mostly inside.
Eddie Griffin needs to work on that shot before thinking about playing down low and on defense i'll think he'll be fine...probably
Funny he should mention that because the best game that I remember EG having last year was against Portland and Rasheed Wallace. Eddie clearly outplayed Rasheed in on game at home. The worst game that I recall EG having was against Washington. I don't even remember who was playing power forward that night but Eddie was just horrible and looked completely lost on defense. I believe we went into into overtime on that perticular game.
Thanks to those who gave their reports. I greatly appreciate it and applaud you for doing so. I'm pleased with JVG's comments. Now for what has become the main event: Eddie The impact of playing on the three point line *It takes him out of the paint, away from the basket, and therefore away from the all important offensive put-back. *His inability to get put-backs hurt his point production, his FG%, and his confidence in himself. *It puts him on the arc, and makes him too passive. He's not a good three point shooter, and one of the reasons he got so many shots last season is that defenses want him to shoot. *It deprives him of an opportunity to learn to shoot inside the arc. *It reduces his rebounding opportunities and hurts our offensive rebounding.
My bad for butting in. I guess I should have just quoted TheFreak's statement that you addressed and said, "I agree." So let me do that instead. I completely agree. Eddie was incapable of playing the low post in the NBA last year and had plenty of opportunity to do it. He couldn't establish low post position for an entry, and he has no dribble to start his moves from further away. And he showed inconsistent interest in crashing th boards. When he did find himself with the ball in the low post, all he ever did was a turnaround jumper...which is what SFs do. In 6pm shootarounds, I saw Eddie more than once camped out at 25' from the hoop (over a foot behind the line) and shoot 3 pointer after 3 pointer, while KT and MoT were working with coaches on post moves from wing entries. Who is that poster here who knew EG at Seton Hall and they asked him about why he was shooting so many 3s, and he said, "That's my game." That's what he likes to do. I would bench him until he can beat Maurice in practice or contain Maurice on defense. I'm tired of players being handed minutes and given touches when they don't do anything with the opportunity. What is it that JVG said in reference to Nachbar, "Everyone has to show they can help the team to get PT." bottomline: I doubt JVG will toss Eddie developmental touches. Eddie will have to earn them in practice.
