I'm one of Eddie's biggest supporters. I expected him to cement his place as the starter in the first 5 games, but he's done just the opposite. Is it unreasonable to want Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, or Tyson Chandler type production from Eddie? Those guys have improved dramatically. It doesnt show up in the stats, but they show it when they play. Eddie's got to be more explosive, at least until he improves his handles and post up game.
crash, by jumping the gun and putting Eddie down after two bad games, you made sure that you will have to put your foot in your mouth AGAIN. "No, it's not a block, it's a foul."
I belive in Eddie but right now our trade was not so good as we thought it was , we could have picked Jefferson,Tinsley,Haywood and those guys togheter are better than him .
I saw EG get blocked allowing a fast break the other way and he, Eddie, is trotting back down. There was no hussle in the boy at all. Not only am I longing for MoT and KT, I am also longing for Tmo.
Everyone who keeps saying Eddie is only 20 and we need to give him more than 2 games, needs to replay the past 2 games and the preseason. In all the games this year, he has showed no improvement over last year. His points comes from volume shooting and no explosive moves to speak of. He gets his points, when he does score, from straight up open Js primarily. This is not an improvment I have said it before and will say it again: 1) Eddie and the rockets need to concentrate on his D. He can block and do some things defensively 2) the Rockets need to put a shooting collar on him, because is selection is horrible...actually he has no selection and he has not touch and he shoots a side winding ball. Mobley at least makes his at 43% or so. Eddie is killing us with his 20% games. If you look at the box scores and do the math, Eddie's poor shooting is the primary reason we have no assists and lose or nearly lose the past 2 games. I saw Cat and Francis feed him 6 times where is clanked it when he was wide open from 18 ft - 5 ft. Francis would have had 3-4 more assists if Eddie hits a lot NBA average 3) He has no touch and no move. I did see him hit one turn around that was nice and miss about three others where he just flat out was off on the scope. So, he has one move we know of and they need to work on that 4) We cannot teach touch. He is 20, but there are severe limitations that cannot be corrected 5) With all this said, he can still be a productive player, though not an allstar and not probably worth 3 first rounders 6) My jury is still out though. I think his game will get better to where he is not a liability
Look, EG is shooting 17% so far this season. Now Im not saying hes a great shooter, far from it. But hes not going to shoot 17% all season. EG is struggling with his shot. Last night, he had a couple of strong post up moves and took good shots. He just barely missed at least 3 or 4. So he could have easily been 7-12 instead of 3-12. What I really liked was the range in which he was taking those shots. His shooting touch will come around. Im guessing hell be around 40-43% by the time the season ends.
IMHO, the Rockets guards are not getting Griffin the ball in a good position for him to shoot. In other words, where he is getting the ball is not in his comfort zone...rhythm wise or location wise If you have a tape of the game, watch the entry pass made by Cato from the FT line to Griffin in the low block...sweet. Off-topic: Just curious. What kind of "handles" are required for a PF? Can Webber, 'Sheed, Ben Wallace, Vin Baker, Derrick Coleman or Loren Woods be considered good ball handlers? (In case you aren't watching, the TWolves are using Woods as a PF).
SJC, Unless you can prove that Eddie has had a good start to the season I am in no danger of eating my words. If you think Eddie is doing just fine and is on pace then you are wearing rose colored glasses. Sure Eddie has time to get his career together and turn into a dominant player and I hope he does. But Eddie certainly is not where I think he should be now. It's not like he was stellar in the pre-season and just got off to a bad start. He only hit 36% of his shots in the pre-season and his rebounding was suspect as well. If you take away his blocks during the pre-season he did not do much. So sorry to disappoint you SJC there will be no putting my foot in my mouth unless you know some trick to turn back time so Eddie can replay those games. There has been no bigger Eddie supporter the last year and a half than me and I am still hoping he turns into the Power Forward that I was so certain he would become. But if you think Eddie has played the pre-season and the first two games of the season like he should have then I think you need to raise the bar a bit. Lofty expectations make for big disappointments when a player does not produce and apparently my expectations for Eddie were much bigger than yours.
If he does not have a decent shot shouldn't he kick the ball back out our should he just fling up half a dozen prayers every games?
You have been watching and so you have noticed that he does kick the ball back out frequently. At some point, the desire to be involved and contribute overrides the lack of comfort. I'm not going to get into a long-winded disagreement with you. I will say it once and be done. Eddie Griffin will be fine. IMO, your judgement is premature. You are wanting EG to be Jermaine O'Neal and forgetting O'Neal is in his sixth season. One closing comment. Hypothetically speaking, if the Rockets were to right now start fielding trade offers for EG don't you feel that they would get a lot of offers/interest? IMO, there are a lot of GM's who still see a big upside to Griffin.
I agree with this. I knew there would be a group (SJC, Achebe, RocketsPimp, etc...) that would mis-interpret this or try and change the point of this thread. If I did not think that Eddie had All Star potential then I might be thrilled with 4 blocks and 5 rebounds from him last night. I know what I saw from Eddie last year and I know he can be so much more. He seems to have the right attitude. I think he has great temperament for a 20-year-old. He seems like a 100% team oriented player. I have seen him when he decides to go for a rebound and when he does he is a stud. If I thought this was all Eddie was capable of I would not be worried about him but I know he is capable of more and I believe he should be farther advanced than he is right now. I hope he starts playing up to his potential soon but until he starts showing something then I am out on him. No more benefit of the doubt. I am now looking at him the same way I looked at MoT after he stunk it up his first 2 months with the Rockets in 2000. Mo turned it around and now I hope Eddie can to...put he has to prove it.
1. Believe me, I hope you are right. I want Eddie to succeed. 2. This thread is not about trades. No way am I advocating giving up on him now. I am just highly disappointed in his development so far.
AM I disappointed with Eddie's play in last two games? An all affirming..YES. After seeing or rather hearing about his summer league play and pre-season, I was kinds hoping he was way ahed of pace. And then seeing Kwame yesterday showing his stuff made me wince a bit. Is he worth the three first rounders..I will leave that question for five years...or maybe should be asked 10 years from now. If you asked in 1993, did Rocks err by taking Akeem over Air Jordan. Answer may have been yes. Not after that year. But I think Steve and Mobs need to talk to him........give him some pep-up before he destroys his self-confidence. We will need either Eddie or Ming to contribute big time within the next 6-8 weeks, if we wanna get to the playoffs.
Ya'll all need to calm down, Eddie is only one of the many problems the rocks have right now. The Rockets need to pass the ball!! Sorry......Eddie is going to be a great player, he's only 20 and ya'll expect 20pts. 10 boards a game from a 20 year old starting at power forward in his first 2 games of his second season. Yes, Eddie got outplayed in his 1st 2 games, but so did the rest of the Rocks (minus the backcourt).The worst team in the NBA hung with us till the last 2 min. of the game, but we have 80 games left. Griffin is gonna be a great player, but we forget hr only played in college for a year. Ming and Griff both have developing to do. but theres no reason to get all panicky. We'll readdress this issue at the all-star break. In the mean time smile! the rocks are 1-1!!
Cool it. This fellow is special. A perennial all-star by '05 ASGame, an upper level player by next year. I wish we had lots of EGs. All this because he, and most everyone else, is tossing bricks?
geez you guys turn on players so fast....everyone was nutting all over themselves in the offseason and preseason over eddie and how amazing he was going to be and that he was going to become this great all-star and on and on and on. then he has 2 bad games to start the season and everyone is down on him in this thread. crash you may have never liked eddie in the 1st place and thats fine, but all i am saying is that if you were one of the people who was praising him and stroking off over him in the preseason then you shouldn't be so quick to turn on him after his 1st 2 games. so its fine to be disappointed after these games but quit judging so freaking fast.
EG was OK. The only true power forward out there for the Rockets, he looked pressed to overcome how he played at Indy. He made an OK comeback. Not what we want but look at the cast around him - Collier, a behind Yao Ming, Boki, Hawkins, Cat as a 3... Let's see now how he does at home tonight. Hopefully he'll have more support from Thomas and Rice. I'm willing to give him three strikes...
