I thought Eddie looked a lot better tonight but his shot is still way off...better but still off. 9 rebounds in 25 minutes makes me smile real big.
crash-Could this just be a case of early sophomore slump? I think we can say he's played better with each passing game of the regular season. Swopa-to answer your question, Eddie has added 17 pounds since his rookie year. He still needs a bit more, but that's definitely a start. From what I saw in preseason, his ballhandling is better: last year, he sometimes went entire games without dribbling the ball. His ballhandling is still a huge weakness, but I think at this point it's bad, rather than horrendous. The guy has just been off his game to start the regular season; it's not because he didn't work hard, it's just one of those random slumps.
NIKEstrad, Absolutely this could just be an early sophomore slump. I hope that is all it is. Even tonight though he looked many times better rebounding the ball than in the first two games and that has been one of my biggest concerns. Eddie seems to have something of an introverted personality and I wonder if that is effecting his aggressiveness and confidence early on. In any event I thought his defense and rebounding showed tremendous improvement last night against the Raptors and he wasn't taking as many wild shots.
Crash, I was really rooting for EG last night after reading some of the posts in this forum. EG is a big part of our future and Im glad he did well last night and and that you regained your confidence in him. I noticed that with all of EG's leaping skills, his rebounding technique, specifically,boxing out, is not very good. Also, he never seems to be in position. Im hoping Mr. Mean can help turn EG into a great rebounder. I think with EGs height, long arms and leaping ability, he has all the tools.
I'm wondering if playing a zone is getting the front court players out of position for box outs. Instead of being between the man and the basket all the time the switching and area coverage might be causing some of the rebounding problems...
Thats a good point .....its not often that you see us get a 100% uncontested rebound ....seems like the rebounds we get, its a dog fight for them and we are never quite in the right position. Next time you watch Memphis play, keep your eyes on Pau Gasol and his rebounding technique. Ive watched his last two games and Ive noticed that after the ball is shot, hell instantly look around to find where his man his and use classic rebounding technique to box him out. So fundamentally sound. I really enjoy watching him play.
In games 1-2 Yao Ming was not looking to block out. He was just using his height - which didn't work worth a damn. Last night you could see him try to use his body and look for a Raptor to block. Not a lot, but more. The Rockets are probably working the film and the technique with him. He was so much taller than the CBA competition he probably got sloppy with his rebounding techniques.
I definately noticed that Yao was indeed making a concerted effort to find a man to put his body on. Its good to see that he is a quick learner. One thing I noticed is with long rebounds. Yao is not a quick jumper at all and sometimes seems to be too far underneath the basket. Alot of rebounds get over him before he even jumps. Perhaps he should position himself a lil further out so that he can better get to these.
Eddie redeemed himself. 3-6 inside the arc. 0-1 3 pt. 4-4 from the line. 10 points. 9 boards. 2 blocks. That's a good start...
From John Hollister's Pro Basketball Prospectus By Hollister's statistics, the Rockets were dead last on defense last year, with shooting guard defense and power forward defense being our two huge holes. It doesn't show up normally, because the Rockets play such slow ball, but if you take the pace of games into account, we were 29th out of 29 defensively last year. Griffin blocks shots, but he's not a good defender.
dwm- Hollister obviously didn't watch Rockets games; therefore, I take what he said worth a grain of salt. Besides the fact, even if Hollister's numbers were good representations, (which is arguable) Eddie averaged 26 MPG last year-not even all of those were at the PF (and contrary to Hollister and other "analysts" beliefs, none were at SF). How does that reflect that Eddie in particular, who spent less than half the game playing PF, is a bad defender? Eddie never played SF, and for good reason-he doesn't have the lateral quickness defensively, or the dribbling and slashing ability offensively. He and Kenny played a forward tandem for all of about 8 games. In that time Rudy came out with a quote that called Kenny the SF out of that duo. When Eddie wasn't playing PF, he was playing the 5, or he was on the bench. Eddie is not a good man defender yet because he has the strength and body of a 20 year old, and plays like he's barely been in the league one year. I wonder why that is?
Since Hollister does not even know what position Eddie played last year I don't think I would consider him a good source of information on Eddie Griffin. Eddie never played SF last year. He played the 4 and 5. It has been extensively discussed on this board.
Wow. The season is early and there are a lot of expectations on him right now. let him relax and grow. he'll be fine. right now he's playin outside of himself but he'll calm down and do better.
Eddie will bounce back and be a "Top 10" shot blocker by the end of the season, hitting 35-40% from the outside and 8+ boards. "Eddie for threeeeee....... KAPAYA!!!" - Calvin Murphy commenting on Rudy T's reaction after ANOTHER win against the Lakers.
EG, YM, and BN all have one thing in common. They are very green, and would benefit greatly from a "pass first" point guard, who could help them get easy shots and layups, to help their confidence. None of these guys are capable of creating their own offense yet, so until then, don't expect much from them offensively, unless the Rockets start passing more often. Raven
Eddie's going to the bench. But at some point before the All Star break, he'll start dominating other teams' benches so thoroughly, that we'll have no choice but to put him in the line up. Give him 30 games, and he's the starter. Also, I think Eddie still has to put on more muscle. I'd say another 10lbs would make him solid, without losing his quickness. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Duncan can be quiet, because he's Duncan, he's perfect. But Griffin needs 3 more years till he's as old as Duncan was when he came into the league(sounds good, lol). The demeanour is killing his game. He needs more energy/explosiveness until he improves other aspects of his game.
This is just my theory...before you trash someone, please at least learn to spell the words you are using. I don't think "diget" nor "aweful" are words. I would think that if someone is "aweful", that might be a good thing. Eddie Griffin is a good basketball player. He is going to average around 2.5 blocks/gm. Of course he's not going to score 20 pt/gm. No one on the team except Franchise, Cat & Ming (when the time comes) are going to get the ball enough. I think that patience is the key to the Rockets season this year. Patience with our younger players. Patience with the learning curve. Patience with the ball. They looked great against Toronto. Hopefully, they learned that a team game is going to take them much farther than Franchise or Mobley could ever do on their own. By the 20 game mark, the Rocks will know where their place is in the conference.
Never? http://www.nba.com/games/20020118/HOUBOS/boxscore.html I don't know who was "extensivley discussing" this, but I saw Griffin at SF a lot last season. Don't make me go back to my tapes.
John Hollister is CNNSI's basketball editor. I'd consider him a better source of basketball information than most. If you don't believe me, check this recent article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2002/11/03/waag_1104/ Who wrote it?
Seriously, read what I say and stop putting words in my mouth. I didn't mention Griffin's position in the post, but Hollister was analyzing Griffin as a 4, or power forward. As far as John Hollister watching basketball, he does it for a living. He has a web site called http://alleyoop.com, which is where I ran into his stuff. He's also employed by Sports Illustrated to write columns for their web site. Incidentally, this is John Hollister's list of the top 50 power forwards: http://alleyoop.com/prates/pf02.htm In it, Griffin ranks 40th, but since PER is a largely offensive stat, it probably overrates his contributions from last year. David.
