Take off the Rose-Colored Glasses--Is Griffin falling for Headfakes?

DH, don't mean to step on your toes, but you've only seen tmo play a few times, right?
The college team that went against the Olympic team prior to last year's games had three players score in double figures. Those were Jason Williams, Jason Richardson, and Tmo. Battier did not. I would not write him off as someone who, if the chips fall a certain way, could not score 8-10 ppg and grab 5-7 rpg next season. Whether that constitutes being an 'impact' player is another question.

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EG will be alright. It's just like Dream. Dream went for every fake possible his first few years in the league, but he calmed down later. EG will do the same thing.

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Also, not trying to step on your toes, but, you may recall, coming out of high school, Randy Livingston and Rodrick Rhodes were considered to be as good or better than Jason Kidd.

Not saying that that's the best analogy ever, but what I'm telling you is what I see in T-Mo RIGHT NOW, not a year or two ago.

He's not going to suck. But he's not going to be a Cuttino Mobley pick either....

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"There are three kinds of lies:
Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..."
- Mark Twain -

 

Fair enough, fair enough. Of course in some sense we wouldn't want him to be a Cuttino
Mobley pick either.

Another thing that's true of Terence, though (this is why he opted out of the Chicago camp, probably), is that he doesn't step up unless needed to (in 'creampuff' games, he would sometimes not take a shot). He may be coasting a little in these games just b/c they're summer league, not that that's a good thing.

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That may be the case, but if that's his mentality, then he's gonna find out real fast that Rudy puts a lot more stock in "creampuff" games then he may think. Just ask Chucky Brown about his extended starting spot that he "earned" in training camp, or how bout Kelvin "Creampuff" Cato...



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"There are three kinds of lies:
Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..."
- Mark Twain -

 

Give us the most objective read possible, Summer League fans. inquiring minds got to know.

So far, I've read from Moe that Zach got Griffin into the air a couple of times. Darkhorse was talking about how "sometimes he is outta position, but still goes for the block."

As great as that enthusiam for the ball sounds, didn't Stromile Swift have a disappointing year, because he kept flying through the air whether he had position or not? NBA players will test all your bad habits. Why are we to believe Griffin isn't too excited to jump all the time like Stromile.

wait for it....wait for it....jump!

 

great shot blockers wait for the ball to be released...then go get it.


pretenders have to jump ahead of time.


average shot blockers have to coincide their jump with the offensive player's jump.

which one is eddie?

 

Of course Griffin is going for head fakes. Almost all shot-blocking post players 'go' for headfakes through at least their sophomore years in college(see rasheed wallace @unc, tmo @md). Griff did it all season @seton hall. He'll grow out of it though.

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[This message has been edited by Tmo (edited July 25, 2001).]

 

From what I've seen of him, and from what Seton Hall fans have told me, Griffin has unbelievable timing on his blocks.

The only knock on him was, and we've seen it in summer league, that he's not a good perimeter defender as of right now, but he could usually make up for this weakness in his game by recovering quickly for the block.

I wouldn't be worried.



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For one of the first times, Eddie is playing NBA caliber players. Almost any shotblocker will go for headfakes his first few games in the league, because of the gap in talent. NBA players use many more effective moves and fakes than college players do, and it takes more than a week in a summer league to be prepared. Give him some time to mature and adjust to the new level of competition before you make that judgment.

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Good point, cat. in college, griff could go for headfakes and STILL get the block. not now.

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Hakeem is a good example of this. He used to jump at anything that moved at UH and in Houston. He used to get into all kinds of foul trouble until he realized you don't go after everything.

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"I'll tell you this, the older I get, the less I trust people. It's true. It's damn true." -- gr8-1 going through some growing pains.

 

Okay, let's not blow this out of proportion. When I saw Eddie in the air, I know once was for sure in the 4th qtr and I think the other time was late 3rd qtr. I think when a guy had already put up 25 or 30 points on you, you will be more susceptible to that. I don't think it is a big concern, as I don't recall him being pump-faked into the air in the 1st two games. Maybe he did and I just don't remember, but certainly not enough for it to catch my attention.

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IMO, Eddie goes for everything, but he's so long and fast he still gets things you don't expect.

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Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen...

 

With all the talk about Griffin at summer legaue, what about T. Morris, is he a bust?

I noticed the last few reports from Dark Horse, stated that he was a "O" factor on the floor. If he cannot do anything against summer league talent, what will he do this season? Did we make a mistake taking him over Lorren Woods?

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I think Darkhorse is being unfair to Morris. I'd have to review every play, but I always thought that Morris was a factor, perhaps not offensively, but he changes shots as much as Eddie. In fact, Morris and Eddie are quite the pair in the frontcourt.

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Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen...

 

in some sense it'd be hard NOT to be unfair to tmo, because no matter how hard dhorse or anyone else tries to see things from above, his focus is naturally going to gravitate toward the player with the most attention surrounding him: griff. subtle contributions from other players could be missed. then again, you can't 'miss' 1-whatever shooting

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I agree with Achebe. When I talked to T-Mo, he said he was just trying to fit in and get a little better each game. He hasn't been calling for the ball like Eddie and doesn't have the shot attempts. However, he has had some spectacular plays.

When we asked the coaches if T-Mo was going to be more of a complimentary player rather than a go-to guy, both Larry and Jim immediately responded "It's too early to tell".

If he is a complimentary player, he is going to be one hell of a role player. I like him.

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The Cat, I'm not making a judgement. I'm asking Summer League witnesses.

Of course, all your comments are true. We all know that response, and we all could have written it. Point is, Stromile Swift was equally awesome shotblocker, who never did learn his first year, it seems.

This is definitely something to monitor. So, hence the question to the witnesses.