When Rudy T tells the media that Cuttino Mobley is one of he best players in the league like he did at the beginning of last season, or that Mo Taylor has superstar potential(as he told the media when Taylor was signed) you lose credability and give fans unrealistic expectations. Rudy could have said that they were talented players with very bright futures, but "Superstar" is a stretch! I expect Eddie Griffin to win rookie of the year only because RT said that Griffin was the player in the draft he most wanted if he could have had the first pick! I blame the front office, not the players. Next thing you know RT will be predicting a championship this season. I beginning to doubt RT's ablity to judge talent. Remember he said that he felt better about Rodrick Rhodes than Sam Cassell when he was drafted.
Lenny Wilkins and Doc Rivers said the same thing. Are you sure you are not the one able to judge talent?
Cuttino Mobley is unguardable, I would say that that makes him one of the better players in the league. Mo Taylor does have superstar <b>potential</b>. Offensively, he's very good, defensively, he could use work.
As much as I would love E. Griffin to win Rookie of the year, he's not. Rudy T. said that he would have taken him #1 because he was the best fit for the team in the long run. I don't think RT would have taken him as #1 in terms of what numbers he will bring on the court now. Compare Darius miles(3rd pick, 18yrs) and Mike Miller(5th pick,20yrs). Darius has the potiential to put up much better numbers than Miller but Miller won ROY. Let's look at it in the opposite end, Darius Miles(3rd pick, 18yrs) and Kenyon Martin(1st pick, 22yrs). Again DM has the potiential to be a major superstar while I believe KM will be an fine future allstar(nothing wrong with that). Another example is Tyson Chandler and Elton Brand. TC has the potiential to be a superstar while Brand will be a allstar. Some teams need a scorer now and need a player who can contribute right away(Nets, Grizzlies) and some teams are thinking in the long run(future) or have the luxury to develop players over time. My point is even if he was taken #1 by us(some how) I don't think the rockets expect or expected him to be a major impact to the team this season and win ROY. I think we took him because we like his potiential/skills to be a superstar in a few years(since we are young) contary to bringing in a player that will contribute now but put up average numbers. He might or might not be the best player in the draft but he definitely is/will be one of the top 3 in time. Right now, heck, he might not produce any numbers of significance but that doesn't mean he will be a bust. He's still going to be 19 when the season ends and there's no doubt that the rockets were not thinking he wouldn't be a star in the future realistically. This is just my interpretation. The first time I heard of E.Griffin I thought he was this SF that was skinny and played like Tracy Mcgrady, or S. Pippen or S. Adur-Rahim. What I mean is I though he was a player with ballhandling abilities that could drive in, slash, create shots by dribbling left than right than pop it, maybe a little crossover, or a fake than drive, I don't know what exactly but I thought he was a true SF. Then actually seeing him play, my thoughts changed, he's big, he doesn't drive, he doesn't slash or crossover, heck he doesn't dribble, he rebounds like crazy so much that it seems like his finger touches(Tip) every miss, he plays with his back to the basket(post up), he blocks like crazy I almost thought he was Hakeem's miney me, he does those special back to back to back plays(scores or blocks or steals or rebounds consecutively) and all of a sudden I'm thinking we got a real star. But is he a PF or SF? Now I'm thinking in one or two years he's got to grow and what to do with him? Is he going to be a starting SF? or starting PF? or maybe starting C? One thing I know for sure is he is going to be starting something, and he's got special talent. To answer your question my thinking is EG is not going to be any thing close to being a buser.
L A"s #1 Rocket Fan Good anlysis of Eddie. Having watched the RMR review tape about three times I couldn't agree more. Especially liked your analysys of Eddie tipping all the balls and doing the back to back to back plays ala Hakeem. Eddie has the potential, but probably not at small forward. Eddie hasn't shown the handle to be a small forward, although he showed one quick and strong long range move to the basket which did not lead to a score. Let's be clear, though, he has more skills at present than Darius Miles who is primarily a runner and dunker who needs to learn to shoot. Eddie has some real solid scoring moves like his fade away, which is tough to stop at his height. It almost reminds me of the Dream Shake.
For anybody to judge a 19 year old if he is a superstar or not is stupid. He has not stepped on a NBA court for one second yet and already people are ready to call out his whole career. If you can see the future, please let me know. I would really want you to tell me if I'm going to be rich in the future or not. If you can't tell the future, keep your mouth shut. So far Eddie Griffin has excelled in every level - high school, one year in college. Thats all you can go by, and so far so good.
H-town#1fan - Good point. I see how it could be not fair to label a player a superstar or a bust before he even plays. No one knows for sure they can only predict. I guess the best way to say it would be to say a player has the potiential to be a superstar in time. It's like in life there's no garentee on anything, like myself I go to a fairly well known university, I have a 3.7 average, and yet there's no garentee that I'll have a job when I graduate or be sucessful in the future. I can only hope I will, so I guess one can only say they hope that in time a player will be a star from the skills he has displayed. glynch - Thanks for the complement. I agree with you EG's fadeaway is a nice thing to see, it's smooth, looks like this could be his goto move!
