"Young Rockets drive up energy level" - Warning Chrispee, don't click here!

Young Rockets drive up energy level

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

The Rockets went through the usual routine, posing their latest acquisitions with their new uniforms. Eddie Griffin and Terence Morris wore their new Rockets caps and held up their uniforms for the cameras Friday, mimicking the meet-the-rookies news conference bit of nearly every NBA team.

But this one was different and special. It was not just that Griffin had found a team that considered him worth three first-round picks. It was not that Morris was to be reunited with his friend and former Maryland teammate Steve Francis.

It was not even that Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, an icon of the team for three decades, had declared this week's draft "as big as any we've had in the history of the franchise."

When Griffin held up his uniform, he flashed his new number, No. 41. The Rockets pajamas never looked so good.

"It means a whole lot to me to get that number," Griffin said. "That's my oldest brother's number. He played college basketball at the University of Hartford with that number and he passed away.

"It's going to mean a whole lot to step out there in that first game and have that number on my back. It brought some feelings to me sitting there looking at that No. 41. It's going to be with me throughout my whole career."

Marvin Griffin died in March of a heart attack. Of all the emotions the Rockets' surprising acquisition of Griffin brought, seeing that No. 41 on an NBA uniform brought the strongest.

"It makes me feel good he's accomplishing some of the things he set out for," Griffin's mother Queen Griffin said. "I feel good about that. But seeing that uniform really did get to me. It was very touching for me to see him and that number."

The rest of the day was a celebration as the Rockets moved from excitement about the draft-night trades that landed them the players they had coveted to thoughts of how they will help the team.

Tomjanovich and general manager Carroll Dawson said they did not have any particular concerns about Griffin's youth and inexperience. The 6-9 Griffin, 19, played one season at Seton Hall before declaring himself available for the draft, initially becoming forecast as the draft's likely first pick.

"Terence had a solid four-year career," Dawson said. "Eddie may be young, but he has mature stats. I mean, 17.8 (points per game) as a freshman, 10.8 rebounds, 4.5 blocked shots. It's kind of mind-boggling when you look at that.

"He did most of that at 18 years old. He may be young, but those are mature stats."

Those stats indicate a versatility most young players do not show and an ability to find a way to contribute even if he needs time for other parts of his game to mature. With that in mind, Tomjanovich said he had no plans to bring along Griffin differently because he is much younger than previous Rockets rookies.

"You have to have an open mind," Tomjanovich said. "I try to look at every individual situation separately. That's up to him. The things I see him do on the floor, there's so many areas he can help us in. Where I think we have the advantage over the high school kids, we have a year of information we can draw from. Here's a guy who played his first year of college ball and he was second in the country in blocking shots in a tough conference."

But Griffin and Morris do have some pre-draft criticisms to disprove. Morris, 6-9, had slid from a projected lottery pick two seasons ago to the second round because some said he was not aggressive enough offensively. Griffin had been called too aggressive after getting in fights with teammates in high school and college.

"It's not a false impression because it happened," Griffin said. "But it's just two incidents that happened. I was young. I'm still young. I learned from them. It won't happen again. I can guarantee you that."

Though many have said Morris would have gone higher in the draft had he come out two seasons ago, Morris said his junior and senior years at Maryland helped him improve his game.

"I feel more mature about the game," Morris said. "I can do a lot more on the court than I did two years ago. I didn't have the ability to do a lot of things I can do now. I've worked on them and I've gotten a lot better at them."

Morris also noted the Rockets did trade a future first-round pick (from Detroit) to get him. Griffin could not help but notice the lengths the Rockets went to to get him.

"It makes me feel real good," he said. "I was at the top of their draft board. If they had the No. 1 pick, they would have chosen me. That shows how highly they think of me, especially that they traded three first-round picks to get me. I'm excited about it."

But as excited and sometimes emotional as Griffin and Morris were on their first day with the Rockets, they could not match the high Tomjanovich and the Rockets have been on.

"I couldn't be more pleased, thrilled," he said. "I woke up Thursday morning hoping it wasn't a dream because this was a dream draft for us. We thought there was no way in the world that Eddie Griffin could be a part of our draft."

"Terence is a young man I watched for a long time. ... He fit our system, spaced the floor, has a versatile game. I couldn't be happier."


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