In the world of the NBA, there are always so many splurges of talent, there are always so many great careers that have been buried due to off-court factors, and among these injuries, our protagonist today may be the most miserable, no mistake, he is Eddie. griffin!
Teenage Fame: Eddie. Griffin was born in 1982, in high school with excellent physical condition, almost no dead ends of the basketball technology, by many media praised as the first high school student in the United States at that time, Griffin has a height of 210 centimeters, excellent running and jumping ability also has outstanding offensive and defensive ability, especially his block, is a must, college can contribute 17.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game, at that time, people set his template as Tim Duncan.
19-year-old winner: In 2001, when the time was ripe, Griffin signed up for that year's draft, and the scouts gave him an overall rating of 107 points, not to mention that Blake, who became a champion in 2009. Griffin only had an overall rating of 105 points, and at that point, Eddie. Griffin has also been hailed as a popular candidate for the title, and interestingly, 2001 was also considered a year of blowouts for big players, Kwame Brown, Tyson. Chandler, Paul. Gasol, Diop, Eddie. Players such as Curry are also very vocal, but even so, Griffin is still a very special existence.
The rockets finally settled with the seventh pick in the first round: Although Griffin has excellent basketball talent, his off-court factors have caused many negative evaluations, and he was ordered to leave school at the end of his freshman season because of a fight with his teammates, these negative evaluations made those teams with higher picks discourage Griffin, and finally in the seventh pick in the first round, Eddie. Griffin was drafted by the New Jersey Nets, and he was subsequently traded to the real buyer, the Houston Rockets.
The NBA career officially began: although not a champion, but after all, it is a high-ranking player, and the Rockets naturally have a chance to face Eddie. Griffin favored, the rookie season Griffin won an average of 26 minutes per game playing time, And can average 8.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, the most surprising thing is that in addition to his ability to protect the basket, his range can also be pushed to the three-point line, at that time there are not many big men who can throw 1.2 three-pointers per game, but this is what Griffin can do, after the rookie season, with excellent performance, he was selected for the best rookie team second team, and he was selected with Joe Johnson, Richard. Such a famous character as Jefferson.
Genius whose mind is not on the court: As we all know, in 2002, Yao Ming joined the Rockets' lineup, in fact, Griffin is very compatible with Yao Ming from the characteristics, he can open up the offensive space for Yao Ming, on the defensive end, his cover defense is also very conducive to making up for Yao Ming's shortcomings in moving, but during this period, Griffin's off-court nonsense made him continue to file lawsuits, and even missed a lot of the team's training sessions, in 2003, the intolerable Rockets finally completely removed Griffin, noting that it was "delisted" rather than trading. You can imagine how disappointed the Rockets were with Griffin, a No. 7 pick, and lost his job.
After a year at home, Griffin still found a chance to re-employment on the side of the Timberwolves, the first year of joining the Timberwolves, Griffin played well, he became a barrier around the Wolf King Garnett, his wonderful cover is also a regular guest of the five best balls, but the bad habits of bad times, alcoholism, and drug addiction were gradually exposed to him, and in the summer of 2005, he was also imprisoned for 15 days for allegedly shooting a woman, and a series of off-court accidents made Griffin's state worse and worse.
25 years old, genius short life: In March 2007, Griffin, who continued to be unable to contribute on the court, was laid off by the Timberwolves, which may have become the last straw that crushed the camel, without basketball, Griffin's life was only alcohol and drugs, on August 17, 2007, bad news came, Eddie Griffin died in a car accident, and later police reports confirmed that Griffin's alcohol content was seriously exceeded at the time, and in the process of trying to drive across the railway, the SUV he was driving collided with the train and then caught fire His body was burned so badly that it was unrecognizable, and a generation of basketball pros died.
If it weren't for those off-field factors, maybe he would be a great player, but unfortunately there are no ifs in life, but for Griffin, the price is too high.