Griffin thoughts

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@xxxxxxxxx>]

OK, I'll bite on this one since I'm not getting that
much done here at work.

My reax:

1) I agree with those who say it's a big big chemistry
gamble to ship off two of your remaining key veterans.
Williams is a key locker-room guy, especially in the
absence of Antoine, and he sets the tone defensively.
He can score in the post when so motivated. Battie,
meanwhile, is fragile but brings a lot of pluses: I
like the thought of him running gazelle-like in
Ainge's imagined up-tempo game with Banks and Kedrick,
and I think he'd make an excellent complement to Raef
and Baker in a 3-headed power rotation.

That being said ...

2) Talent-wise, this thing seems to heavily favor the
Celtics. Griffin is a man-child, and I've liked Cut
Mobley since he was in college; he owns a 17 ppg
career scoring average. (Hey, why couldn't they have
done this trade while Antoine was still in town?
Mobley, Pierce and Walker? Unreal. But I digress...) 

That being said ...

3) I would really worry that we've swapped one
enigmatic, talented power forward for another. If
Griffin couldn't play for Rudy T and Van Gundy, how
will Obie keep him in line? This particular line from
one of his draft previews really sounded like deja vu:
"He attempts too many contested shots from the
perimeter and does not put the ball on the floor
nearly enough." Then you've got, "Griffin is an
unemotional player who hardly looks like he cares
during games and [is] not a fierce competitor."
Derrick Coleman deux?

There is reason to be concerned if Houston, a good
team, ships two younger and more talented players off
for what are essentially Boston's spare parts. I'd
imagine we're parting with a draft pick here, but
Houston's obviously looking at this as
addition-by-subtraction, and it can be scary to hitch
your wagon to someone else's problem child (to mix my
metaphors).

If Amaechi is the other player involved, he has also
been a discipline problem in the past, having clashed
with Jerry Sloan. He does have a big body and had a
good season or two in Orlando, so it'd be interesting
to see if Ainge plans to keep him around or if he is
simply a throw-in. Nachbar was very highly touted a
year ago
(http://nbadraft.net/profiles/bostjannachbar.htm) and
was considered a steal by the Rockets, but they didn't
play him much. 

All that being said ...

4) I have to conclude I would like this deal. The
season is full of risks for Boston anyway, and the
potential upside of adding these two players could
well outweigh whatever Battie and Williams could bring
(though unlike Josh, I wouldn't call us
championship-caliber just yet). Certainly the deal
would upgrade our talent base, make us younger and
more explosive, and force teams to worry about
somebody other than Pierce. As someone said, if you're
going to gamble, why not gamble on a 6'10 21-year-old?
(Interesting to note that Griffin and Battie posted
nearly identical numbers last year, with the glaring
exception of their shooting percentages: 53% for Tony,
a Walkeresque 38% for Grif.)



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