"Timberwolves forward Eddie Griffin was suspended five games without pay by the NBA on Friday for violating conditions of the NBA's anit-drug program. It was latest in a string of incidents that could put his tumultuous career with the team in jeopardy.
Griffin's suspension begins with tonight's Wolves game at Memphis. He did not make the trip from the Twin Cities with the team. Griffin had not appeared in the past 13 consecutive games as he had fallen out of the rotation.
A Wolves spokesman declined to comment immediately. The team will issue a statement later today."
This made me think back to an article I wrote when I still was with Hoopsworld.com. Check it out.
From HOOPSWORLD.com
Eddie Griffin Has Worn Out His Welcome In Minnesota
By Stephen Litel
Jun 30, 2006, 09:54
Eddie Griffin needs to no longer be a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves...period.
Minnesota was one of the few teams who were willing to give Griffin a second chance after some trouble with the law while in Houston. The Wolves even rewarded him by signing him to a contract extension after his first year in the Twin Cities. Glen Taylor’s team even stood behind Griffin after he spent time in jail last summer.
But, this is just too much.
In late March, Griffin was involved in a car accident. His car slammed into a car parked outside of a convenience store. Griffin told reporters that he had dropped his cell phone and was attempting to pick it up when the accident occurred, but as more of the truth is revealed, the easier it is to see that Griffin is not someone who should be a member of the Timberwolves.
Surveillance cameras from the convenience store show Griffin stumbling around, struggling for quite awhile to put on his own sweatshirt and they even catch Griffin admitting "I'm drunk...I can't go back to jail." It shows Griffin pleading with the owner of the car he hit by offering to buy him any car he wanted saying, "Whatever car you want, you’ll have it tomorrow...not a Bentley."
As if this wasn’t enough, one witness at the scene of the accident, which is just a few miles away from the Target Center, has told police and the press that Griffin admitted the following to him. "He was masturbating himself going down that street. That's how the accident happened because he was not paying attention," said Abed Hassuneh, who is the victim’s brother. "He's paying attention to that video and all of a sudden he's shoveled somebody's car on the top of the sidewalk."
To make matters even worse, the police officers who responded to the call are now under an internal investigation as to why they did not charge Griffin with DWI when he is so obviously drunk on the surveillance tape. They even gave Griffin a ride home to St. Paul, which by the way is leaving the city they are to be patrolling, after they charged him for not having a license and "inattentive driving."
Again, Eddie Griffin needs to not represent Minnesota any longer...period.
First of all, what happened on that night is stupid enough in itself to deserve being booted from the team. There is absolutely no excuse that Griffin could give to explain himself and have it be ok for him to step onto the Target Center floor as a member of the home team ever again.
Secondly, there were rumors circling around that Griffin would be involved in a trade this summer. What team would want to trade for him now? His play on the court was, to put it kindly, uninspired last season, averaging 4.6 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game and 2.11 blocks per game (which did rank him 10th in the NBA in blocks)…and now add this incident on top of his poor performance on the court.
Next, the Timberwolves, as well as Timberwolves fans, are especially sensitive to the act of driving while intoxicated due to the death of Malik Sealy. Malik was a class act and a fan favorite, as well as a Kevin Garnett favorite, and was killed by a drunk driver a few years back. Because of Griffin’s actions, the tears that were shed over Sealy’s tragic death have come back. This, plain and simple, is "conduct detrimental to the team" to say the very least.
One of the few things about the Minnesota Timberwolves that continues to have fans file into the Target Center and root for the team year in and year out is that they nearly always seem to be "good guys" who are easy to cheer on. This is just no longer the case with Griffin. He is a troubled young man who needs help. It is unfortunate that at this point in his career he has not lived up to the hype that made him a lottery pick in the draft in 2001, but Minnesota needs to do the right thing here and cut him loose.
Owner Glen Taylor has a tough decision ahead of him. Kevin Garnett cannot be happy about this at all. With the yearly speculation out there that Garnett may be traded, if Griffin remains a member of the Timberwolves it just might be the push that KG has been waiting for to walk into Taylor’s office and demand a trade.
Please Mr. Taylor...do the right thing and give Eddie Griffin his walking papers.
© Copyright 2006 by HOOPSWORLD.com, a Basketball News Services Exclusive
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