The Little Fundamental
Page 2 For the last three years, Eddie Griffin ran amok in this box. At 6-foot-9, his hip-hop body belies his old school game. For every end-to-end flush punctuated by a celebratory yell, there were a flurry of jump hooks, turnaround Js and up and under moves in the post. "A lot of people tell me I play like Tim Duncan," Griffin says. "I guess that’s because I use a lot of those jump hooks and turnaround jump shots a lot." "I’d say his game is closer to Danny Manning," says Gary Brokaw, a scout for the Orlando Magic. "If he grew a few inches to get closer to Duncan’s seven feet, then I could see a Duncan comparison. You say ‘Danny Manning’ and people might laugh, but he was a hell of a player before all of his knee surgeries. The guy won a national championship at Kansas and was an all-star in the NBA. "If he had come out this year, he probably would’ve been a first round pick; he probably could’ve gone lottery, too. Eddie has a basketball instinct you just don’t see from a lot of kids his age to go with his skill. He’s bigger than Darius Miles and he shoots the ball better than Miles." Unlike Miles, Eddie ignored the call of the League, instead opting to take his 27 points and 13 boards per game to Seton Hall to play for Tommy Amaker. "I just didn’t think I was ready," Eddie says. "I felt I needed to go to school, get better, get stronger and grow." In a high school crop littered with playground exiles like DeShawn Stevenson and Darius Miles, Griffin is a throwback. Greyhounds like Stevenson live to throw down on the break and in traffic, but Griffin’s favorite move is his turnaround jumper. "When I shoot the turnaround, the defender backs off me and usually I can just shoot over him. It works best at the end of the game when guys are tired, then they’re usually too tired to defend it." To complement Eddie’s old school game, The Hall is bringing in two nasty, playground-thick flavored guards in Andre Barrett and Marcus Tony-El. The three of them have been rolling roughshod over the comp in the Jersey Shore League this summer, creating a flow that will carry them into the school year, ready to wreak havoc on the Big East. "Eddie made a good choice for himself going to school," says Detroit Pistons scout Walt Perrin. "He’ll learn more at Seton Hall playing for Tommy than he ever would sitting on an NBA bench." ***
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