When I was in high school I had the pleasure of attending Eastern Invitational Basketball Camp.
I also had the pleasure of guarding the best player at camp that session, Eddie Griffin. He was lanky, strong, versatile, and yes… he dunked on me. One of my favorite stories is telling people how Eddie Griffin dunked on my head when I was sixteen.
Despite all the troubles surrounding Eddie Griffin I have been a huge fan. I remember watching him dominate everyone at the basketball camp and hearing stories about how he punched some kid out at the camp the year before. I remember hearing about how the number one high school player in the country had been expelled from high school for fighting. Despite being blessed with the same gifts God bestowed on Kevin Garnett, Eddie Griffin was constantly surrounded by turmoil. Although I never knew him personally, it seemed as Griffin was always struggling and fighting with something or someone.
After being dominated at basketball camp by the late Eddie Griffin I became an immediate fan. After all, I went to play division III basketball, while he went to Seton Hall. Incase you do not recall, Griffin’s freshman year at Seton Hall was one of the best I’ve ever seen. They had A SQUAD! Coach Tommy Amaker boasted the top recruitment class in the country. He brought in Toney-El, Andre Barrett, and Eddie Griffin as freshman phenoms to join with sophomore stud Samuel Dalembert and Ty Shine. They were the Fab Five of 2000. I remember sitting in my dorm room watching Eddie Griffin dominate. The guy averaged 18pts, 11rebs, and 4blks a game in the Big East as a freshman! Remember when he had the triple double game with 10 blocks? That team was destined for greatness. At least until Tommy Amaker sold them out for Michigan.
I never forgave Tommy Amaker for leaving Seton Hall for Michigan. I was not a Seton Hall fan, but I was an Eddie Griffin fan. Amaker left those boys high and dry. Not one of them ever reached their full potential. There is no way Amaker was able to get the top recruitment class in the country without promising the players he would stay for the majority of their college careers. He lied to those kids and I wished him failure at Michigan ever since.
Griffin had an up and down NBA career. He started out strong as a Houston Rocket his first two years, but fell off the face of the earth until resurrecting in Minnesota. I told my friends that he would fit in perfect with the Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett would be the strong influence needed for Eddie to finally reach his potential. I would check the box scores of the Wolves games to see how Griffin did (it didn’t hurt that KG is my favorite player). Griffin was a nice fit to the team bringing great shot blocking and rebounding to a team that reached the Western Conference finals. But again just as Eddie was looking as if he had rebounded from his problems he slipped into obscurity.
Sadly Eddie Griffin never reached his full potential as an NBA player or a person. He was constantly in and out of trouble, suffered from alcoholism, but never came off as a bad person. Without any skepticism about his personal life I would just like to say that I truly enjoyed Eddie Griffin and always felt linked to him after only sharing forty minutes on a basketball court with him almost ten years ago. If he had that kind of impression on me, I can only imagine the effect he had on the people close to him. I always wished him success and enjoyed watching on the court. It is hard to come to grasps that someone so young can be taken so early without fully reaching their vast potential. Eddie Griffin RIP.
