Report: Celtics Showing Interest in D-League Forward Eric Griffin

BOSTON.COM

Brian Robb

March 16, 2015 7:48 PM

Danny Ainge may be looking to the D-League to add to the Celtics rosterBarry Chin/The Boston Globe

The trade deadline may have passed last month, but it appears Danny Ainge may not be done tinkering with his team’s roster.

According to a new report from Real GM, the Celtics are one of three teams interested in athletic swingman Eric Griffin.

The Los Angeles Clippers, Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz are showing interest in the possible call up of Eric Griffin of Texas in the NBA D-League, league sources told RealGM. Griffin — one of the D-League’s best wing prospects — has averaged 17.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per night in 39 games for the Texas Legends. He joined Dallas’ affiliate after signing an offseason deal to training camp with the Mavericks.
Griffin, 24, has played for a handful of pro teams abroad in Italy and Puerto Rico since not being selected in the 2012 NBA Draft. Griffin was a standout performer for a couple years at Campbell University from 2010-2012, after transferring from a junior college in Kansas. He was named to the 2012 All-Big South Conference first team during his final year in school.

So what exactly could Griffin offer the Celtics at the NBA-level? One look at his recent D-League highlight reel should give Boston fans a nice sample of the athleticism he can bring on the wing.


Currently, the Celtics have a full roster, but veteran power forward Shavlik Randolph has been glued to the Celtics bench for weeks now. He’s making the veteran’s minimum, so it wouldn’t be a major hit to the team’s payroll to let him go if the C’s were to agree to terms with Griffin.

As the Celtics gear up for a playoff push, all options remain on the team as they look to improve their team’s depth over the final month of the regular season.

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Ok, so where is the interest?

It is worth the shot to let him play, but I guess they do not want to disrupt the apple cart with the team fighting for a playoff spot.  

They should give the guy a shot as we need help at small forward and it becomes a cheap tryout.

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I have no issues with this guy although I do not know him at all as he looks pretty decent on the video, but the D league has been proven by our own James Young to not correlate well with actual NBA play.

With this guy still sitting in the D league I wonder why he has not signed somewhere else in the NBA already. Lots of other guys have signed a number of 10 day contracts so far, and Griffin is still sitting in Texas with the Legends?

It is not like it is still the 1970s and no one has available video on guys who might play in the minor leagues. It is 2015 and tape of every single game of this guy's season are available to every GM. In fact, every possible breakdown (shots, assists, poor defense, rebounds, etc, etc) are completely broken down as well.

I can see Ainge possibly looking at this guy for next season, but not for anything this year. Even cutting Randolph right now (even though he is very unlikely to be on next year's team) is not worth it due to whatever chemistry a good guy like Randolph brings to this year's squad for the last 13 games.

If the Cs were low on players like Milwaukee the other night (had only 8 available players) signing this guy this late in the season would have to be considered.

Can it be true that I read 6' 8" and only 190 pounds?  Perhaps, when they say he can fly, they mean it literally.  He actually looks stronger than 190 in the video I watched.

I saw two 20-footers and about 30 dunks in that video—no rebounds, almost no shooting from more than an inch, and (like most videos) absolutely no mention of defense.  Some of the dunks were impressive, so that was nice.  But I'm wary of highlight reels because the subject usually shoots 100% and never commits a turnover or blows a defensive assignment.  Legitimate scouting reels can be another story.

On one hand, I wonder why they'd release one of the two real centers they have just in case something happens to Zeller.  On the other hand, I haven't seen enough of Shav to guess at whether Shav represents any substantive kind of insurance.

So my response would be a leap of faith in Danny to do what's best.  I call it the "Crowder Instinct."

Sam

sam wrote:Can it be true that I read 6' 8" and only 190 pounds?  Perhaps, when they say he can fly, they mean it literally.  He actually looks stronger than 190 in the video I watched.

I saw two 20-footers and about 30 dunks in that video—no rebounds, almost no shooting from more than an inch, and (like most videos) absolutely no mention of defense.  Some of the dunks were impressive, so that was nice.  But I'm wary of highlight reels because the subject usually shoots 100% and never commits a turnover or blows a defensive assignment.  Legitimate scouting reels can be another story.

On one hand, I wonder why they'd release one of the two real centers they have just in case something happens to Zeller.  On the other hand, I haven't seen enough of Shav to guess at whether Shav represents any substantive kind of insurance.

So my response would be a leap of faith in Danny to do what's best.  I call it the "Crowder Instinct."

Sam

sam,

Open the stadium doors. Let's see if a good tailwind can speed up his integration into Brad's uptempo offense.

Of course, that will only work every other quarter, as they change baskets...


bob


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Bob,

You preempted my comeback with your final line.  Beat scooped me similarly a little earlier.  I guess this is just one of my many slow days.

Sam

Sam,

There is always a concern about us older guys 'losing a step" every once in a while. Relax though, as you will get it back tomorrow.

I'd Keep Randolph, we might need a big at the end of the bench playing the series against the Hawks.