Mitch Lawrence, NBA columnist for the NY Daily News, hates the New Jersey Nets. I didn’t realize this until the Nets became good after an off-season overhaul by general manager Rod Thorn before the 2001-02 season.
The key move of that period was the trade of Stephon Marbury for Jason Kidd. Kidd’s arrival catalyzed the team and helped them reach back-to-back NBA finals. Since the Nets had barely sniffed the playoffs in years, this was an unprecedented level of success.
Despite this incredible run, Lawrence contended that the Nets would end up the losers in the deal, because Kidd was considering leaving as a free agent to sign with the Spurs. Kidd re-signed with the Nets, while Marbury had one decent season for the Phoenix Suns before being traded to the New York Knicks, where he has reached the playoffs just once (and was swept 4-0 by . . . Jason Kidd’s Nets). The Suns, after Marbury’s departure, became the most exciting team in the league.
Besides the trade for Kidd, GM Thorn made one other major move before the season. The Nets, who stunk up the joint the previous year, had the #7 pick in the draft. They chose Seton Hall forward Eddie Griffin, who was leaving for the pros after a tumultuous freshman year. It seems Eddie had gotten into a locker-room fight with a teammate, repeating the behavior that got him thrown out of high school. Still, he was 6’10”, could block shots, run the floor and even shoot a little.
Weighing the talent against the potential headaches, Thorn elected to trade Griffin to the Houston Rockets for three other first-round draft picks: Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins, and Brandon Armstrong.
Armstrong washed out of the league, but Collins has been an (inexplicably) effective defensive center who also passed well enough to fit into the Princeton offense the Nets implemented with the arrival of Kidd. The key to the deal was #15 pick Jefferson, who became a “do-everything” linchpin for the team, even running the team as a “point-forward” when Kidd was rehabbing from knee surgery several seasons ago.
Griffin? Well, it looks like Thorn was right to be scared off. He battled alcoholism and generally idiotic, compulsive, loser-ish behavior. He got cut by Houston and the Nets actually signed him on the cheap. But he got into trouble while crashing a wedding at a NJ hotel and left the team before he ever played a game for them. He wound up in Minnesota, got busted for allegedly, um, taking care of himself with an adult movie while driving.
That turned out to be his last chance. Cut by the T-Wolves — but paid off for his contract — Griffin died Friday night in Houston after driving through a railroad barrier in his SUV and getting pasted by a train. Considering it took days to identify his body from the flaming wreck, I doubt we’ll find out whether his choice of “on-board entertainment” had anything to do with the crash.
What does this have to do with Mitch Lawrence? Well, my favorite “Nets-hater” moment from Lawrence occurred during an ESPN-radio appearance he made before that fateful 2001-02 season. Discussing the draft, he announced, “The Nets made a serious mistake trading Eddie Griffin. Five years from now, he’s going to be the best player to come out of that draft.”
Today? Lawrence writes, “His career will be remembered most for his numerous off-court problems.” Eddie was 25 years old.
