Grizzard

[Teeareess]

http://www.nba.com/hawks/news/Hawks_Sign_R...d-55425-33.html

pretty interesting signing.

[JTFan31]

Interesting, I heard this guy has talent and he was released because the wizards have no space for him. The question is did the Wiz released him because he is lazy or just no space in the team?

It will be interesting if he makes the team. Does anyone have any info on Rod Grizzard on the way he plays?

[PoppaFritz]

I watched Grizzard quite a few times when he was at Alabama. He is one of those players that you watch and say, "Why isn't he better?" Physically he is an NBA talent, but he seemed to score off of athletic ability rather than creating shots for him self and he never seemed to make his teammates better. I was suprised the Wizards didn't take a shot on him because of his athleticism. I think he is definetly worth a shot but I don't see him being better than Dion, Ira, or Ham right away, but he does have good upside down the road.

[Nique21]

Yes, I watched him a lot in college too. He plays a real relaxed game, and has lots of alethicism. He seemed to be a man amongst boys in college. The way he wore the head band and plays, he reminds me a lot of Darius Miles. Not last year, but the year before that, he really did look good at Alabama.

[Admin]

He is not fully recovered from his knee? injury that he suffered in college. Thats what I remember reading about him during draft time and why I remember Pete saying we didnt take a chance on drafting him in the second round. Here is the info on him from our Mock draft when he was selected with the 15th pick by the Rockets.....

In reply to:

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Rod Grizzard

Shooting Guard/Small Forward

Alabama

6'8 205

2001-2002 Stats

14.1 Points Per Game

5.7 Rebounds Per Game

1.9 Assists Per Game

Strengths: Top notch athlete with imaginative offensive game.... Very prolific scorer with the ability to handle the ball and passes well.... Can run the point in spot duty.... Shoots the ball well from behind the arc... 7-foot wing span.

Weaknesses: Needs to get much stronger. Doesn't have the strength to play in the NBA yet... Defensively can be overpowered, needs to develop on the defensive end. Shot selection and decision making must improve.

A wizard with the basketball. Handles the ball with more confidence than many point guards. Very polished offensive skills. Scouts are drooling over this guy. Needs to improve his shooting percentage. Has a very good outside stroke. Very adept at taking defenders off the dribble. Without the benefit of a good floor leader, often has to create shots when they're not there. Upside potential is enormous.

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[Traceman]

before the draft? Is he healthy now? I saw him play at Alabama and he's a very athletic guy but I don't think he's ready to make any kind of significant contribution right now. With some patience and good coaching, I think he could turn out to be a pretty good SG down the road. I could be wrong but it sounds like a developmental type signing to me. Here's what nbadraft.net had to say about him:

"Strengths: Top notch athlete with imaginative offensive game.... Very prolific scorer with the ability to handle the ball and passes well.... Can run the point in spot duty.... Shoots the ball well from behind the arc... 7-foot wing span.

Weaknesses: Needs to get much stronger. Doesn't have the strength to play in the NBA yet... Defensively can be overpowered, needs to develop on the defensive end. Shot selection and decision making must improve.

A wizard with the basketball. Handles the ball with more confidence than many point guards. Very polished offensive skills. Scouts are drooling over this guy. Needs to improve his shooting percentage. Has a very good outside stroke. Very adept at taking defenders off the dribble. Without the benefit of a good floor leader, often has to create shots when they're not there. Upside potential is enormous."

When the I saw that the Wizards had cut Grizzard, I thought he might have been worth a look but I didn't think we would sign anyone because we are so close to the luxury tax threshold. More than likely, we will get an injured player exception for DJ though so I'll bet that's where the money came from.

[Boondocks]

Well according to the pre-draft measurements he's actually 6'6" , but he wore ridiculous shoes that added 1 3/4th ". Shoes are normally about 1" so he would be a 6'7" player according to how the NBA measures players (including the shoes).

He does have a 7' wingspan though, very athletic and is a sg/sf with a high potential and definite NBA material. I'm glad the hawks signed him.

I'm not sure about the knee though, I read he broke his leg prior to the actual draft but decided to stay in anyway. Before that spell of bad luck he was slated as a late teens early twenties 1st round pick.

The wizards are indeed stocked up at his position, but one has to wonder if his leg has healed yet but in a couple of years he could be a starter for the Hawks, he looked that good on occasion for the mizzou.

[Guest Walter]

I agree with PappaFritz's assessment. You just kept waiting for Grizzard to take over and he didn't. However, Grizzard's #s as a freshman (against better competition) were better than (though similar to) DJ's as a freshman, their builds are almost identical, same postion, and their games are remotely similar.

Grizzard's Sophmore #s were VERY good too. His numbers last year slipped. I don't know exactly why, although Alabama had Dudley and a new, young, but very good Pg that may have made Grizzard less of the team's offensive focus. Still, he just didn't look right on the court last year due to the further emergence of Dudley; a new, very young, but very good Pg; Grizzard's own limitations either in terms of work ethic, skill level, etc.; or health issues prior to his fractured leg not in the public's knowledge.

Grizzard is definately a Sg and although he doesn't have the height of DJ he has the length to make himself a potentially good defensive player. The game's, builds, and roles are similar so if he sticks around the competition might become interesting. Certainly Grizzard is the MUCH cheaper draft commodity, financial guarantee, etc. Nothing lost, only a tremendous potential to gain.

W

[Diesel]

My guess is that babs is starting to do what championship teams do. Hide people on the IL?

Seriously though, I remember Babcock talking about how badly injured Grizzard's knee was. I have to believe that Babcock sees the talent that Grizzard has, expects him to comeback from his injury, so he signed him, will pay him to sit the IL and next yr when Ira's contract and Glover's contract are up, Grizzard will be loyal to the Hawks and maybe sign a 2 yr deal with us. He has ability. He's just injured.

[Guest]

Probably another idea from Billy Knight.It always

seems like I don't want to give babs credit for

anything,but he's not a very good spotter for

talent.

[Diesel]

The other thing is maybe we will cut Email and keep Grizzard as third string SG.

[Blunt91]

Even though they stated Grizzard can handle the ball, I think it is still to risky to send Email off just yet. I hope you are right Diesel that Babs has changed his mind about hiding players but I doubt it. If Dickau continues to show improvement during the preaseason and if Grizzard can impress maybe they might decide to send Email away or it Crawford still isn't ready by opening day maybe Grizzard will sign a 10day contract.Who knows??

[Diesel]

Email just hasn't panned out.

He sucks. Now that JT is not playing the 2 gaurd, there is no real space for Email. We have a twosome of fast gaurds. Email is a 2 turned PG. He's CBA talent. I think we can send him off with no worries. He's not a part of our future. However, if JT were to get hurt, there are several good Gaurds not playing (greg anthony, Cookie, Spoonie, Mookie) that we can call to come in and play.

[Traceman]

Mookie and Anthony were once good players but that is obviously no longer the case. Cookie and Scoonie haven't done anything and there's a reason they aren't playing either. As for DD, he may be the future but we need some stability for right now. That's E Mail. Whether you like it or not, there is a place for E Mail on this team.

[jaywalker72]

Mookie told me a couple of months ago that he was retired and looking forward to playing a lot of golf...

[Blunt91]

Hey Jay where did you happend to run in to the Mookster at?

[Nique21]

As of right now, the way I see it, Email is our back up point guard. I know DD is supposed to get that honor, but he just isn't panning out right now. I think DD is going to have very limited minutes, and Email will be the back up point guard.

[Diesel]

Just because he was here last yr and he's under contract doesn't mean he is stable. His TO/assist Ratio sucks. All he does is bring the ball down and chuck threes, his defense isn't as good as advertised... In fact, the only reason we got him was to try to make JT a full time Sg. Now that that is no longer the plan, we need to do away with Email.

If you want stability, let's pick up Cookie Belcher or Matt Maloney. But to call Email stable is a JOKE.

[Guest]

Well Diesel looks like we are stuck with him.Looks

like he's the first backup off the bench.Looks like

Dan's bad preseason has demoted him to third

stringer.I know I just hate Email.I didn't like guy

last year,and I sure as heck don't want to see

him play major minutes this year.He will take

some charges,but he has a inconsisant 3pt shoot

that supposed to be his strong suit.

Hope Dion doesn't struggle or we will have Email

as the backup at both guard positions.

[PoppaFritz]

I love the fact that everyone has lost coinfidence in DD after 3 preseason games. The NBA season is a marathon race not a sprint. I find alot of good things out of the start to DD's NBA career, at least he can pass the ball, which from what I've seen is a lost art when it comes to the Hawks guards. This team may self distruct if they don't play together and when your "back-up" point guard has an assist to turnover ratio like e-mail's it's time for a change. Dan has an incredible feel for the game that makes up for his lack of athleticism. This argument is a joke. If 20-25 games into the season Dan is still struggling with turnovers and shooting % then we should start to worry, 3 games into anyone's NBA career is going to be a struggle. The fact is e-mail has been in the league for awhile and Dan could average 2.4 assists(e-mails assists-per-game last year) in 10 minutes. Give the kid a break!