Eddie Griffin
From Hoopedia
Eddie Griffin (born May 30, 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died August 17, 2007 in Houston, Texas) was an American basketball player. He most recently played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who waived him March 13, 2007.
Selected out of Seton Hall University with the seventh pick of the 2001 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets, Griffin's draft rights were immediately traded to the Houston Rockets for Jason Collins, Brandon Armstrong, and the rights to Richard Jefferson.
Griffin has a history of violence dating back to his high school years. He was a phenom at Roman Catholic High School, touted by some as the biggest basketball star to emerge from Philadelphia since Wilt Chamberlain. He led Roman to the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship in his junior year. In his senior year at Roman, he got into a fight with a teammate in the cafeteria and was subsequently expelled, along with the teammate. He received his diploma a month after graduation. As a senior he competed in the McDonald's All American Game.
At Seton Hall, there were reports that he had gotten into several verbal and physical confrontations with teammates. He stayed for only one season before declaring for the NBA draft.
NBA
In his rookie year during the 2001-02 season, Griffin played in 73 games (starting 24) while averaging 8.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and an impressive 1.84 blocks per game (ranking 13th in the NBA in that category). He followed with another solid year in 2002-03, averaging 8.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.44 blocks per contest.
However, Griffin suffered from alcoholism, and his troubles piled up quickly over the following year. In December 2003, the Rockets released him after he missed practices and a team flight. Griffin signed with the Nets in January 2004, but missed the entire 2003-04 season when he entered an alcohol rehabilitation center.
In February 2004, Griffin violated a court-ordered curfew stemming from an aggravated assault charge against his ex-girlfriend (he was accused of hitting her and shooting at her), and spent 11 days in jail. He pled guilty to deadly conduct over the aforementioned incident, and was sentenced to 18 months' probation, fined $2,000, and ordered to take anger management classes.
Prior to the 2004-05 season, the Timberwolves signed Griffin to a one-year contract, and for that season he put up roughly the same numbers he had in his two previous seasons. The Timberwolves re-signed Griffin for three years (player option in the third), starting with the 2005-06 season. Griffin had a relatively significant drop off in scoring and rebounding (whilst suffering only a slight drop in minutes per game), while averaging a career-high in blocks per game (2.11).
On March 30, 2006, he was involved in a bizarre car crash. Witnesses and friends stated that he was watching a "porn movie on a DVD in his vehicle, and was masturbating". After the accident, Griffin entered a nearby convenience store. The store's security camera recorded video of Griffin repeatedly saying he was drunk, that he didn't have a driver's license, and of him pleading with the man whose SUV he crashed into, offering to buy him a new car in exchange for not calling the police. Police eventually did arrive, however, but allegedly did not require Griffin to submit to a breathalyser test or field sobriety test. An investigation is underway to determine if the officers violated standard protocol in light of Griffin's celebrity status.
On August 17, 2007 he died in a car crash in Houston. At 1:30 a.m. he drove through a railroad warning barrier, and was struck by a freight train. He was so badly burned in the ensuing fire that it took medical examiners four days to identify him positively.
