Elder Griffin operating from the wings

The NBA D-League’s only remaining undefeated squad received an added boost this weekend with the debut of the league’s latest NBA assignee.

Already 4-0, the Iowa Energy received rookie Taylor Griffin on loan from the Phoenix Suns last Monday, and Griffin stepped into the starting lineup to contribute in both ends of a home sweep of the Dakota Wizards. He followed a 19-point, 10-rebound performance (that included 8-for-10 shooting from the field) on Friday with an 8-6-5 the next night. But more than the numbers, what struck me most about Griffin’s performance over the weekend was the way the Energy used him at the offensive end.

Particularly on Saturday night, rather than playing from the blocks out, Griffin initiated most of his offensive work from the perimeter. It wasn’t that he was taking a lot of outside shots (he took and missed just one three each night), but Griffin created several of his field-goal attempts by catching the ball out by the arc on the wings or atop the key and looking to slash from there. While he did some of that during his collegiate days at Oklahoma as well, Griffin was clearly a big for the Sooners last year and did plenty of work with his back to the basket alongside brother Blake in the OU frontcourt.

It seems as though turning himself into more of a three than a four makes up part of Griffin’s mission in Iowa. Listed at 6-foot-8 and 231 pounds, he appears a bit short on bulk to be an effective power forward at the NBA level, and scouts knew going into the draft that he would have to beat the dreaded tweener label and establish himself as worthy of the reserved-for-better-tweeners combo forward title.

Griffin did very little with his back to the bucket on Saturday night, instead getting most of his touches on the wings or through basket cuts that he rolled off high screens for Energy guards at the top of the circles. The screen-and-rolls got him a couple of nice looks and sent him to the foul line as well. On his work from the wings, I found myself pleasantly surprised with how comfortable he looked handling the ball and making dribble moves toward the lane. His listed weight is down seven pounds from the 238 it was at OU, and he looked quicker than I remembered as well. Griffin highlighted his evening with an off-balance bank shot from just outside the right elbow, which may have involved the use of a second pivot foot that the refs were kind enough to overlook.

Though Griffin looked more at ease than expected working from the perimeter at this level, there is still plenty of room for concern, beginning with the fact that he turned the ball over nine times in two games. The ball-handling has progressed but still needs to get better. Griffin also has yet to show much in terms of an outside shooting touch. He left little doubt that he wanted to get to the rim as much as possible and wasn’t too excited about the idea of pulling up for anything outside the paint. Getting to the rim is great, of course, but Griffin likely won’t have the speed to do it on a regular basis if and when he returns to the Association. He doesn’t need to make himself a three-point dynamo, but if he can’t become a threat from mid-range, it stands to reason that he will struggle at the offensive end.

Given Griffin’s lack of both relative size and speed for the big league, I wouldn’t be shocked if Ridiculous Upside‘s Scott Schroeder’s Twitter assessment that Taylor probably isn’t an NBA-level talent (“but a fun D-Leaguer!”) turns out to be accurate. But by all accounts, Griffin has a good attitude and solid work ethic, and we’ve seen a few folks who didn’t appear to have the quickness or the size for the three or four respectively find ways to hang around in the bigs. I’ll be curious to see if Taylor Griffin can find a way to make himself the next tweener to stick.

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Quick updates on two defend-first, shoot-eighth guards we’ve discussed recently: Orien Greene fouled out of Friday night’s Flash loss to Reno with 7 points on 3-for-8 shooting to go with a single assist and three turnovers. But he did take the rock away from the Bighorns four times, too. Quintessential Orien game.

As for Jason Horton, after playing 12 minutes of a 247-point game and taking just one shot on Thursday, he followed up with three fruitless field-goal attempts in 16 minutes of a game featuring nearly as much scoring, a 127-110 loss for the Thunderbirds in Rio Grande Valley. Hard to imagine the signature defense did too much good in another less-than-stellar game for Albuquerque at that end, but at least the former Mizzou Tiger is getting some run.

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Last thought for the morning: Wouldn’t be shocked to see Dakota forward Marcus Dove draw a suspension for slamhammering Iowa’s Mark Tyndale in the final seconds of Saturday’s 117-108 Energy victory. Yes, you read “slamhammering” correctly because I’m at a loss for a more appropriate way to describe it. Tyndale was dribbling the clock out (although judging from Dove’s response, I guess there was some question as to whether he would try to dish to a teammate for an unnecessary pour-it-on lay-in), and Dove cleaned his clock, thoroughly earning the flagrant two and ejection he received. There’s no place for that, especially at that juncture of the game. I’ll stop short of ranting for any further disciplinary action to be taken against Dove (since the refs got it absolutely right on the court), but having him sit a game wouldn’t bother me in the least either.