Dave Griffin quits!

[-SDU-]

make no mistake about it Frank - griffin is a HUGE loss..... he is widely regarded as one of the best scouts/analytical brains in the NBA, and having been with the team since he was an intern he had a great repore with everyone and a great knowledge of the team and its operations

at the very least, he would have been a priceless right hand man for any new GM.....

not to mention, he hooked us up with Pizzeria Bianco when we were in Phoenix great guy!

[Frank Lee]

I thought he was a good host for you guys.

But, he had reached his max level here right ? He has GM written all over him. Pity he and Starver did not see eye to eye, as the natural progression was to take over for Kerr. Sounds like he had tendered his resignation prior to Kerr's.

Sometimes a change of venue / employer is needed. He did his time, could have stuck it out, but likely has options assisting him with this decision. He won't be un-employed.

[-SDU-]

Agree - I think he will go to Portland where his skills won't be wasted as their owner likes to spend money and acquire draft picks rather than get rid of them

I just hope we can get an experienced replacement like pritchard or ferry etc

[Frank Lee]

Yup SDU.... I do not mind Starver taking a good look at a few. No need to rush this. Our draft has probably been mapped out anyways. Its not like we are going to blow it and have our late picks turn out to be busts.

And I think Gentry, Nash, and Hill will be adequate recruiters to fill the remaining roster spots.

Come on... playing with Nash/Hill/Gentry in fair weathered Phnx (no pun intended) far out trumps playing for Starver. Plus. there are guaranteed minutes available.


All good downunder ? Good to see you out tonite.

[JohnVancouver]

Yeah, the reactions from some of the more drama queen fans on here is a bit annoying. For me, this whole situation is like a family dispute, like when your brother is screwing up or pissing you off. You have the right to be pissed, and vent and rant, but he is still your brother and you will love him and hope for the best. Basically, sarver just called us from jail!!! (DAMNIT, YOU DID WHAT!!!) Now we can do respond like other fairweather fans and piss and moan about it, or be part of the solution and healing and ask the question WHAT COMES NEXT! Always move forward man, standing in one spot screaming the sky is falling is friggin counter productive. So hope sarver pulls his head out of his @$$, or that its not quite as far up there as has been reported and that he actually has a clue (I said hope ya pessimists). Kerr and griffin have made bad decisions also, they aint saints so dont tell me the sky is falling because they are gone. Kerr has never been more popular on this board untill he quit REALLY!!! Amare should NOT!! get max money for us, and he is replaciable. Sure you possibly wont find a guy to avg. the points he did, but you also wont find a guy to play so little defense and rebound so poorly for a 6"10 athletic guy. With our system, and other ofensive guys, scoring has never been and will NEVER BECOME A PROBLEM!!! Amare going to the bench this season did not mean our scoring dropped and he was NOT!! a go to guy in the clutch... REPLACIABLE!! NO MAX SOUP FOR U!!! If we get some pieces in for him or j rich, i think and hope we will be exciting to watch and will still win games. If we come out sucking than we can root for developement for the young players, playing big mins. and getting better, but as a SUNS FAN!!! you cant say your done with the team. How can you turn your back on family??? Stop whining, pick your heads up, and start posting solutions instead of sitting indian style in one spot in your livingrooms in your damn underwear, rocking back and forth in front of your lap tops. I think i said something like this last year about this time when the same people were running arround screaming the sky is falling, S.T.F.U!!!!!!!!!! Positive S#!T people want hope, not doom and gloom. If you come into a situation thinking you will lose, you will. If we keep most of the rest of the roster intact and a few people pan out (dragic and lopez continue to get better, along with Clark), Barbs returns to form or gets traded for something useful, J Rich 15 mil expiring.... a little useful if he aint playing up to snuff (if the Sixers get off to a bad start... Iggy might be made avaialble) Nash and Hill will be themselves, without Amare back we might make an offer to fry and lou if it would help. POSITIVE MAN!!! there is hope!!

I appreciate that you have some thing s to say man, but please -= split it up into paragraphs - that chunk of text is just too daunting for anyone to wade into, okay?

[nevetsov]

Griff is one of the classiest guys i have ever met and it will be a tremendous loss seeing him go. The lengths he goes to for this organisation are well beyond the call of duty, and even as a high ranked exec he was always there to help out the "little guys". Losing him will be like losing the soul of this franchise.

Many of you already know this story, but season before last, TASTIC, SDU, NF33IH, KPCB and myself did a round-the-world trip and followed the suns through a 6 game eastern trip before a 3 game home stand. We arrived wednesday night before thursday's Spurs game.

On the thursday, we went out to USAC to meet up with @sunswebmaster Jeramie McPeek, who we'd been liasing with, as he'd kindly offered to show us around the organisation while we were in town. Around lunch Dave Griffin came out, and, as busy as he was, spent some time chatting with us about our trip. He also suggested that while we were in town that we have a meal at Pizza Bianco, his fave place, and even went out of his way to organise a table for us before the game. I don't know how many other VPs around the league would do something like that, and I still remember how busy it was and how awesome it felt to be treated like royalty (decked out in our suns gear too, looking like total yobbos haha) ahead of all these well dressed, high class types

After the loss that night, the mood was pretty sombre, but we were still granted backstage access by the staff. Again Dave came over for a chat and he enquired what we were doing tomorrow. I was actually undertaking a B.Tech/Aviation back home, and to graduate I had to complete what they call Air Transport Pilots Licence Theory, and without wanting to bore you all, suffice to say doing it the USA is MUCH easier and cheaper than doing it in Australia. So I had booked to do the exam out at Mesa airport.

Being from out of town, I had no idea how far Mesa was from where we were staying, and failing to realise I was just going to catch a cab :p I now know that it's not just a stone's throw!

In any case, Griff gave me some perspective, and, get this, told me he would organise the suns car service to pick me up from our house and drive me there. How awesome is that?!

So there I am at 7am on friday morning, expecting some sort of stationwagon driven by the Gorilla to pick me up, when this black SUV rocks up. Down comes the window and it's Griff himself! He said that he couldn't sleep much after the loss, and he enjoys the drive out to Mesa so he thought he'd drive me out and we could chat suns. As you would understand, I was a bit blown away by this!

So we chatted about stuff for around 40mins, and he told me to call him when I was done and he'd arrange a ride home for me. He seemed to genuinely care, about both fans of his franchise as well as me completing my education. I ended up passing and now work for an airline

This is as home-grown a guy as you can get, completely down to earth and embedded in the Phoenix community. We often hear about how infrequently talent like Jordan and Lebron come around, but in a similar perspective, how often do you see a franchise take a kid from the local neighbourhood, make him an intern, keep him on for EIGHTEEN years and from that he goes on to become one of the best VPs in the entire league?

And he's still as down to earth a guy as when he started out 18 years ago.

I would say that something like that is just as rare.

David Griffin for Ring of Honour.

[DRK]

^
Thats amazing. really shows what a big loss Griffin is to the Suns, and the whole Phoenix Community. Screw you $aver!