College career

After a standout career at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia
in which he was named Parade Magazine's National Player of the Year,
Griffin was hailed as the top incoming freshmen ahead of the 2000-01 college
basketball season. He competed in the McDonald's All American Game and led
Roman to the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship in his junior year,
and was touted by some as the biggest basketball star to emerge from
Philadelphia since Rasheed Wallace but played the pivot like Wilt Chamberlain.As a freshman, Griffin averaged 17.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.4 blocks
for Seton Hall University, and was at one point thought to be a potential top pick
in the 2001 NBA Draft. He was named the nation's Freshman of the Year by The Sporting News [2].In January 2001, Griffin got in a fight with a teammate, and following this incident, the Pirates'
season fell apart. Griffin left the school in somewhat acrimonious circumstances after his freshman year, and made himself available
for the NBA Draft.[3]

NBA career

Despite his outstanding stats at Seton Hall, questions about his
attitude made him slip to the 7th pick of the 2001 NBA Draft, where he was selected 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.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 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.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).In March 2007, Griffin was released by the Timberwolves who had grown tired
of his attitude and off-court troubles. [4]

Off-court trouble

Griffin had a history of violence dating back to his high school years.
In his senior year at Roman, he got into a fight with a teammate in the cafeteria and was subsequently forced out of the school[5], though he received
his diploma a month after graduation; the teammate was expelled. At Seton Hall,
rumors circulated that he had gotten into several verbal and physical
confrontations with teammates.In February 2004, Griffin violated a court-ordered curfew stemming
from charges of aggravated assault 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.On March 30, 2006, Griffin was involved in a car crash. Witnesses and friends
stated that he was watching a pornographic 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 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 breathalyzer test or field sobriety test. An investigation
was conducted to determine if the officers violated standard protocol
in light of Griffin's celebrity status.[6]Reports of Griffin's excessive drinking were steady through his
NBA years. A family friend insisted those troubles could largely be
traced to the death of his half-brother, Marvin Powell, in March 2001. Powell starred in basketball at Martin Luther King and Hartford and
was a father figure for Eddie, who even lived with Powell in Connecticut
through much of the early 1990s. However, the two had a falling-out
during the winter of 2000-01, when Griffin was playing for Seton Hall
and possible agents were being eyed. Powell died of a heart attack in March 2001.