McHale: Alcohol dragged Griffin down

The Wolves vice president said the depth of the young forward's woes became clear in his final days with the team.

By Roman Augustoviz, Star Tribune

Last update: August 22, 2007 - 11:34 PM

Eddie Griffin was starting to drink again before the Timberwolves waived him March 13, Kevin McHale said during a conference call Wednesday.

At that time the troubled 6-10 forward needed help best available at a rehabilitation center near his home in Houston, said the Wolves vice president of basketball operations. "He was cycling down into a bad, bad spot," McHale said. "In one of the last conversations I had with Eddie, he said, 'I got to go. It's unhealthy for me here.' "

Griffin, who played for the Wolves for nearly three seasons, died Friday at age 25 when his sports-utility vehicle struck a moving train in Houston.

McHale called Griffin a good-natured person with a lot of demons.

"I loved him," former Wolves coach Dwane Casey said. "I had no problems with him. He had a great heart and was very easy to coach. But Eddie was a guarded person. The Timberwolved tried to put him in the right place with the right people around him. But at the end of the day, you have to be able to meet someone halfway and he was not ready."

Before his release Griffin had not played in a game for three months. A third of the way into that stretch, on Jan. 12, he had received a five-game suspension from the NBA for substance abuse.

"Eddie wanted to do the right thing -- you might not believe that -- and he could for a while," McHale said. "But then things happened on and off the court. Anything that happened which made him feel bad, his coping skills were not what they needed to be."

So Griffin would start drinking, McHale said.

"Eddie was a very talented player," Casey said, "an excellent shot-blocker, mobile. He had unbelievable potential. I was hurt [by the news]."

Roman Augustoviz • raugustoviz@startribune.com