HOUSTON (AP) Troubled forward Eddie Griffin was released Friday by the Houston Rockets.

Griffin, suspended since mid-October, faces an assault charge related to allegations of a fight with a woman.

``This has been very disappointing for our franchise,'' Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. ``We had high hopes for Eddie and still feel that he has the ability to be a very good player in this league if he gets his personal issues resolved.''

Griffin was suspended Oct. 16 for a series of missed practices and a skipped flight to Sacramento. That month, he checked into a hospital to get help for undisclosed problems.

He was charged in November with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a woman accused him of hitting her three times in the face and shooting at her as she drove away from his home sometime before dawn on Oct. 25. He will be arraigned on the charge Jan. 14.

``Actually it broke my heart to hear that we were going to have to part ways,'' Griffin told Houston television station KRIV. ``It's a business and they had to do what they had to do.''

Griffin's lawyers have said they and the prosecutors have different views of what happened that night. A second misdemeanor charge of assault with bodily injury related to the same encounter was dismissed last week.

A separate case involving a charge of marijuana possession stemming from an arrest in April is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 20.

Griffin averaged 8 points and 8 rebounds in three preseason games. The 6-foot-10, 232-pound forward averaged 8.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.63 blocks in 150 career games with the Rockets.

Drafted by New Jersey with the seventh pick overall in 2001, Griffin was acquired by the Rockets for three draft picks in June 2001.