i hear the cavs are after power forwards also. not sure if it's been mentioned in other threads yet, but let's say the cavs land SAR or DM. if gooden falls out of favor, could we ship them expiring picks and/or DW, BS, etc... i think we could really use his length. he's a double-double machine and can greatly benefit with van gundy's defense clinics. he's a sub-optimal shotblocker, but if we use him as weakside help, maybe he could thrive. doesn't have the 3pt shot we all would die for though.. but then again, that's what our guards are for. i'll leave the salary logic to someone else.
Welcome to the boards. There's a reason a guy with Gooden's size and talent has managed to fall out of favor so quickly in his three stops in 3 years. While he's very capable of producing terrific 25-15 nights, he's very inconsistent, emotionally fragile, and far too easily distracted by the NBA llifestyle. Browse his game-by-game stats and you might be surprised to see how he manages to lay more eggs than stud performances. Very undependable on the whole, and has a rep for not being committed to his teams. Evan
Interesing thought. Drew Gooden is definitely under the PF radar. And if the Cavs sign SAR or DM, they could always re-sign Tractor Traylor as a backup for cheap making Gooden somewhat expendable. You'd think TMac and Juwan would have insight into his abilities since they all played together at ORL. Although Gooden isn't in the category of the Big 4 PF FA's, an SnT still leaves us the full MLE to persue depth and/or a SG (DerMarr?).
Drew has a severe case of ADD. Tracy knows it first hand. He'll NEVER play for Jeff Van Gundy. He forgets defensive rotations and plays that are called. He's a nice guy, but it will not happen.
Cavs want a taker for Gooden. Not much demand. Odd, except he is apparently an odd duck with attention type problems, slow reactions and the like.
Gooden has all the talent necessary to be a big player in the league, but his attention span negates all that. He's not even worth coming off the bench because he's so unreliable, but we can't deny his talent.
I am not a Gooden fan. Sure he has talent but I dont think he is an every game type player. And his defense isnt very good. I have heard a lot of negative things about him.
I understand the criticisms on Gooden, but if we can trade Ward and Sura/James for him, I think it'll be worth it.
Gooden might be a good fit with the Lakers. Maybe if the Lakers couldn't get a better player for Caron Butler, that could be a trade?
"The top two unrestricted free agents on the market are power forwards Antoine Walker and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Both are rebounders and scorers and would upgrade the team's talent level, though they don't fit perfectly into the Cavaliers' scheme. If they sign either one, they might have to look to trade Drew Gooden for a guard. ``We've had some conversations with the Cavaliers,'' said Mark Bartelstein, Walker's agent." "What does that have to do with Gooden? He doesn't get it. That's what former Cavaliers coach Paul Silas told me. And it's what former interim coach Brendan Malone told me. And it's what I heard from executives in Orlando, which was Gooden's last stop before Cleveland. It's not that Gooden refuses to play defense. He just seems to struggle grasping the concepts and often is a step or two late." http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/12116722.htm
I wouldn't mind a swap of Wesley for Gooden. They both have 1 year left and Cavs need 3 pt shooting. If it doesn't work out with Gooden we can always S&T him away next year and get something in return. Something may click in him as he matures and he may get it. Although there are many negatives things out there on him he did have a remarkable turnaround last year. From -7.0 in Orlando (man everyone on that team sucked) to +4.8 in Cleveland. His ON/OFF court numbers went through the roof as well. http://www.82games.com/03ORL11C.HTM http://www.82games.com/04CLE10C.HTM
i like gooden a lot but i can't blame him being traded on him. you have to look at the organizations like orlando and memphis who are just bad organizations who would trade away players like Tracy McGrady. he does have games where he doesn't show up but for the most part he does and to the tune of 14 & 10. i'd take him any day of the week over what we currently have. but unfortunatley i don't think he's on the market because the cavs aren't going to get haslem who just signed with miami, so the cavs are probably going to have to stay with gooden and i'm not quite sure why they were looking at haslem because gooden is an equally good of player.
I would think the fact the Cavs were interested in Haslem would suggest how good Gooden is. Gooden couldn't beat out our own Juwan Howard for minutes. You can say Weisbrod was incompetent, but Jerry West also dumped Gooden. While I don't think Jerry West is a god like some, he's definitely not a subpar GM.
My take on Drew Gooden is that other than SAR, I'd rather have him than any other pf on the board. Many rox fans want a incosistent player like Kwame or Swift or a older player Marshall, but i would love to have a 24 yr old pf like Gooden in the mix. How quickly forgot that when he was traded to the Magic he was 18 and 10 and 50% even in the playoffs against the vaunted Piston D. The next yr someone had the wise idea of playing him at the 3 with Howard. If the Rox could get him and then still use the mle for another player, i would do it. Another player on the move would be Desmond mason and Al Harrington.
Wesley for Gooden? I'd take that deal in a heartbeat. Like many of ya'll said, there is a reason why Gooden has played for 3 teams in his first 3 season. He obviously has some mental issues since there isn't much question about his talent. He's capable of putting up big number, hell, he put up good number last season w/ Cleveland. Maybe JVG could help him out w/ his defense, may he can't. But he doesn't have some untradable contract so IF we could get him for Wesley/filler, I think we would do it.
3 teams in 3 seasons in the league makes you wonder and I've heard he's a big party animal but take a look at this before passing judgement...... 9.2 RPG in 30.8 minutes of work If you can get him for cheap then why not? 23 years old on top of that.
McGrady called him out as a scrub when orlando got him for miller. And McGrady saw first hand his scrubbishness. McGrady would never let the rox get superscrubbed.
i think gooden would easily beat out howard for minutes because he can actually rebound the ball at a very high rate and score just better than j-ho at this point in howard's career. the rockets need rebounding and have for a couple of years now, they're near the bottom of the league and gooden and rebound the hell out of the ball.
