C - Lorenzen Wright (7th pick) PF - Pau Gasol (3rd), Stromile Swift (2nd) SF - Mike Miller (5th), Shane Battier (6th) SG - Michael Dickerson (14th), Wesley Person (23rd) PG - Jason Williams (7th), Brevin Knight (16th) Damn that's fine team... and incredible depth (6 top-10 picks!)! All they need now is to draft a true center and that team will be a competitor for years! And I thought we had a deep team (4 top-10 picks)... Then I realised that just about the entire Grizzlies roster is composed of 1st round picks... They actually had THREE top-5 picks playing PF... Gasol, Swift, Gooden (4th)... insane...
an even scarier thought is that they could have had Francis playing instead of Dickerson, and Bibby instead of JWill alongside him... my oh my... not to say that Dickerson can't pour it on when he's not injured (i still remember the days he used to do it for us...), but that would be a dynasty even without a true center...
memphis has a nice team, but for some reason they keep on losing. so i do not think they wil be competitors, maybe for another lotery pick
McGrady must be throwing a wild party, a young, low post presene like Gooden? And he's locked up for 3 years? The Magic made out like bandits! Also Hill's ankle surgery was a minor surgery so they're expecting him back for the playoffs. Hill, McGrady, and Gooden? I think that's a 2nd round playoff team with the right first round match-up.
When you're in the lottory as many years as Memphis, you are bound to get many top picks. Out of their 6 top-10 picks, they only end up with 1 potential superstar (Gasol). But out of our 4 top-10 picks, we have 2 (Yao and Francis). And to win in this league you need 2 great players rather than 5 good but not great players. So so many lottory picks in Memphis roster only shows their bad draft history. But Jerry West might change it in the future.
Exactly! West the "master talent evaluator" choose Gooden over Stoudamire in the draft and then 6 months later trade Gooden for a small forward. Remember when West was basically saying that Gooden was the best player in the draft and he would be the rookie of the year!? I think the trade is a decent one for both teams, but still, West looks like he was clueless in terms of the Draft with Gooden. Think about this....if West wanted a dynamic SF/SG in the draft to compliment Gasol, who does he choose? Gooden? How about CARON BUTLER! He could have had him at #4. Butler probably has more upside that Miller anyway. We all knew Butler would be a quality player. Very odd manuvering for West, basically admitting that they drafted poorly. Chris
I actually think it works out great for both teams. It's obvious why Orlando did it and Memphis gets some extra picks and a perfect compliment to Gasol. Gooden and Gasol were too similar to really be effective on the court together. I don't think this helps Orlando's chances of making the playoffs this year though. Even though both Gooden and Gordon are very good players they are still rookies. Next year though is a different story. With this trade they could easily be the best team in the East next year.
Well, I don't think West "admitted" anything by trading Gooden. If anything, when Gooden was selected, maybe West thought someone (Gasol, most likely) would step up and be willing to play C. (Isn't that exactly what Brown tried to do with Gasol when he first became HC?) Obviously, that hasn't worked out very well. Also, West had actually wanted to trade Swift to the Magic for Miller, but obviously he "blinked first" and gave the Magic the player they really wanted. If anything, that speaks volumes about Miller and West's confidence in him. FWIW, I like this trade for many of the reasons already noted.
Not really since Memphis really neaded a SF to compliment Gasol. Miller fits that mold better than any SF drafted after Gooden.
Nobody's purfict. Even Rudy/CD miss the mark occasionally. BTW - - I think it's a pretty even deal (GG will outdo DG in Orlando!), but not a blockbuster by any stretch. PS when does Ray Allen arrive?
Marc Stein of ESPN.com wrote his analysis of the trade. Pretty much echos my sentiments ### West swings risky trade from afar Jerry West assured his colleagues from rival teams that he could swing a trade from Europe if he had to. West proved it Wednesday night, all the way from his curiously timed scouting tour of Yugoslavia, when he completed the shipment of Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek to Orlando for Mike Miller. The new challenge, then, is convincing everyone that it was the right trade. Trading Gooden after just 51 games is an unspoken admission from the legendary West that drafting him No. 4 overall last June was a mistake. As covered here last month, West made a very un-West-like decision in his first Grizzlies draft by going safe and taking Gooden -- coached by West's pal Roy Williams in college -- instead of making a more West-like bold grab of Amare Stoudemire or Nene Hilario. Thing is, trading Gooden so soon puts West at risk for another mistake. Namely, parting with a developing big man without allotting sufficient time for his development. Or at least the presentation of a better deal. Gooden was moved mainly because he plays the same position as Pau Gasol and couldn't make the transition to small forward. The Grizz, however, have a new positional logjam even without Gooden, because Miller is joining a swing rotation that already includes Shane Battier, Wesley Person and Michael Dickerson. The Magic, by contrast, came away from the exchange about as healthy as they possibly could, given the possibility that Grant Hill might never play again. If not quite the bruising big man they need, the undersized Gooden will be given every chance to play power forward in Orlando and live up to his draft position. Gordan Giricek, meanwhile, is a promising shooter to help fill the Miller void, and the first-round pick the Magic sacrificed is actually Sacramento's pick, meaning that it will be a pick in the low 20s as opposed to a lottery selection. The biggest drawback for the Magic is that Miller is Tracy McGrady's best friend, so there will be some hurt feelings to soothe before Orlando can mount its bid to snare No. 8 in the East without Hill. Yet there's far more at stake here for West. The Logo inherited control of a franchise that had been mismanaged for years, with an unbelievably bloated payroll to handcuff any free-agency notions, and proceeds now with his own tale of draft woe to add to the Grizzlies' brief but painful history. Antonio Daniels ... Steve Francis ... Drew Gooden. Don't forget, too, that Memphis' next lottery pick goes to Detroit in June unless it's the No. 1 overall pick thanks to a previous regime's blunder. In other words, the Pistons get any Memphis lottery pick that falls between Nos. 2 through 13 when the Ping Pong balls bounce in May. So, yeah. For West's sake, Miller has to deliver. A secret weapon from the Europe trip wouldn't hurt, either. ### Chris
Mike Miller may be overrated but Drew Gooden is waaaay overrated. The picks that West gets are not high, but he's shown he can pull out talent deep into the draft. The big question I have about this trade is with their payroll situation. Miller is due for an extension this summer and be sure that his agent will push for a max contract pointing out that the two previous ROYs (Vince Carter and Stevie Francis) got them. It will be interesting.
Right now, it appears the Magic stole one from West. Gooden is a star in the making, he just needs to learn how to pass. Lots of intensity and scoring ability. He couldn't break the lineup in Memphis with Gasol at PF and his inability to play SF (and pass). Giricek is a pretty good shooter and could be as good or better than Mike Miller. Memphis basically got one player, Miller. Humphrey (a PF but SG/SF height) was a throw in and so were the 2 picks (a low 1st rounder and a second round pick). Not much will be found with those picks but its West so you never know.
I disagree, being a rookie shouldn't be a big deal with Gooden. Yao and Amare are rookies, and they are big reasons why their teams are making serious runs at the playofffs. As for people saying Gooden is "overrated", as a rookie, getting reduced minutes on a talented team and forced to come off the bench Gooden is STILL putting up numbers close to Yao and Stoudemire. Gooden is putting up 12 ppg and 6 rpg in limited minutes and action. Now he gets to start, and earlier in the year when he was starting and getting good minutes he was on a monster tear. GREAT pick up for the Magic, Gooden is going to probably put up 14 and 8 with the Magic this year since he'll get a much bigger role. I mean how can a guy who puts up 12 ppg and 6 rpg in 26 minutes per game and is a rookie be overrated?
Magic got two good players and if I were starting from scratch, no way would I trade Gooden and Giricek for Miller and Humphrey....but, folks that is not the situation...and most of all I am not West: Pau is going to be in the elite 4s very soon, Gooden can't play the 3 and Miller is a very good 3. MEM is helped by this trade and ORL is helped. Seems like a pretty good trade. West trades 2 reserves for a quality starter.....if you would not do that then what would you do?
Do you guys realize west is setting up the Grizzlies with three potential lottery picks. If the Rockets and Magic do not make the playoffs they get the three lottery picks: Rockets pick, Magic pick, Grizz pick. one of those picks will most likely go to Detroit. Houston and Orlando are both on the bubble so now West has two high draft picks to work with next year. clever move, imo.
Actually I think that the pick that Orlando gave to Memphis was the first round pick from Sacramento so it's really two potential lottery picks. And don't they owe their own pick to Detroit unless if it's the number 1 overall pick?
