Every draft guru/expert has the Grizzlies taking Butler or Dunleavy. Not going to happen. Look for Memphis to first look to trade down and acquire another 1st rounder, if not they will take Drew Gooden. After Jay Williams, Drew Gooden is the best talent in the draft. He is a PF with incredible hops, good post moves, a face up game, good off the ball shot blocker, and above average handles for his position. Mark this down as a STONE COLD lock!
that's good; maybe Butler will fall enough for us to trade up for him. Do you think the Grizz would keep Gooden? Would they move Gasol to SF and play Gooden PF? I guess that would work since they're both inside-out players. They would just be the starting forwards period. If they could somehow get Nene to play center, that would complete an awesome frontcourt!
Right, we'll book it when the Grizz trade their two main PFs in Gasol and Swift and their converted PF in Lorenzen Wright. They aren't going to take Gooden.
No they are not taking Gooden, he has no spot on the team. I really don't think they are taking Butler or Deanlevy either. I see them taking Wagner or even trading for a vet. It would be cool if they pick Nickoloz Tskitishvili, him and Pau Gasol man that would be awesome.
Gooden is the 3rd best player in the draft imo, and ready to contribute now. He would be a good acquisition for the Grizz.
Jerry West ALWAYS takes the best available player regardless of team needs or position. That will be Drew Gooden. Pau and Gooden can both play the SF or PF positions and Swift can back them up. Lorenzen Wright is the starting center. Line up: PG Jason Williams SG Michael Dickerson SF Shane Battier PF Pau Gasol C Lorenzen Wright Bench: Brevin Knight, Drew Gooden, Stromille Swift, T - Mass, Antonio Fotsis, Nick Anderson, Juan Carlos Navarro(2nd rounder)
Hell yes, Memphis X..... I went to several KU games and watched every one this year. Gooden is S T U D. Ask people who know "nothing" about basketball, like Bob Knight, Roy Williams, Kelvin Sampson, the guy in Missouri with the hair that used to play at Duke, who the best player they faced all season was.........Gooden. Knight said Gooden was the best player he's seen in several years!!! Tell you anything? DG's gonna kick some ass in the nba. Other Big 12 studs: Aaron McGhee - OU, C Owens - UT, and K Rush - MU. All 3 will have 5+ year pro careers. McGhee could be an important player. Back to Gooden. He's a real 6-10. Great hops. Awesome fadeaway jumper, up to 15' he's deadly. Best offensive rebounder in past 4 years in college ball (name another one, please???). He has a right and a left jump hook. He's agressive to the ball. PLUS, he played for Roy Williams for 3 years. You don't think he's learned something? His faults: he's probably 15 lbs from being a "bonafide" PF. He has pathetic range beyond 18'. Maybe too confident, too. NBA comparison: Battier with athleticism. Gasol with better D. Eddie Griffith with polish and poise. A short Garnett. Dunleavy is gonna find himself out of position. He's a fine pure shooter, but a defensive liability when matched against a fast SG or a more powerful SF. Good guy, but outta place. Woods is a low percentage shooter from anything outside the paint. Think he's gonna be able to drive in the pros? Wagner is outta control. A wannabe Iverson (low 30% FGP). Jay W. is the real deal. In 3 years, better than any PG in NBA. Ming. Awesome. Will take Houston to 3 rd of playoffs in year 3.
Who knows who Memphis will choose this year ... Gooden is a possibility at #4 but there are several other players that are great fits ... including Dunleavy, Butler and to a lesser extent Wagner ... Personally I would be suprised to see us picking Gooden but we'll see ...
Gooden is over rated, he got schooled by Wilcox in the Tournament. Gooden is not even 6-10 he is an under size 6-8 PF with no muscles.
I would be very surprised if Gooden isn't picked 3rd or 4th. There is no doubt he would have a starting role for either GS or Memphis. IMO he is a much better player than Dunleavy and his length gives him the slight nod over Butler (plus Butler is older). What all of people don't realize is Gooden could play quite a bit of the 3. He would certainly fair defensive better there than Dunleavy, Woods, Jeffries, Q Woods and probably Tskit would--at least right away. The only player to me that gets in the way of Gooden going 3 or 4 is Tskit. I don't think Dunleavy and Butler will both take the 3-4 positions, maybe people see Tskit has the next KG though (unlimited potential). A question for Memphis folks. What are the expectations for Swift and Dickerson? If Dickerson comes back to form you can ask yourself what does Butler (or Dunleavy) buy over Battier and MD. Likewise if they think Swift is going to be too good to keep out of a starting line-up then maybe Gooden isn't the choice. If both are true their best bet might be to trade down a few slots (say with Clev) and get Wagner or a potential C (Nene, Bordchart) plus a future 1st rounder or something.
Nice post. To base a players evaluation on 1 game (I still think he scored close to 20) and ignore the official reports of his ht and wt is a great way to inspire confidence in a poster. DW, to me an explosive PG or SG/PG combo (Wagner) or center prospect provides the best fit for Memphis (they are better and deeper at the 2-3-4). Why do you think otherwise, is MD gone/shot and are there low expectations for Swift.
Why would they want Gooden over Dunleavy or Butler. Gooden plays the 4 and only the 4. They have Shane Battie and Pau Gasol as their forwards. If they get Butler or Dunleavy they can play foward and sg were they really need help cause dickerson hasn't been doing much their since he arrived their. And Gooden isnt the best in the draft not even at his position I would take Wilcox over Gooden anyday.
I think Swift will be traded this season or at latest during next off season ... He will never be able to become starting PF when competing with Gasol but he really is too talented to stay at the bench forever ... As for Dickerson ... well he is supposedly going to be ready for next season after his injury ... I still wouldn't mind adding someone that could play at 2/3 though ... Dickersons injury last season completly killed us since we only had one player fit to start at either 2 and 3 (Battier) ... Getting a nice center prospect would also be a viable possibility even though I would prefer loading up on talent and trying to get a top pick in 2004/5 instead when Milicic and Schortsianitis should be available ...
Steal of the draft. Steal of the draft. What pick # is that, and why do you think Grizzlies want/get him? I don't know much about "La Bomba", other that he is bovilles favorite player, even counting Pau Gasol. And that has to mean something
Providing that there are no trades in the top four picks, this is pretty much a locked draft through 4. Houston - Ming Chi - Williams GS - Mike D. Grizz - Gooden Gooden had the quickest workout with the Grizz. He flew in, had dinner with West, and West told him that if he was on the board when they pick, they would take him. Given West's past trackrecord of going with meat and potatoes-type players (ie. best player available), Gooden is a no brainer. Also, eventually Gasol will move to the 5. A front line of Gasol, Gooden, and Battier is very versitile and nasty. I think that Gooden will be runner up for rookie of the year this year. Oh, by the way, I hate Kansas. Bet on this order. It's a lock, if there is such a thing.
Gooden at Memphis? Yeah, probably. West'll take the best player on the board, and that'd probably be Gooden. However, it'd be kind of weird having 4 clones on the court... Gooden, Swift, Gasol, and Battier. Granted, Gasol will be the man, but Gooden and Swift are quite similar; except Gooden has more polish. My guess is that Battier is trade-bait. He's stable, solid, can hit a high percentage, great leadership; BUT, he doesn't fit with the athletic frontcourt (unless they move him to a 2-3 tweener role. Who'd trade what for Battier? Houston with a #15 and K.Thomas and Glenn Rice? Your thoughts?
