Drew Gooden officially signed by Spurs

[urunobili]

Name another big that can shoot as well as him from anywhere on the floor, pass as good as him and drive and finish at the rim as good as him. He has all of those tools and while he may not be the best at each individually, I cannot think of anyone who has all of them combined at that level.

his name is Dirk Nowitzki..

[SpursDynasty]

Gooden is as good a big as we can get...so we'll take it.

I think this pretty much makes the Spurs the favorites in the West to go to the Finals. With all of our injuries and absence of a solid big outside Duncan, we're 40-20 and 2nd in the West. We've had better records after 60 games in the past, but we can't complain at this point. Pop/Duncan aren't guys that you get around and disrupt a team's chemistry...that's the way it's been since '97....so I wouldn't expect that Gooden would "disrupt" team chemistry. Gooden's presence in the paint will stop free layups and get that extra rebound that we needed last season vs. the Lakers. He's not necessarily an All-Star caliber player, but neither was Gasol when he came in to the Lakers. Like Gasol, Gooden will be there for offensive rebounds/putbacks, and some blocks here and there. Again, we didn't need an All-Star or anything, just a guy to grab a rebound or two.

[DPG21920]

Uhhhh you're kind of being a for no reason because I was agreeing with your original post I wasn't being sarcastic.

My bad then, thought you were mocking.

[DPG21920]

his name is Dirk Nowitzki..

Dirk > Pau at shooting (but Pau is very good)
Pau > Dirk in the low block
Pau > Dirk at passing
Pau > Dirk at ball handling
Pau > Dirk at driving to the rim and finishing

[urunobili]

Dirk > Pau at shooting (but Pau is very good)
Pau > Dirk in the low block
Pau > Dirk at passing
Pau > Dirk at ball handling
Pau > Dirk at driving to the rim and finishing

...

the way you put it together it may even sound like an argument but Dirk is >>>>>>>>>>>>> Ball player than Pau could ever become...

[nkdlunch]

Pau is better than Dirk at the post and maybe on defense. But Dirk is immensely better in every other aspect. it's not even close

[ohmwrecker]

Pau Gasol is better on the block than Nowitzki, but Dirk is a far superior wing player and a more creative offensive player. The problem with Nowitzki (and the Mavs) is he is not a leader. The best player on any team has to be a leader to win.

[Galileo]

Pau Gasol is not unstoppable. Given the right defensive schemes and he can be shut down. He's not "the best offensive big men in the league"

If you look at points and assists, he's 2nd behind Tim Duncan.

Gasol leads the Fakers in Win Shares this season, not Kobe.

[DPG21920]

LMAO, some of you are trying to say Dirk is a better passer than Pau? Or trying to say he is a better ball handler/attacker? GTFO. Dirk is a superior shooter, but that is where it stops. I think Pau is better than Dirk overall.

[LakerHater]

He'll be wearing #90

Thanks, thats what I thought, just wanted to make sure!

[z0sa]

LMAO, some of you are trying to say Dirk is a better passer than Pau? Or trying to say he is a better ball handler/attacker? GTFO. Dirk is a superior shooter, but that is where it stops. I think Pau is better than Dirk overall.

Perhaps you've forgotten the Pau that existed before he rode Kobe's jock to averaging <10ppg in the 08 finals.

[pad300]

Gasol leads the Fakers in Win Shares this season, not Kobe.

True, and this is not a statistical artifact either. It's because big men help you win more than wing players...It's why the league values 7 footers so much.

As far as Dirk vs Gasol, this appears to be a down season for Dirk. If you look at the last 4 complete seasons (04-05 to 07-08), Dirk has produced an average of 15.3 ws/season. Gasol on the other hand has 8.5 ws/season.

[DPG21920]

Perhaps you've forgotten the Pau that existed before he rode Kobe's jock to averaging <10ppg in the 08 finals.

What does that have to do with anything, he had a bad finals. Do you actually watch him play for the Lakers? Pau is a huge part of their success and people on here vastly underrate his offensive game. You could make an argument that Dirk is an all around better player offensively, but I do not think so.

Keep in mind I am not saying Pau is the most dominant offensive big man. I am saying he is the most "all around" skilled big man. He is a jack of all trades, and a master of none. So how he impacts games varies compared to someone who is really dominant with a type or types of offensive tools.

[z0sa]

What does that have to do with anything, he had a bad finals.

I spoke mainly of his failures previous, though last season's Finals is more proof he's about an unclutch and soft as they come.

Do you actually watch him play for the Lakers? Pau is a huge part of their success and people on here vastly underrate his offensive game.

He has a ty jumpshot and plays little defense. Tim has owned him throughout Pau's career, including the 04 playoffs you've conveniently forgotten where Pau had both the team and the coaching to pull an upset and couldnt even win one game. Let's not talk about the other two seasons he failed to register one playoff victory with a decent team.

You could make an argument that Dirk is an all around better player offensively, but I do not think so.

Dirk is a better player, took a team much further as the #1 option.

[DPG21920]

He has a ty jumpshot

This is where you lost me. Once again, I am not saying he is the most dominant player, I am saying he is the overall most skilled offensive big in the game imo.

[Spurs Brazil]

[Spurs Brazil]

From weekend dime
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...dime-090307-08

Plugged-in sources say Drew Gooden forfeited just under $1.5 million in salary in Sacramento to secure his release in time last Sunday to have the freedom to move on to San Antonio.

That figure is not a coincidence.

The most San Antonio could offer Gooden for the rest of the season was just under $1.5 million: $1,484,029 to be exact.

The doubts about Gooden and Cleveland's Joe Smith getting waived before the March 1 deadline, in retrospect, seem a bit silly now. Both players are represented by the ever-forceful Dan Fegan, who was bound to get them to the open market.


A Western Conference scout on which of the buyout guys -- Joe Smith, Drew Gooden or Marbury -- will make the biggest contribution:

"If Drew Gooden is healthy, San Antonio got a steal. I know Drew a little bit and his basketball IQ is higher than people think. He's a big body. He can give you a double-double. He can be a low-post presence for that team; San Antonio doesn't have one when Duncan goes to the bench.

"But that groin looked like it was definitely bothering him when I saw him play [recently], and I've heard that it's something that's been there for about two years."

[exstatic]

That figure is not a coincidence.

The most San Antonio could offer Gooden for the rest of the season was just under $1.5 million: $1,484,029 to be exact.

That figure has to be pro-rated for the remainder of the season. Otherwise dudes would be sitting out half the season, grabbing a full pay share, and cruising into the playoffs.

I've seen it at about $315K. That's a great deal to get a trial for a couple of months for a big man who may be a part of your future.

[coyotes_geek]

That figure has to be pro-rated for the remainder of the season. Otherwise dudes would be sitting out half the season, grabbing a full pay share, and cruising into the playoffs.

I've seen it at about $315K. That's a great deal to get a trial for a couple of months for a big man who may be a part of your future.

The $1.4whatever is what's left after the proration has taken place. Cap exceptions (and/or any remaining unused portions) remain at 100% of their value until January 9th. Starting January 10th they decrease 1/170 each day. 170 being the number of days in the season.

Full MLE is $5,585,000 for this year. The Spurs used a chunk of it on Mason. According to shamsports and the ESPN trade machine, Mason is making $3,500,000 this year. That leaves $2,085,000 of remaining MLE. Starting January 10th that remaining amount reduced $12,264.71 every day. Gooden signed March 5th, that's 55 days from January 10th. $2,085,000 - (55 x $12,264.71) = $1,410,441.18

That's different than the $1,484,029 that the daily dime is claiming. Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but if you plug 49 days into the calculation instead of 55 you get the $1,484,029 instead of $1,410,441. So either one of us is mis-counting days, or daily dime has a different salary figure for Mason. But in either event, we're close. Point being that Gooden is indeed going to get $1.4mil +/- for the remainder of the season.

[MaNu4Tres]

A Western Conference scout on which of the buyout guys -- Joe Smith, Drew Gooden or Marbury -- will make the biggest contribution:

"If Drew Gooden is healthy, San Antonio got a steal. I know Drew a little bit and his basketball IQ is higher than people think. He's a big body. He can give you a double-double. He can be a low-post presence for that team; San Antonio doesn't have one when Duncan goes to the bench.

"But that groin looked like it was definitely bothering him when I saw him play [recently], and I've heard that it's something that's been there for about two years."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...dime-090307-08

[crc21209]

Hmm well if its something that has been bothering him for a couple of years then it shouldnt be too much of an issue now. But still let him practice for a bit then throw him out there.

[MaNu4Tres]

btw crc do we have any games left in our 2k league?

[crc21209]

btw crc do we have any games left in our 2k league?

Good question, lemme check up on that bro.

[Rogue]

Gooden will surely strength the rebounding work at least. spurs are a good team but their rebounding work always sucks when duncan sits on bench. gooden isn't cute enough to digest the complicated systerm of spurs team but his rebounding abilities still will help spurs a lot.

[crc21209]

Nah man we finished our games in the league already, but we can run some custom games some time soon.