Free Agent: Drew Gooden

[ss1986v2]

But he also has the potential to be a player Pop tires of quickly and looks to salary dump using valuable assets.

if it came down to a multi-year, full MLE offer to gooden or sheed, who do you go with?

i probably side with gooden, because even if things go south, hes still probably easier to move than sheed on that same contract if/when the wheels fall off him. gooden would still be a sub-30 year old big with career 12&8 average on a MLE deal.

[HarlemHeat37]

multi-year MLE has to go to Gooden..if 'Sheed doesn't accept a 1 year contract, I think we look somewhere else..MAYYYYBBE 2..

[Ditty]

Gooden for cheap if we don't get wallace or ariza

[crc21209]

I think the Spurs have got to re-sign this guy...I mean come on..a young big who can rebound and score? why not? Sign him up!

[Manufan909]

He didn't really get much playing time since the coughing up blood game.

I can't say I didn't notice that cuz I didn't get to watch Gm4, but I hope he gets better. As long as he plays more than Bonner if resigned, I'm good. Before his injury, he was beasting. And Bonner had 1 decent game to put next to 4 colossal stinkers.

Considering the bigs available, I think he's the best one to compliment Tim/KT/Ian/Bonner. Sheed would be nice, but only in a perfect world where he took the min, got in shape, and passed an anger management course.

[Ditty]

I think the Spurs have got to re-sign this guy...I mean come on..a young big who can rebound and score? why not? Sign him up!

but can't play defense

either can bonner

can we give bonners money to gooden

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Gooden has hurt the team more than he's helped most of the time. Of course you can't deny he's talented offensively and for a cheap and short contract would be a no-brainer, but some stupid team is bound to offer him their MLE.

I think the Spurs will split their MLE this offseason if they use it at all, so I'd be looking at players of the Q Ross, Sheldon Williams, R Carney mould.

I'd also consider Channing Frye and Morris Almond.

[objective]

Just say NO to Drew Gooden getting re-signed.

He's not enough of a difference maker to keep. He'll get his empty stats more often than not, but he's the same guy who's played for about 1/5th of the teams in the NBA as a high profile talent/prospect and been jettisoned by every one of them.

Signing Gooden to anything more than a 1 year deal would be a giant mistake, and leave the Spurs saddled with a contract that nobody wants to trade for (just like Kurt Thomas who I also was against the Spurs re-signing).

I'd rather the Spurs go with some scrubby second round rookie like Jeff Pendergraph than Gooden or Thomas or the rest.

[Obstructed_View]

Gooden has no place on this team if he's not standing at the perimeter chucking threes. Pass.

[mattyc]

If he wants to come back, I'd sign him. Provides alot of energy and is a legit scoring threat. He'd be starting for a number of NBA teams and I think he's been underated around here.

Give him a proper off-season in the Spurs system (fitness and strategy wise), and you'd have an exponentially better player at the Spurs.

[SenorSpur]

I highly doubt Gooden will have many teams that will go after him hard though, so we'll see..he doesn't have a good reputation around the L..

Anybody know what the book is on Gooden?

[SenorSpur]

I struggle with this prospect of resigning him. On one hand, he was a defensive liability and didn't rebound the ball well enough. On the other hand, he has a strong, offensive-minded game, great footwork around the basket and can hit his FTS.

It's not like there are a plethora of 28 year-old bigs, with career avgs of 13 & 8, that are falling out of the sky. He's young enough that he could be a good transitional option until Ian fully develops and untl Spilitter arrives. Plus resigning him to a reasonable contract, as MB pointed out in an earlier thread, could mean using him as a future trade chip.

The Spurs are so talent-thin in the frontcourt that they shouldn't be so quick to turn their nose up at him. Especially since he's the 2nd best big on the team right now. The fact that he got injured toward the end also clouds the picture. Based upon his DNP, I just don't believe Pop wants him back.

[Streakyshooter08]

Well I have mixed feelings about Gooden. I think the chances are pretty high he will demand too much and is probably gone. I don't think the Spurs will offer him a lot.

[Manufan909]

If he and Anderson could be had at the same price, I would pick Anderson. He might not have a post game, but if you double off he gets free dunks. Plus he seems to love playing D.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

This is a tough call for me. I thought he showed some amazing energy and it was fun to watch him work around the basket. I didn't expect anything defensively, so whatever they got out of him was fine in that regard. When they signed him, I figured it was a 1/2 season rental situation since his BBall IQ and blackhole tendencies of the past don't exactly fit the Spurs mantra.

But, I can't stop and think that maybe his (lack of) playing time in these final games had more to do with an injury rather than a coaching decision. He didn't really get much playing time since the coughing up blood game.

Well, Pop commented last night when asked that it wasn't Gooden's injury that decreased his minutes.

Seeing Gooden steam on the bench in the fourth while Bonner and Finley took turns at powerless forward also said a lot.

I'd like to have him back, I think with an off-season they could mold him some into a stud off the bench. Everyone seems to forget that guys like Glenn Robinson and Jax were ballhogs/black holes when they got here but got molded into Spurs material.

He is the second best big we've had on our roster since Dave retired, and they never gave him a chance to play next to Tim and see what a twin towers look would do for us (Pop instead chose to play smallball and get punked on the boards by Dallas - idiot...)

But it's clear from how Pop handled him last night that he won't be back. (plus, he's under 30, and is a big who doesn't jack up three pointers, so those don't fit with Pop's 'system')

Too bad. Instead we'll be subjected to more Matt Bonner and Michael Finley at PF, the injury carousel that is Ian, and talk about looking forward to Tiago in 2010 :-/

[TDomination]

I don't know either. He can score, no doubt about that. I would like to see what he could do on defense with a training camp under his belt with the Spurs.

I would DEFINITELY want him instead of Bonner. But not as a starter. I hope to get another big man, Sheed, or whomever, to start w/Duncan and have Gooden off the bench along with Kurt or somebody else. But no Bonner.

[Bruno]

I'm not really for bringing back Gooden. I think there are better options for the MLE.

[Spurs Brazil]

I'm not really for bringing back Gooden. I think there are better options for the MLE.

Agree, 1st I'd try to get a wing with the MLE. If it isn't possible I'd look at Gooden, Wallace and McDyess and see who is the better money/years

[to21]

The guy has a problem on the defensive end (I'm with Kori on his defense) but can rebound and score with the ball..........I don't get it.

at "low BB IQ".

[Bender]

has this been posted anwhere? (Simmons Q&A)

Q: Was that the end of the Spurs' pseudo-dynasty?


A: Yeah, I think so. It's too bad. You can only feast on bargain free agents, castoffs and late first-rounders for so long. And Duncan passed the 1,000-game mark, which is never a good thing. Barkley made a great point on TNT on Tuesday night that I will try to paraphrase: Superstars reach a point when everyone starts saying, "We just need to get him some rest" or "We just need to get him more help," when really, the guy is just getting old and you can't stop it. In Duncan's prime, he would have seen the series slipping away after Game 3 and slapped up a 35-19-7 with seven blocks to save the Spurs in Game 4. Not this time. He only had a 25-10-7 with one block in him, Slight difference … but a difference.



Know when I knew it was over for the Spurs? When they signed Drew Gooden. Good rebounder, decent inside scorer, total knucklehead. He grew a mini-beard on the back of his neck three years ago. He let down LeBron so many times that LeBron developed an actual "Drew Gooden disappointed me yet again and I might have to kill him soon" frown. When he went to Chicago, Cleveland immediately became a better team. The Bulls dumped him and they immediately became better. He's exactly the type of player the Spurs NEVER sign: someone who looks better on paper than he actually is. I just thought it seemed like a desperate move. And it was.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...9&sportCat=nba

[timvp]

^^^Simmons has a point. It's not a good sign that every team Gooden leaves gets better. And that stat research I did shortly after signing him pointed to him being a player who had little to no positive impact on his team in any area ... despite his impressive stats.

The most valuable aspect about him is he'd be able to take some of the pressure off of Duncan in the low block and maybe on the glass. But as far as winning a championship, I'd say a player like Rasheed or a player like McDyess actually bring more to the table in terms of production that leads to championships.

[baseline bum]

I was disappointed by his rebounding, but loved his scoring. Ultimately, I think the team is better off going after one of the Pistons bigs or shopping for a three though.

[Creation88]

with more time with the team and more time to learn the D, Gooden could be HUGE on this team. bring him back.

[crc21209]

Big man rotation of: TD, Sheed, Gooden, and Mahinmi. Aaaand Thomas for 1 more year. Screw Bonner and Oberto is done as well.

[Marcus Bryant]

Gooden likely to test free-agent waters
By Jeff McDonald

Drew Gooden arrived in San Antonio last March hoping to make it his home. He had bounced around the NBA for six-plus seasons in a nomad's career. He was finally ready to settle down.

Speaking to reporters at the Spurs practice facility this afternoon, Gooden reiterated his desire to remain with the Spurs after he becomes a free-agent on July 1, but intimated that he will test the market first.

"I had a great time here," Gooden said. "It was a great experience. Whatever happens, this will be a couple of pages in my book that will be memorable. I'd love to be a part of this organization, but we'll see this summer."

If Tuesday's Game 5 loss to Dallas was his last in a Spurs uniform, Gooden said he has no hard feelings with how it ended. He took a DNP-CD, as coach Gregg Popovich shortened his big-man rotation to use players most familiar with his system.

"We played a small lineup, small rotation, with the guys who have been here," Gooden said. "Some playoff games are going to be like that. If I've got to sacrifice playing to get a win, I'll do that."