Happy Birthday
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| "Drew Gooden Wizards" by Keith Allison - Flickr: Drew Gooden. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons. |
Drew Gooden is a great role player. He knows his role and plays some great basketball. One of the great things that Drew Gooden does, can not be shown on the stat sheet. Drew Gooden sets great screens and takes a good amount of charges. That is what he will always be know as to me. Drew Gooden seems to always know where to be on defense. You may say that Drew Gooden averaged 0.2 Blocks, and 0.4 steals over his career, but his defense is solid. Drew Gooden is a player that does the little things.
Drew Gooden started his rookie season in Memphis, but after 51 games he was traded to Orlando, where he started 18 out of 19 games played there. His rookie season, he averaged 12.5 PPG and 6.5 RPG. After his rookie season, he would stay with the Magic for one more season before going to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers was one of the best teams that Drew Gooden has ever played with. His first season there, he averaged a career high of 14.4 PPG and a career high of 9.2 RPG. He also played in all 82 games that season, starting in 80 of them. His second season was also good and was a big role player for his team. But his third season was the big one as Gooden played 80 games and started in all of them, as the leader of the Cavs, LeBron James lead them to the finals. A lot of their sucess had to do with Drew Gooden. In the playoffs, he started in all 20 games and played over 30 minutes per game. He averaged 11.4 PPG, 8 RPG, and 1 APG. The Cavaliers, however, lost to the Spurs in the Finals.
After they lost in the Finals, the Cavs kept Gooden for 51 more games before shipping him off to the Chicago Bulls. After that it was just chaos. Drew Gooden in the 2008-09 season went from the Bulls to the Kings to the Spurs. In the 2009-10 season he signed with the Dallas Mavericks, where he was then traded to the Washington Wizards. He was there for 4 days before being traded to the Clippers. However, he would average 14.8 PPG with the Clippers. The Milwaukee Bucks would end up signing him that free agency. He would be there for 3 seasons and would not get another offer from anyone. During the 2013-14 season, he was signed to two 10-day contract with the Wizards and was signed for the rest of the season. He currently plays with the Washington Wizards and was a big reason for their success this last post-season. He plays an important role coming off the bench.
While Drew Gooden continues to play in the NBA, retirement is coming closer as the NBA veteran is going into his 14th season in the league. He has had important roles on multiple teams and Drew Gooden has been one of the best role players in the league. From the Kings to the Cavs to the Wizards, Drew Gooden has found himself on a team just trying to help, not do too much. Just help. And I hope he continues to do that for many more seasons to come. Happy Birthday, Drew Gooden.
The Cavaliers was one of the best teams that Drew Gooden has ever played with. His first season there, he averaged a career high of 14.4 PPG and a career high of 9.2 RPG. He also played in all 82 games that season, starting in 80 of them. His second season was also good and was a big role player for his team. But his third season was the big one as Gooden played 80 games and started in all of them, as the leader of the Cavs, LeBron James lead them to the finals. A lot of their sucess had to do with Drew Gooden. In the playoffs, he started in all 20 games and played over 30 minutes per game. He averaged 11.4 PPG, 8 RPG, and 1 APG. The Cavaliers, however, lost to the Spurs in the Finals.
After they lost in the Finals, the Cavs kept Gooden for 51 more games before shipping him off to the Chicago Bulls. After that it was just chaos. Drew Gooden in the 2008-09 season went from the Bulls to the Kings to the Spurs. In the 2009-10 season he signed with the Dallas Mavericks, where he was then traded to the Washington Wizards. He was there for 4 days before being traded to the Clippers. However, he would average 14.8 PPG with the Clippers. The Milwaukee Bucks would end up signing him that free agency. He would be there for 3 seasons and would not get another offer from anyone. During the 2013-14 season, he was signed to two 10-day contract with the Wizards and was signed for the rest of the season. He currently plays with the Washington Wizards and was a big reason for their success this last post-season. He plays an important role coming off the bench.
While Drew Gooden continues to play in the NBA, retirement is coming closer as the NBA veteran is going into his 14th season in the league. He has had important roles on multiple teams and Drew Gooden has been one of the best role players in the league. From the Kings to the Cavs to the Wizards, Drew Gooden has found himself on a team just trying to help, not do too much. Just help. And I hope he continues to do that for many more seasons to come. Happy Birthday, Drew Gooden.
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