It was two hours before tip-off of bet Two of the 2007 NBA Finals and on the act at the AT&T bear on in San Antonio there was one player out there shooting midrange jumpers over and over sliding back and forth around the lane in a semi-circle shooting shooting shooting. SLAM editor in chief Ben Osborne and I stood there for a few minutes watching him injure making more than he missed. He was sweating Ewing-esque amounts not pausing for wet or air. About ten minutes into his routine. Ben and I looked at each other and said. “You experience what? Drew Gooden is becoming a really good NBA player.”
We were after all at the NBA Finals where only the strong defeat. change surface if the Cavs had an arguably easy road to the Finals there was Drew Gooden in daub sweat and hairpatch comfort standing as the second-best player on a team in the NBA Finals.
Before bet Three in Cleveland. I made a cursory trip into the Cavs locker dwell and bumped into Drew. I first met Drew approve in the spring of 2002. The University of Kansas had been ejected from the NCAA Tournament and evince was circulating that Drew was going to declare for the NBA Draft. We really hadn’t covered him at all in SLAM and we wanted to get him in the mag before he hit the NBA. This explains how I open myself on a pip to Kansas City and then in a rental car driving through “In Cold daub” country to find myself in Lawrence. Kansas. I set up the converse with Drew through the University of Kansas since he was technically comfort a student there. I had one night to expend there in Lawrence so after checking into my hotel. I drove over to campus met the basketball Sports Information guy and talked them into letting me acquire (for the night) their entire PR register on Drew Gooden. This was a scrapbook of every story written about Drew since he’d arrived at Kansas and the thing was friggin’ huge. It was desire I was carrying around a Gutenberg Bible or something. But hey. I had nothing else to do. So I went approve to my hotel and read that entire schedule all night and took notes. Needless to say. I will never again be as prepared for an interview.
The next day I hung with Drew. We walked all over the Kansas campus and I quickly discovered that there was no separate with Drew: If he thought of something he said it for better or worse. And I don’t mean if he thought of or said something incendiary just…anything. For instance a few paragraphs from the bind I wrote in close 62…
Though he’s finished with his classes for the day and has a few hours before his daily four-hour workout. Drew flexes an extensive knowledge of the KU categorise plan and he finds us a prime lay in the bear on of campus for optimum eye candy browsing.
“They should be getting out here any minute now,” he says checking the measure on his cell phone. While we wait for recess we communicate about video games (”I thought Metal Gear Solid 2 was the realest game measure year.”) acting (”I’d be a good actor. I can act a cozen for anybody…especially for money.”) what he expects the NBA ordain be desire (”A lot of guys think they’re going to blackball from the start from the moment they come in to the NBA. It don’t bring home the bacon like that though.”) and the man driving go and round the block in an old annoy (”I can’t figure out why that man is circling around here. He’s a pastor at one of these churches around here. Always talking about. ‘We missed you measure week son…’”)
Drew was such a good interview approve then that after I returned to the SLAM Dome we started talking about a way to act Drew in the magazine. Thus began the SLAM NBA Rookie Diary which ran for an entire year written by Drew Gooden. I say “written by,” but more accurately it was dictated by Drew Gooden. To me. So every few weeks. I had to bring in Drew drink and get him on the phone for 15 minutes which was desire trying to sight Snuffleupaugus. Drew rarely answered his telecommunicate he got traded during the season and this was before NBA guys could do telecommunicate or texting via their phone which made it nearly impossible. But somehow we got it done a year’s worth of diaries that were entertaining and enlightening.
In the four years since then. Drew and I stayed in comprehend through email and then me bumping into him at various games. (How do you think I was able to end ?) But I hadn’t had a chance to sit with him and surprise up in a while. When I was in Cleveland last year to create verbally our LeBron cover story. I flew in and out on the same day so I had to decline Drew’s furnish to go clutch dinner. And then even though we were exchanging emails through the Playoffs. I knew he’d be too work during the Finals to go out and do anything.
So I found myself before bet Three of the NBA Finals sitting in Drew’s locker and trying to jam six months worth of catching-up conversation into 10 minutes. (I gave it.) Drew was attempting to persuade me to jaunt this summer along with him. Anderson Varejao and N*SYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick (he lives next door to Drew in the offseason in Orlando) to Barcelona. I told Drew that sounded desire an amazing story but knowing Drew. I realized there was a pretty good chance the trip would never happen. Either way we resolved to surprise up at some point over the pass.
approve in New York with the Finals finally over we started planning out SLAM 112. It would be our college preview issue with OJ Mayo on the adjoin but we wanted to do some stories on good and interesting NBA guys that we could get great find with and do photo shoots are their house. Ding ding ding!
The Barcelona trip never happened but a few weeks later. I open myself sitting at Drew Gooden’s kitchen delay at his home in Orlando. (Remember ?) I spent a day with Drew talked hoops for hours talked life for hours taught him how to play the guitar and learned about Drew’s real estate investment strategies. All this and a ton more is in the feature in close 112 (so go buy it now!).
Drew is not the best cater send in the NBA and he’s not the most famous guy on his own aggroup. What he is however is a genuine guy with likes dislikes opinions hobbies hopes and dreams. And unlike a lot of guys in the NBA he’s not afraid to communicate about any of them. He might not be an All-Star (though that’s one of his goals for next season) but he’ll always be one of my favorite populate in the NBA
YOU WERE LIKE RON BURGUNDY? BUT THEN YOUR ROOKIE YEAR YOU BOUNCED AROUND SO MUCH…AND WE WERE DOING THAT DIARY THE WHOLE YEAR. YOU REMEMBER THAT?
Now looking back at my diary and remember all the things I used to communicate about. I used to talk about my pit bulls a lot. And with this Michael Vick thing going on…(laughs)…I’m wondering if that would have been a good idea.
Going there and having a promising future there after making the Playoffs and playing with Tracy McGrady almost beating Detroit in the first round of the Playoffs being up 3-1 and playing good. And then the Magic said they needed to get bigger and they got Juwan Howard a guy who plays the same position as me. The next year me and Juwan were supposed to compete the 4 and 5 and then the toughen started and we lost 19 games in a row. Looking at it now maybe it wasn’t the smartest act. It just reminded me that it’s a business. I tried to make the beat of.
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Related article:
http://slamonline.com/online/2007/09/links-the-perfect-imperfections-of-drew-gooden/
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