Drew Adds a Missing Piece
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http://kuhoops.com/ku-basketball-news/150493327/
I don’t know what to think of Drew Gooden. He ranks top 20 I’d say of all timers at KU (don’t get all nit picky on me on that one). He was good enough to be a part of a very good 2002 team that nearly beat Maryland in the FF.
But here’s the part that gets me with people like him. One more year. One more year and 2003, well we’d have been an all time great team I think. Simien maybe doesn’t get hurt (because he’s playing less?) giving us an extremely talented big off the bench. Even if Simien got hurt, we have someone more talented than Grayer starting up front.
And I get it. The kind of money given to leave college even then was incredible. I know Drew’s dad was very present at the time because he was on TV a lot cheering, so maybe there was financial stability enough for Drew to stay in college one more year, but he bolted.
‘What if’ games are always pointless. What if he stayed? I guess it’s no guarantee they win anyways, but I think it would have been a team without any flaws. But does a win change recruiting? Which means does 08 happen if we’d won only 5 seasons previously? Is there a little less hunger to win? We can speculate but we won’t know the answers.
But I sure wish Drew had stayed and it’s good to see he’s had a nice NBA career, nothing spectacular as his travels from city to city would indicate, but still very competent as an NBAer and for that we all should be proud.
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Very few make $60,000,000 before they graduate. He was better than anyone I’ve ever seen at getting his own rebound and scoring.
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What if I had invested $1000 in Amazon at the close of it’s first day in 1997? How about almost $500,000 today!
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@brooksmd I told my stockbroker brother to get Apple and Microsoft early on. He shorted them instead.
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@mayjay I usually get into something just as it peaks. My one proud moment was buying AMAT a few years ago at $12. Unfortunately, at the time I only had enough to buy 100 shares.
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Ha. I half expected Scott Drew to have found his brain.
Congrats Gooden!
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@wissox In all fairness Drew was co-player of the year the season he decided to go pro as a Jr. I’d love to have a Jr. Jackson on the team in a couple of years…I doubt he’d share the award.
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Of course, there is a flip side to Gooden’s staying that one more year in college. If he had blown out a knee, that $60,000,000 career might never have been in the works. Sad reality of NBA thievery of college athletes. For the individual player it is a matter of grabbing the brass ring before it dances away, quite possibly forever.
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@dylans Oh I know, he was very good. I tried to say I didn’t blame him for leaving early, but maybe it didn’t come across very well. But on the other hand, a great chance to win it all has got to mean something that even future pro earnings can’t provide. Tough decision to be sure.
