While most of us were focused on where Lebron and D. Wade were making their free agent tours, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to be proactive on the first day of free agency by beating everyone to the punch and agreeing to sign 8 year veteran Drew Gooden, to a 5 year, $32 million dollar deal. Normally the middle of the pack free agents must wait until all or most of the higher profile ones to fall in line, but Milwaukee surprisingly made Gooden, who ranks #34 on our Top 50 2010 NBA Summer Free Agents list, officially the first player to fall from the ranks of what could be a historic free agent pool this Summer.
Surely lots of fans will ask, why Gooden, and why for such a long term deal? Drew actually is a good fit for the retooling Bucks since he provides an above average scoring punch and a knack for being one of the better offensive rebounders in the league. With former #1 overall pick Andrew Bogut starting to live up to the tag of injury prone and with Dan Gadzuric sent packing to Golden State in the Corey Maggette trade, Gooden gives them another viable big body, along with Ersan Illyasova and Luc Mbah A’Moute in the frontcourt.
Since being selected as the #4 overall selection in the ’02 NBA Draft, Gooden has been the epitome a good to above average player who can’t seem to stick on any one team’s roster. In fact, if you include Milwaukee, Gooden will be playing on his 10th team in his 8+ seasons, including 7 teams since the ’08-’09 season. Why would such a decent offensive player be forced to change cities so often ?
It’s probably because of two reasons. Drew, even though most fans and teammates would agree that he is a “good” guy, has clashed with most coaches when he has been asked to conform to a new offensive system and because quite frankly, he is known around the league as a one way player, which is a nice way of saying that he barely plays a lick of defense. With that being said, Gooden could be a perfect offensive compliment to the defensive oriented Bogut as a possible starter at power forward. He also could use his rather large frame(6’10 and 260 lbs) to spell minutes for the oft injured Bogut, in an effort to keep the shot-blocking big man healthy for the entire season.
Milwaukee, after being one of the surprising stories of the ’09-’10 season have been on a mission to improve their roster in an attempt to advance farther than just the first round of the Playoffs. After former All-Star Michael Redd went down with yet another season ending knee injury, the organization decided to start to surround rookie phenom Brandon Jennings with a better supporting cast, starting with Maggette, a 16+ ppg career scorer. They also added emerging 3rd year wing player Chris Douglas-Roberts from the NJ Nets for an amazingly cheap $1 million, who supplied another 10 ppg last year. They also had a pretty impressive 2010 NBA Draft by selecting all big men in Larry Sanders, Jerome Jordan, and the enigmatic Keith “Tiny” Gallon.
Not to worry Bucks fans, but the signing of Gooden doesn’t rule out the possibility of resigning their leading scorer from last season, free agent to be John Salmons. The Bucks hold his Bird rights, meaning they can exceed the salary cap to sign Salmons, who was their stand-out playoff performer. Reportedly they have already been in negotiations and are very close to agreeing with Salmons on a 5 year – $39 million dollar deal of his own.
The Gooden deal makes sense since they’re getting much more than they are paying for with very little risk. At a very average deal of $6.4 mil a season, the Bucks are getting an above average player with only the first 3 years guaranteed since the last two years are team options. In essence, they are getting a 3 year player, who is only 28, and fits your system perfectly. With all of these new additions, am I crazy to think that the Bucks could be a Top 4 team in the East?
Be sure to check out our constantly updated Top 50 Summer Free Agents List, keeping you updated on a daily basis of who signs where this free agency season.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
