Drew Gooden had a triple-double last night. As Skeets mentioned in today’s show, it’s an event that comes once a year and is celebrated all around the globe like Punxsutawney Phil popping his head out of his tiny groundhog house. “Oh, Drew Gooden had his annual triple-double last night? Cool. Let’s order some Thai food.” That is basically the conversation everyone has when Drew Gooden fills up the stat sheet. It’s noted, it’s cool but no one really cares.
Except for Drew Gooden. He really cares a lot, obviously. He cares so much that he wants us all to understand that this is something he could do all the time if he wanted to. From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings joked that Gooden likes to play point guard during the summer.
“That’s all I play, every summer,” Gooden said with a laugh. “Believe it or not, I like to pass. I pass up some shots too much to try to make the extra play or the home run play.
“Some nights it works out for me like tonight. I think it’s becoming contagious. All of us are swinging the ball, making the extra pass and converting. That’s the most important thing is finishing the play.”
Duh, guys — Drew Gooden is a pass-first point guard in a shoot-first power forward’s body covered with tattoos and experimental facial hair. You can tell that’s the truth by his stunning 1.2 assists per game mark through his career, the way he has two career games with 10 or more assists and has seen a whopping 7.5 percent of his used possessions have ended with an assist. Believe it or not — and I am recommending that you DO NOT believe it — Drew Gooden likes to pass. Loves it.
That being said, just because he actually had a double-digit assist game doesn’t mean he should be passing all the time. In fact, one of his teammates thinks he should maybe take a break. From the AP:
“Some nights he’s tragic, some nights he’s magic,” Mike Dunleavy joked. “Tonight, he was magic, with a little tragic sprinkled in. Five turnovers? I mean, come on.”
Oh come on, Mike Dunleavy. Let him enjoy this. Drew Gooden has played 652 games and a grand total of two of them have ended with enough assists that he can brag about his passing skillz. I know he is not actually a guy who likes to pass — he is 32nd in the league in shot attempts per 36 minutes, ahead of Blake Griffin, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyreke Evans and J.R. Smith — but just let him have this.
Let him brag about his point guard abilities and how his passing inspired his teammates and how he passes up shots even though he could take them. Good luck finding examples of this, but sure. From now on, Drew Gooden wants you to know that he is the NBA’s premier point forward, finally wresting that crown from Boris Diaw. It’s not the most prestigious title, but Anthony Mason would be proud.
