09-13-2010, 10:26 PM
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#32
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Rookie
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Re: A New League- The ABF
Trey Gooden, The Future?
By Contributer Mark Saxson
After One Game
I have to say, Trey Gooden impresses me. Atlanta was a weak team inside the paint last season, and thats what kept them from winning pivotal games. No team can win without an inside presence. When the guards and wings have to carry the team, those players get tired, and when those players get tired, the speed of the team is crippled. Last season we saw an Atlanta team that lost a lot of close games, often because of fatigue late in those contests. Darius Miles was often drained from guarding the 4 spot, Speedy Claxton and whatever Shooting guard was playing (there were many) were often running themselves to death in hopes of using the fastbreak to keep from exposing their weak halfcourt game.
Tonight, the Animals were a whole new team, and instead of losing a close game in the fourth due to fatigue, they outscored Chicago by 20 points and outlasted and outpowered their opponent. All thanks to that inside game.
Trey Gooden held Joe Smith down like a dog, and rebounded anything that came his way on defense. On the other end, he scored on the inside, he scored on the fastbreak, hell he even hit a pair of treys. With the pressure taken off of Darius Miles, the once project player scored 17 points, 13 of which came in the fourth. With two players dominating the inside (Gooden and Dalembert) the animals successfully picked apart the Blackout defense and made a statement to begin the season.
Why the future?
I wouldn't go out and call any player the future after one game, but Gooden showed something I havn't seen from a whole lot of guys lately.
He likes to play defense just as much as he likes to score. Not many guys can go out there and haul down 14 defensive rebounds (the Blackouts poor shooting helped) but this kid went out there and did it in his debut. But thats not what really impressed me. I have never seen Dikembe Mutombo slammed. Sure I saw Dennis Rodman swat him back in the 90's in Mutombos glory days. But Gooden, at 6'10", took off from standing and blocked the 7'2" center. Now usually when someone gets infront of Mutombo they get 300 pounds crashing down on them. But instead of bodying up to mutombo, Gooden finnessed his way straight to the ball and came up with an embarressing defensive posterization.
Trey Gooden may have been trying to show is skills as a lowely rookie, but let me tell you, if he plays defense like that, day in and day out, he could be one of the best and most well balanced power forwards I've ever seen.
Balance on Offense
Trey Gooden got a pass, and without hesitation popped a wide open three. He airballed. Two possesions later, he took a contested shot from the same spot. He drained it. This guy is a defiant player. A sharp pivot step, then a jam over the head of Chicago PF Joe Smith (The old one, not the young one). A tough foul on the inside. Two foul shots swishing through. Lets face it Atlanta, you gotta be excited about this guy. Whats even more exciting is that Atlanta has him wrapped up for 6 years, at a mere $4.5 Million dollars. Now, given thats a lot of cash in the ABF, but if he develops into an MVP Caliber player over the next couple of years, Atlanta could be looking at a serious bargain, or a serious holdout. Either way, they have a very sharp looking prospect locked up for 6 years.
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