Sometimes the players who have the most important roles in a team's success are hidden behind the light of the star. But even as the Washington Wizards shook up the basketball world in the their first five games of these playoffs, the John Wall "light" didn't shine so brightly that Paul Pierce's DNA couldn't be seen all over the team.
Even before the news of Wall's possibly postseason-ending injury became official, there were the intricate and transformative contributions of Drew Gooden (8.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 50 percent on 3s) that helped make the Wizards the surprise -- and arguably, the most dangerous -- team left in the playoffs, East and West.
A team they will remain until the end. A team that still has a chance at doing the seemingly impossible. A team that is going the find a way to find a way -- in large part because of this dude here.
Scoop: "Not to start off on a bad note, but you've been in the game a while, so when John [Wall] went down, when you found out what the injury was [multiple fractures in his left wrist and hand], did you just shake your head like, 'What the hell?' Were you like, 'Not again?'"
Gooden: "Absolutely. I think where I'm at in my career, just as an individual -- and I know Paul [Pierce] feels this way also -- we know how rare and how hard it is to get to the playoffs, first of all, and to win in the playoffs, and I believe we had positioned ourselves -- definitely before the injury -- to make a run, of definitely taking the East. So for me, it was definitely a blow mentally, knowing I'm having to go to war without my quarterback and having to compete against the No. 1 seed in the East."
Scoop: "Like it's not meant to be."
Gooden: "But the other thing is the light goes on where we're going to have to come together, everybody is going to have to just do that much more, whether it's coaching or playing out on the court or cheering, so that we can try to replace at least a half of John Wall -- which is tough to do on its own. But if we can do that, then I feel we can still compete and continue to strive toward our goal, and that's winning the East."
Scoop: "Is it hard to actually do that? I mean, to sell yourself on that, to put that type of a spin on the situation? Or for players at this level, is that just automatic?"
Gooden: "It's easier said than done, I'll say that. I mean, what else can we do? There's nothing else you can do. If I could cut off my left hand and give it to [John], I'd do it, you know? Just so he could be out there. But it's tough, tough to say, but the way we played the first game without him [Game 2] and to only be down four points with two-and-a-half minutes to go on the road, that says a lot about our team."
Scoop: "Big-picture thinking: Have you learned to appreciate moments such as this as a professional athlete because you get to see the character of the team you are a part of?"
Gooden: "Yeah, but you have those experiences throughout the season. You know, we lost Bradley Beal for about a month and a half earlier this year. And we were kind of spoiled to have a John Wall night in, night out playing through minor injuries because he has a high pain threshold. I think with him we got spoiled, and we took that for granted. But it's the name of the game; people get hurt. No one is going to feel sorry for you. Your opponent ain't going to feel sorry for you. Michael Conley ain't played in two or three games from facial fractures; nobody is feeling sorry for the Memphis Grizzlies. Kevin Love's shoulder came out of place. He's out for the season and will probably never wear a Cavaliers uniform again; ain't nobody feeling sorry for the Cavaliers or Kevin Love. So from the outside looking at other team's individual situations, we have to look in the mirror and say, 'Hey, this is happening to us. Now what are we going to do?'"
Scoop: "Look man, I was having a conversation with one of my boys, and we were talking about how incredible it is to us how it seems that so many players in the League don't work on bettering their games in the offseason. Like, for 10 to 12 years, every year they are the same player. But the two current players we said impressed us the most -- because we could tell what they did in the offseason is paying off right now -- are Blake Griffin and you. We were both like, 'Where did Drew Gooden get a 3-point shot?'"
Gooden: [laughing] "Yep. Yep. From the old YMCA! Yeah, you're right: I've seen the development in Blake. What he's brought to the game and worked on and the strides he's taken from where he was the first two years is phenomenal. You can't leave him open for outside shots -- he's hitting that over half the time now. You can see the work he's put in. But with me, it came to a point where I got amnestied in Milwaukee, and I didn't play that whole season because of business-related situations, but that's when I really started having to work harder because I wasn't getting actual game-time minutes. My game [during that time] was individual workouts and putting the extra work in. I had to tell myself that if I'm going to continue to compete at a high level, the only thing I can do without getting hurt is play 5-on-5 and do individual stuff by myself and with my trainer. So it was repetitive. I was just throwing jump hooks up all day, on the blocks doing up and under, shooting free throws, doing pick-and-pops all day, then leave the gym.
"Then I found out, when I was a free agent, that the three teams at the time that were looking at me, they didn't see me as a true stretch 4. They saw me as a traditional power forward in this league. And that kind of opened my eyes. Because I know I'm a capable shooter, and I can extend my range, and I was a knockdown shooter from 17 feet. That was already on the scouting report. But the next step was, if this is the way the game is evolving and providing more space on the floor, which is making the rotations on defenses harder, this is a role I think I'm capable of working at and getting better at and being able to produce in game-time situations. So what I did is I spent countless hours, from that year in Milwaukee to when I was a free agent waiting for a call, I put in endless amounts of time in the gym just getting up countless shots. Man, I can't even tell you how many shots I was getting up. And I'm talking about makes -- not misses. I had to extend my range because I knew the last opportunity I got, which was last year here in Washington, I knew I was going to let the ball go if I was open from three. And the next step was, I had to make 'em. [laughing] Hey, it's one thing to take them, but are you making them? So I came in last year, and I hit about 41 percent of [3-pointers] last year, but I had a small pool. I really didn't have a lot to show the world that I'd become a true stretch 4, so this whole season, with me being one of the veteran leaders of this team, when my name was called, this is what I've been doing: shooting that 3, whether it's in practice or in games, trying to create floor space. And now, with people watching the playoffs, they are seeing me do that, and it's kind of a shock to them, but it's not a shock to my teammates and the coaching staff."
Scoop: "That's so you. I've given you the nickname because I've heard you say it so many times: 'I'm Going To Find Something.' The same way we are calling Tony Allen 'First-Team All-Defense,' we're going to call you 'I'm Going To Find Something' because that's what you do! You are always going to find something, some way to make it happen to stay in the game."
Gooden: "If it's a crack, I'm going to find it. If it's a leak, I'm going to find it. If there's daylight, I'm going to find it! But it's funny, Scoop, because I came in the league and got drafted as a small forward and started my first two months in the league as a small forward. Back then I was called a 'tweener.' It wasn't called a stretch 4 -- it was a tweener. I wasn't big enough to play in the post and rebound, yet I wasn't fast enough to guard smaller players [and didn't] have the skills to shoot and be a perimeter player from the outside. So I had committed myself to telling myself, 'Hey, I'm a power forward. I'm going to rebound. I'm going to do the dirty work, rough-nose defense, and if this is how I'm going to play 10-plus years in the NBA, so be it.' I had to take that route. I came in small, as a guy spacing the floor, shooting 3s, coming off pick-and-rolls. I had to develop into a traditional forward when I came in just so I could play 10 years in this league."
Scoop: "But the game changed."
Gooden: "Exactly! The game is changing. And my thing is: Are you going to be a dinosaur, or are you going to be a guy that gets with the advancements, with technology, what's up to date, and better yourself? And that was me having to extend my range and transforming myself into what these teams are looking for and what this team needs."