With the fourth pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, the Memphis Grizzlies select <u>Drew Gooden</u>. Does anyone remember hearing those words? I do. I also remember feeling my heart sink. I thought to myself, "Why not Caron Butler? Why not Dajuan Wagner? Why not Amare Stoudamire?". As it turns out, I was one of very few who thought that drafting Drew Gooden was a mistake. After Gooden was drafted he was immediately placed in promos and on team merchandise that was to be sold all around the city of Memphis. The Grizzlie fans loved him even though he never quite fit in with the team. Fortunately, Jerry West was not so head over heels in love with Gooden and he traded him along with Gordan Giricek for Mike Miller and Ryan Humphrey. It was disappointing that the Grizzlies traded Giricek despite the surplus of Shooting Guards. However, most intelligent fans were glad to get rid of Gooden for a proven talent. All of this is fine and all, but you have to ask yourself, "What if?". What if the Memphis Grizzlies drafted Caron Butler instead? Let's explore this possibility. With the Fourth pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, the Memphis Grizzlies select... <u>Caron Butler.</u> If those words were spoken then I think the Memphis Grizzlies would be a lot better off than they are today. First of all, they most likely would have won a little more games than usual. Second of all, the Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones for Marcus Banks and Kendrick Perkins trade would have never happened because the Grizzlies would have never had the twenty-seventh pick which they received in real life from the Orlando Magic in the famous Drew Gooden trade. They would also still have Gordan Giricek on their roster. This is what they?d look like heading into the 2003-2004 season if they had drafted Caron Butler. C - Lorenzen Wright/Stromile Swift/Jake Tsakalidas PF - Pau Gasol/Ryan Humphrey/Theron Smith SF - Caron Butler/Shane Battier/Gordan Giricek SG - James Posey/Wesley Person/(Michael Dickerson) PG - Jason Williams/Earl Watson That?s a better lineup than their current one and then when you add the rookie they drafted in the 2003 NBA Draft (most likely Collison, Banks, or West) you have a lineup worthy of strong playoff consideration. Let?s compare Butler and Giricek now with Humphrey and Miller statistically. Player Name - PPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG Caron Butler ---15.4 .416 .138 .824 5.10 2.70 1.76 0.40 Gordan Giricek -12.3 .436 .341 .820 3.10 1.80 0.68 0.11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Combined Stats -27.7 .426 .239 .822 8.20 4.50 2.44 0.51 Player Name - PPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG Mike Miller------- 15.6 33.6 .407 .711 5.20 2.60 0.65 0.32 Ryan Humphrey - 1.90 29.2 null .590 2.10 0.20 0.19 0.38 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Combined Stats - 16.6 31.4 .407 .650 7.30 2.80 0.84 0.70 This shall be an interesting topic to debate. I was planning on expanding it to cover more than just Butler, but I never had the time.
Truth be told, I thought there were going after Butler or Wagner myself. When they drafted Gooden and had Jerry West in office I really thought they had shot at the playoffs.
If the Grizz took Butler they wouldn't have signed Posey. Battier had a good rookie season too so that is probably why they didn't draft Butler.
Drew was a great pick, but Jerry West did not give him time to develop at small forward. The Grizzlies are stacked at the shooting guard and small forward positions.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Raindrops:</div><div class="quote_post">What if...? What if...? All of these what if...? scenarios. S%#t happens.</div>If that's all you are bringing to this conversation then why bother even responding. I hope you don't mind me trying to stirr up conversation. You can't talk about what actually happened 24/7. Every now and then you need to step out of the box and ask the questions like, "What if?".
