The father knew. His son came into this world 21 inches long and weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces. Doctors predicted Drew Gooden would grow to almost 7 feet tall.
It was easy for Dad to dream about his son’s future and disregard conventional thinking. Come on, now: How many 6-10 lawyers do you know?
Andrew Gooden stuck a basketball net on his son’s crib.
“I figured he could at least look at it,” the father said.
By the time he turned 6, Drew was shooting a jumper with perfect form. Andrew lowered the goal and let Drew dunk for a while. Then one day he raised it to 10 feet, and never allowed Drew to lower it.
“You’ve got to shoot it in there,” Andrew commanded.
So Drew shot and shot, and shot and shot, until the ball fell through with regularity. It was a frustrating voyage, but it worked out — and quicker than he imagined.
If his NBA career follows a similar path, with the same dedication and confidence that success is predetermined, then Drew Gooden will become the spectacular post presence that the Orlando Magic crave.
The Magic traded for Gooden last Wednesday, handing over promising forward Mike Miller to Memphis, with the hopes that Gooden can become great and help lift this franchise from mediocrity.
His NBA career, not even a season old, has begun with the same surprise and challenge as the day Andrew raised the basket. Shots have fallen short. Heads have shaken. Gooden has huffed and harrumphed.
Gooden, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2002 draft, was traded 51 games into his rookie season. He has already been through three coaches. One was fired [Sidney Lowe], and one was tough to relate to [Hubie Brown]. Now, there is Magic Coach Doc Rivers, feeling out Gooden, loving his flair.
“He plays hard as hell,” Rivers said. “He plays with a lot of passion. And he acts like he’s a star.”
Gooden earned that trait from his dad.
Andrew knew his son would be a star. There was never a doubt. He knew because he tried and couldn’t do it. Andrew could correct his mistakes and move on through his son.
“I’m a pro now,” Andrew said, “but I just can’t get a contract.”
Drew has one. And he’s going to make it.
No question.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE PLAYER
Drew looked at his new jersey. He’s No. 9 now. He has always liked to wear No. 0 because, as he said, “I came up from nothing.”
“I kind of like nine, though,” he said. “It looks like a sloppy zero.”
Fifty minutes before his Magic debut Friday night, he slipped on a knee brace. He didn’t know he was about to score 22 points and grab 11 rebounds to give a glimpse of hope. He was just trying to get his uniform together.
Gooden opted to pull his white socks up to his knees. He asked for a blue headband and slapped that on crooked, with the left side of it hanging on his ear. His jersey and shorts were so baggy you figured he might disappear into them once he started running.
He is 6-10 and 238 pounds, a portion of which is a little goofy. He can trick you that way. His offensive game is quirky, full of fallaway jumpers and reverse layups. His work on the boards is fierce, and his demeanor goes from laid-back to hyped to borderline cocky.
“He might be a little frightened at first, but I can reassure you, he’ll get grounded,” Andrew said. “You guys will see me, and say, ‘Aw, he’s such a good kid.’ And I’ll tell you, ‘I told you so.’
“This guy’s a square.”
The product of a multicultural and non-traditional family, he’s a little bit of everything, really. He plays piano, writes songs and raps.
Andrew is black. Ulla Lear, Drew’s mother, is from Finland. Although the two divorced 15 years ago, they both remarried and get along with no problems. After the divorce, the father took custody because Ulla Lear was still getting accustomed to the United States. Drew was 6, and Mom visited whenever she liked.
Drew did not understand how his parents could be so amicable yet so apart. And Andrew was struggling, while growing up in an Oakland, Calif., studio apartment. Because drugs and crime ran rampant in the neighborhood, Andrew made his son stay in the house as much as possible.
“I was happy,” Drew said. “Always, I was happy. But it was tough.”
Andrew had trouble rebounding from the divorce with Ulla Lear. They had met in Finland while he was playing basketball, but his post-hoops life was filled with janitorial and construction work, and empty promises. Finally, the wife had had enough.
“When a man loses his wife, emotionally it kills him,” Andrew said. “I thought once you married, it’s forever. I didn’t feel like working, like living. I wanted to die. I lost a beautiful woman. I didn’t know how I lost her.”
Andrew, 51, did not succeed enough in basketball because, for so long, he struggled academically.
Drew would not be like that.
No way.
LEARNING TO FLY
After his first week in college, Drew called home.
“Dad, I’m out here, and I don’t know how to catch the bus or anything,” he said.
His father laughed. His son could finally learn these things, now that he was away from the streets of Oakland, now that he was safely in the basketball haven of the University of Kansas.
Andrew knew Roy Williams, the Kansas coach, would do right by his son, even if the father would have taught him differently. Andrew had this big idea that, as a result of Magic Johnson’s influence, big men who could handle the basketball would revolutionize the game.
Andrew, a 6-5 guard, pictured 7-footers at every position. He trained Drew to be a shooting guard.
When he told Williams this, the coach laughed and put Drew in the post.
Two years later, Drew turned into one of the best players in college basketball. Scouts predicted success if he came out after his sophomore year. Everyone predicted Drew would do so.
But he stayed in school for his junior year.
He’s different, remember? He never quite does what you think. He is African-American and Finnish and carries both heritages with honor. He has a mother, father, stepmother and stepfather. Ulla Lear married a wealthier guy the second time, and when he visited, it was a different life.
“I had it both ways,” Drew said. “I could see just about every part of life in one weekend.”
During his junior year at Kansas, Gooden was arguably the best player in college basketball. Duke guard Jason Williams won national player of the year honors, but Gooden’s talent was undeniable. He led the Jayhawks to the Final Four and then turned pro.
The rest is a blur.
“I thought everything was rolling in Memphis,” Drew said. “I don’t really recall what happened. It got tougher down the line.”
The Grizzlies played him at small forward too much. Then, he made a mistake. He refused to join a team huddle because he was upset Brown had benched him. The next day he apologized, but people first started wondering if — instead of when — Gooden could become special.
Now, though, he has a second chance. In Orlando, he will have the space to become a great power forward. The Magic have put so much into this. It cannot backfire.
It won’t. Daddy said so. Drew has come too far. Andrew has come too far.
“They’re in big trouble, the NBA,” Andrew said. “Tell everybody that’s from Drew Gooden’s dad. Father knows best, right?”
