Gooden coming back

Ever since our season ended in most disappointing fashion, I've been saying all along that the most important thing for the front office to do is to keep the team relatively the same and help the team chemistry grow. Well, Danny Ferry did just that, as PF Drew Gooden resigned for a deal worth $23 million over three years.

There had been rumors flying around that the team should try to work out some sort of sign and trade involving Gooden, or try to ship Z off somewhere else and let Anderson Varejao take the reigns down low. And quite frankly, I'm glad that neither happened. Wild Thing isn't quite ready to shoulder the load of a full-time center, although he is progressing. I am more pleased about keeping Gooden, though. It seemed like during our playoff run, when LeBron was struggling, Gooden was always there to pick up the team's slack, which was highlighted by an 11-12 shooting performance in Game 2 against Washington. I used to be one of Gooden's biggest critics, saying that he was a prima donna who often didn't try his hardest. Well, it looks like Gooden has changed for the better. Hopefully he just wasn't trying his hardest last season because it was his contract year.