After playing phone tag with Roy Williams after the NBA draft Wednesday night, Drew Gooden finally hooked up with his Kansas University basketball coach on Thursday morning.
Gooden, who was chosen fourth overall by Memphis, wanted to clarify to Williams a comment he made to reporters in New York. It was a comment that made it seem like the 6-foot-10 former KU forward didn’t like living in Kansas the past three school years.
“It’s the only thing Drew wanted to talk about the first five minutes of our conversation,” Williams said. “He was upset, disappointed with the way his comment came out. I couldn’t even get a word in to tell him about the reception he received from our campers. Drew just wanted to talk about how he didn’t intend to say anything bad about Kansas.”
The young players who attended Williams’ basketball camp on Wednesday gave Gooden a standing ovation after watching the draft on television at Horejsi Center.
Gooden, who admittedly was in a daze after being drafted and made an instant millionaire Wednesday night, was asked by a reporter if he could adjust to living in Memphis.
“I lived in Kansas,” Gooden said. “And that’s probably the worst it can get. But Memphis probably isn’t that bad.”
Gooden later told Journal-World sports editor Chuck Woodling: “I didn’t mean it that way. I meant it as far as being out in the middle of nowhere. It’s not bad.”
Or as Gooden told Williams on Thursday: “He said, ‘Coach, in my mind I was asked about making an adjustment to living in Memphis being from California and I was saying it’s not a very difficult adjustment at all. I said the ‘worst’ adjustment I made and I should have said the ‘hardest’ adjustment was moving from the Oakland Bay Area to Lawrence, Kansas, as a 17-year-old. That was a far tougher adjustment than now.'”
Williams said he had no problems with Gooden’s statement on draft night.
“In Drew’s mind needless to say he was pretty doggone fired up,” Williams said of the joy of being drafted. “He said he was not paying as close attention as he should of to questions. Shoot, I know how much he likes Kansas.”
Earlier this week, Gooden praised Kansas in an interview on the Jim Rome national radio show.
“Jim Rome said, ‘Drew if coach Williams told you you could come back one more year and be coach (of team), would you come back?’ Drew said, ‘No, but if coach would pay me $3 million a year like the NBA I’d still be in Kansas.’ That’s how much he likes Kansas. The difference is you get paid in the NBA,” Williams said.
Gooden was in Memphis on Thursday to meet the team’s owner and coaches and the local media.
“I also visited with their coach, Sidney Lowe, today about Drew,” said Williams, who believes Gooden can play both power forward and small forward.
“They will figure a way to get Drew on the court with (Shane) Battier and (Pau) Gasol,” Williams said of fellow big men. “Jerry West (president basketball operations) has been executive of the year three, four, five times. I have a great deal of confidence in what he’s doing.”
Assistant sports editor Gary Bedore can be reached at 832-7186.
