B. Patrick
As a basketball fan, I have always had a love for the lesser known, obscure and/or underappreciated. At school, when most kids were wearing Penny Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal or Michael Jordan jerseys, I was wearing Bobby Hurley, Derek Harper and Dino Radja.
This is my open tribute to the lesser known players in today’s game. This is Spotted on the Pine.
ANDREW GOUDELOCK
Name: Andrew Goudelock
Team: Free Agent
Jersey Number: 0
Rookie Year: 2011-12
Drafted: 2011 – 2nd round, 46th overall
College: College of Charleston
Twitter: N/A
For many years, the most awesome thing about College of Charleston basketball was that their head coach’s name was John Kresse. You have to appreciate a coach who has a name closely mirroring the Sensei of Cobra Kai.
The perception of the greatest thing to come from the College of Charleston Cougar Basketball program can all change very soon by the looks of the 2013 Vegas Summer League. Some fans may remember Goudelock playing with the Lakers. I had considered writing about Goudelock after his stint in the D-League this summer but started focusing more on players that have Twitter accounts. So far, only the great Mike Scott has acknowledged me for his article (http://culturecrossfire.com/sports/basketball/spotted-on-the-pine-mike-scott/#.Uedu9nbn_IU)
The way Goudelock is playing in Vegas, I had no choice but to forgo my preferred choice of selecting a Twitter friendly player. But I may not be the only one forced to recognize Goudelock. Many more fans may become familiar with him soon.
And this wouldn’t be Spotted on the Pine if we didn’t tell you how he got there.
A native of Stone Mountain, Georgia, Andrew was named the Georgia 4A High School Player of the Year before heading to the College of Charleston to start his collegiate basketball career in the fall of 2007.
In the Cougars thirty-three games, the Freshman Goudelock would appear in every game with eighteen starts. Goudelock impressed out the gates, earning All SoCon (Souther Conference) Second Team honors. Goudelock had impressive scoring performances, besting his career best game by game against teams like Chattanooga, Appalachian State and UNC Wilmington. More impressively, the 27-point performance Goudelock had for CofC against UNC-W marked the most points by a College of Charleston freshman since 1993. Goudelock was most likely freshly participating in kindergarten when the game took place.
The sophomore campaign kept Goudelock going strong, as he started thirty-five of the thirty-six games played by the Cougars. En route to becoming All SoCon First Team, Goudelock would reach the 1,036 point mark, becoming only the third player in College of Charleston history to score 1,000 points in merely two seasons. 22 of those points would be in a battle with Stephen Curry’s popular Davidson squad.
Junior year led to Goudelock starting in every game and subsequently, becoming 37th in the nation in scoring with his 19.4 PPG scoring average. By season’s end, Goudelock became the school’s all-time scoring leader since it entered Division I with a total of 1,694 career points and was a unanimous selection for All-Conference First Team honors.
Stone Mountain’s own capped off his amazing SoCon career being named the Conference Player of the Year, averaged 23.7 PPG (fourth in all of NCAA Division I) and bringing the Cougars to the NIT Quarterfinals.
Goudelock’s hard work would not go unnoticed, as he would earned All-American Honorable Mention status and would be eyed by professional scouts entering the 2011 NBA Draft.
Not taken to the second round, Goudelock ended up in a positive landing spot being drafted by the always competitive Los Angeles Lakers. With the NBA lockout looming, Goudelock was also drafted by another popular basketball franchise: The Harlem Globetrotters.
Yes, the Globetrotters thought it would be cute to do their own draft and select people. Gouldelock was one of the many basketball prospects drafted by the Globetrotters in 2011 along with the selection of soccer star Lionel Messi. I think after little interest from the people selected, they’ve gotten a little more gimmicky. 2013’s draft selections included Brittany Griner and Mariano Rivera.
Joining the Lakers, he would be sent to the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League early, before getting quickly recalled. An injury to Steve Blake would not only bring Goudelock to the roster of the legendary Los Angeles club but he would be thrust into the role of backup point guard, playing nearly 20 minutes a game behind Derek Fischer.
Goudelock would play steadily in his appearances – get twenty minutes, score 14 on 6 for 10 shooting. Get ten minutes, score 10 on 4 for 6 shooting. Despite this, the Lakers decided to shift around point guards. The Lakers would let Derek Fischer go but Andrew’s minutes would decrease when Los Angeles added veteran Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake returned from injury.
Goudelock would see his release from the Lakers shortly before the start of the 2012-13 season. While he got cut right at the start of the season, if he stuck around a little longer, he would have had to play for the guy on the Pringles can Mike D’Antoni. Dodged the bullet of being on the roster of a coach who doesn’t use his bench at all, right?
While it wasn’t an NBA opportunity, it didn’t take long for someone to swoop in for Goudelock. On November 2nd, 2012, Goudelock was the 2nd overall pick in the 2012 D-League draft, being selected by the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Glamorous Sioux Falls, South Dakota really mirrors the atmosphere of their NBA affiliate, Miami.
Playing at a high level for the Skyforce, Goudelock spent much of the D-League season being viewed as one of the top potential call-ups. His play was so dominant, it caught the eye of the rest of the D-League and Houston Rockets D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, initiated a trade to acquire Andrew.
Andrew was selected to the D-League All-Star game in February but miss the game due to injury. His replacement, Travis Leslie, would win the game’s MVP honors.
As Goudelock return, he continued to dominate and would lead the Vipers to the D-League championship, while also be named the MVP of the 2012-13 D-League season.
With the D-League season over and an injury to future Hall of Famer, Kobe Bryant, the Lakers gave Andrew a call. One game in and D’Antoni’s standard was clear: once you pop you can’t stop Goudelock didn’t come off the bench.
He’d get six minutes in the regular season finale against the Rockets before the Lakers made their way to San Antonio to meet the Spurs in the playoffs.
Andrew wouldn’t play in game one, get six minutes in game two but become an important piece of the roster for Game 3. With the 2013 Lakers plagued with injuries, Andrew, who only played one regular season NBA game in the 2012-13 season, would start Game 3 for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Not only would he start, he would play 40 minutes due to the lack of available players. Goudelock scored 20 points on 8 for 17 shooting but the Lakers would get blown out by the Spurs in the worse home playoff loss in Lakers franchise history. Goudelock would start and play heavy minutes for the Lakers in Game 4, but the depleted squad would lose the game and be swept by San Antonio.
Without a team entering the offseason again, Goudelock was added to the Vegas Summer League Squad for the Chicago Bulls.
And he has been unstoppable on offense.
After dropping 26 on a solid Memphis Grizzlies squad, Goudelock had a 31-point performance against the Denver Nuggets team, eliciting the crowd at the UNLV basketball complex to erupt in MVP chants.
Through the first three games for the Chicago summer league squad, Andrew has averaged a Summer League best 22.7 points on 56.1 percent shooting. The Bulls are undefeated.
Someone out there is watching and part of the excitement surrounding the NBA Summer League will be followed up on soon, when we see who acquires the services of talent like Andrew Goudelock for the 2013-14 season.
