Lakers News: Longtime LeBron James Teammate Parallels King's Play With '90s Hall Of Famer

As Los Angeles Lakers All-Star small forward LeBron James gears up for his 21st overall NBA season, and his sixth with LA, he has answered every single question pundits have had about just how high he could climb among the league's all-time greats. His place in the history of the game is secure.

Drew Gooden was an early witness to James' excellence. The 6'10" power forward, an El Cerrito native, was selected with the fourth overall pick out of Kansas in 2002 by the Memphis Grizzlies, and split his first two seasons between the Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic. He was flipped again to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004, along with fellow big men Anderson Varejão, and Steven Hunter, ahead of James' second NBA season.

Gooden recently appeared on YouTube’s Scoop B Selects with host Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson to talk about his cumulative career, including his eventful Cavs tenure. Here's their full conversation.

Most interestingly for Lakers fans, Gooden spoke about the four years he spent alongside James on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2004–2008, including an appearance in the 2007 NBA Finals.

Gooden and a 22-year-old James weren't enough for a finely tuned San Antonio Spurs club led by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili at pretty much their athletic apexes. Cleveland was swept.

"With San Antonio you were going to get that grind-out, halfcourt, 80-90 point ball game (maybe even less than that) during that time," Gooden noted. "I think San Antonio kind of had our hand because our entire playbook offensively and defensively with the principles all came from [Spurs head coach Gregg] Popovich because we had Coach Mike Brown who just left San Antonio as a head coach. A lot of people don’t know that. So, they had our hand on that one."

Fascinatingly, Gooden made a player comp between James and his one-time Orlando Magic teammate Grant Hill, a big, hyper-athletic seven-time All-Star combo forward before a series of injuries converted him into a still-useful role player.

"I just think that it’s the versatility and the basketball IQ," Gooden said in citing their big similarities. "Now from a power and athletic standpoint, I mean… LeBron James is head and shoulders above Grant Hill, right? But there was a point in time where Grant Hill was SUPER athletic too. He was sneaky bouncy and he’ll catch a body, you know? But Grant Hill was just a guy that when Magic Johnson retired, there looking for that, Who’s going to be that next triple-double dude?... and Grant Hill fit that mold and LeBron James came in right after."

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