Cavaliers take the Gooden with the bad

Drew Gooden has been solid on the court, but he tests the coach's patience.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Drew Gooden has been both versatile and vexing in his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a handful to defend and sometimes a handful to coach.
But as the NBA season reaches the end of its first quarter, Gooden's relationship with the team is starting to stabilize.
Brought in to offset the loss of Carlos Boozer, Gooden has been solid, at times spectacular. With his third team in his third pro season, he's also prone to mental lapses and occasionally shows a lack of motivation.
The 23-year-old angered the coaching staff last week when he sat soaking in the whirlpool rather than come out of the locker room early to warm up before playing New Jersey. But he was one of the first players out on the floor to warm up the next night in Chicago.
Sometimes Gooden starts off well when he makes his first shot. Sometimes he forgets to defend anything. Sometimes he grabs every rebound in sight and can't miss.
Lately, Gooden has been delivering, and all involved are working to sustain it.
Help from the bench
Keeping Gooden focused and motivated can be a full-time job. Cavaliers coach Paul Silas and his assistants are always on guard, pumping Gooden up when he needs it, correcting him when he makes a mistake, guiding him when he doesn't know where to be.
"It is important for us to keep Drew feeling good, keep his emotions up, because he's very important to what we do," Silas said. "So every now and then he makes a mistake, well, everybody makes mistakes. We need him to keep playing."
Gooden and LeBron James have been building chemistry for the Cavaliers, who enter Wednesday night's game against Portland at 13-8 -- a year ago they were 5-16 after 21 games.
"It's been developing," Gooden said after practice Tuesday. "It's getting better with every game, and I think it's going to get a lot better the more we play together."
Gooden, the fourth overall pick by Memphis in the 2002 NBA Draft, was traded to Cleveland from Orlando in July.
Gooden is averaging 13.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. But those averages can be deceiving because Gooden rarely hits them; often he's way over or way below.
In Monday's win against Memphis, Gooden had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Two nights earlier he had a 28-point, nine-rebound effort against San Antonio.
"After all these weeks, I'm really learning how to trust my teammates and read them," Gooden said. "There's a lot of things I plan on doing this season, and I'm really just getting started."