During the early days of his NBA career, Ryan Gomes seemed to be quite the steal as a second-round draft pick. Now, after missing out on an entire season, he’s trying to find his way back into the league, hoping that he generates enough interest with the San Antonio Spurs & Oklahoma City Thunder through workouts he’s done for the team.
After a very poor 2011-2012 season for the Clippers (2.3 points per game on 13 minutes a night), Gomes found himself without an NBA job, and played his basketball for the Artland Dragons in Germany. He’s trying to get back, hoping to be on teams that just need a role-player void to be filled, which he will happily be willing to step in for.
Gomes is an undersized power forward, or at least he was during the first few seasons of his in the NBA, his more successful years playing for Boston and later Minnesota. But once the Timberwolves moved him to the Small Forward position, he began declining. He was still consistent with his outside shooting (usually around 37%), but his defense in both positions was disappointing, and for the Clippers, that last season meant no team was willing to look at him for the time being.
I was never a superstar kind of guy, I was more of fill-in guy, but I’ve always been consistent. My last year playing with Los Angeles wasn’t my best year, it was probably my worst in the NBA. So if I go to a team like [the Thunder or Spurs] I know what my roll is already. I’ll come in and try to fill any void they have there.
He did impress playing in the Greater Hartford Pro Am, but that is rarely an indicator for a player being able to find his way into the league. Gomes is simply hoping that he did well enough in the workouts to either interest the Thunder or Spurs, and by that generate a bit of buzz around the rest of the NBA.