« Reply #431 on: March 07, 2014, 10:12:59 AM »
Eric Gordon isn't a good player; he's basically the rich man's Nate Robinson. He is shooting uncharacteristically great from the 3 and still isn't very efficient offensively, and his being on the court transforms the Pelicans from a top-10 defense to by far the Association's worst. In addition, he is a constant injury risk. I don't think that Kobe will ever be the same again, and he might not even be an average player anymore, but I'd be surprised if he returns as a worse player the Gordon. In my opinion, the Eric Gordon of old is as much a thing of the past as the Kobe Bryant of yore.
Eric Gordon's career TS% is 56.2%. Paul Pierce for his career is 56.8%. Nate Robinson is 53.6% for his career. Gordon was less efficient the last two years with the injury and struggled a bit early this year, but he is getting back to his pre-injury form (it takes awhile when you are injured), which is nothing like what you are describing. Defensively he is still a bit slower than he was and he was never great defensively, but your assessment of his overall game clearly does not match reality.
I was probably too harsh on him offensively, since he is still recovering, as you say, and he is a decent offensive player right now, but he was a terrible defender even pre-injury, the kind that can't easily be masked. I think that he'd be a great bench player, and I should have said that originally. Perhaps his overall game would be better with better non-Davis teammates. He's not a lose-now pick-up, by any means, I just don't think that he's great. I really should have said "isn't a good starter", not "isn't a good player." I stand by the fact that I think that he's a bad starter, however.
Fair enough. The way I looked at the trade for Gordon, was that I would have taken Parsons (who nick actually selected), who is a worse shooter and is actually older than Gordon. I also got to move up about 15 spots in the 7th round, which I think has some decent value. I also realized there were plenty of similar SF's to Parsons out there (granted a few of them went later yesterday), but not very many good SG's so I saw it as value all around. I get the younger player, the much better shooter and ball handler, at a much less deep position, and I get to move up in the depth building rounds (and it isn't like Parsons is a good defender either). Seemed like an easy trade to make for me.
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2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick
Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
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