The rise and fall of BG7

[vvgotgame19]

While he was here here on the court, offensively he was option número uno. He had free reign to do his thing because we needed him to. Wasn't the case so much after he left. Before the season started I remember hearing him say something along the lines that his jumper is still wet, and I don't doubt it for a second. This is why part of me still thinks in the right situation as 6th man offensive spark plug he could thrive. Don't think It could be here seeing how it's highly unlikely he would be a Thibs guy.

[InsideInfo]

I actually knew Ben Gordon pretty well while he was in Chicago and shortly there after in Det.

My personal opinion is that he was convinced in his own head early on that he was a star in this league. Mentally, I think that when he didn't get the money that he wanted, the starting role that he wanted.... I think it deflated him. Being on a crappy Pistons team didn't do much to help motivate him as well.

[transplant]

He had a crappy and selfish attitude that finally caught up to him once he went to a situation where he thought he'd be the man, and wasn't. When that happened in Detroit, and then continued to happen in Charlotte, he just kind of gave up.

You're not wrong. Still, it's good to finally have some Ben Gordon discussion here.

Really? I hadn't noticed that the Gordon discussion had actually stopped.

Anyway, Gordon clearly is gifted, but he also faced the challenge of an undersized SG and didn't seem to develop his ballhandling at all.

[t-time]

The most cold blooded, clutch guy we have had since the dynasty years. Remember that season we started 0-9 and then made the playoffs, when the game was tight you knew we would win cause BG7 would go nuts in the final few minutes.

Favourite memory was when he lost the plot against the Bobcats, scored like 32 pts in 20 minutes or something including clutch bomb after bomb in the fourth.

He was terrific for us, one of my favourite players.

[DRoseCantStop]

Would love to have him back

[AirP.]

Ben Gordon was the type of player that if you didn't utilize him as a top option he really didn't help you on the floor other then being a decoy which he didn't want to do. He was an explosive scorer from the outside but he was a short shooting guard and with that he was a defensive problem at SG.

But...

Detroit threw money at him and more then likely said he'd be a starter which he was, up till he injured his ankle Nov 25th 2009 he was a starter getting 36 minutes a night and putting up 19.8 pts 3.3 asts and 2.3 reb on 44% FG% and 37% 3pt%. Ok numbers but a little low on the 3pt% and Detroit was 5-10, after injuring his ankle he was moved to the bench and never was the same, mostly because of the ankle but you have to think his "star" mentality really didn't mesh well with the rest of the team.

That 1st and 2nd year in Detroit they had 3 guards all fighting for minutes, Gordon, R.Hamilton and young newcomer Stuckey. Gordon's 3rd year Detroit drafted Brandon Knight 8th overall and it signaled the end of Gordon in Detroit, Gordon started till they felt Knight was ready and from that point on Gordon was only a spot starter when Stuckey was out.

I'm sure the ankle was the biggest problem for Gordon but not becoming the franchise player probably ate away at him and made him a bad teammate because he wasn't starting, they tired of him so much they sent him and a 1st round pick for Corey "he's not B.Gordon" Maggette. He "might" have more talent then the players that played in front of him but because of the direction the franchises were taken he was pushed to the side and he took offense to that after having so many great years in Chicago.

He's got the type of skillset that could help a team but I don't know if he can allow himself to just help a team. I just wonder if Orlando signed him for more then they had to because they felt they needed a bigger salary to package with all their cheap contracts.

[musiqsoulchild]

I actually knew Ben Gordon pretty well while he was in Chicago and shortly there after in Det.

My personal opinion is that he was convinced in his own head early on that he was a star in this league. Mentally, I think that when he didn't get the money that he wanted, the starting role that he wanted.... I think it deflated him. Being on a crappy Pistons team didn't do much to help motivate him as well.

Thank you for your insight. Really appreciate it and helps with understanding the situation better.

[HomoSapien]

Say what you will about Gordon's professionalism, but he was one of the few Pistons who didn't revolt against the coach.

[sco]

I used to believe that BG was more talented than I do now. He was great with the Bulls; putting up impressive numbers on offense and improving to "average" on defense from being bad. Since then, I've seen a number of guys do exactly the same thing with the Bulls. Korver, Robinson, Belinelli, Watson, Augustine were all deemed mediocre talent guys or guys who had fallen-off. They came here and got a chance with an otherwise offensively challenged Bulls team and shined offensively, while picking-up the club's defensive mindset. I think the catalyst for all of those guys was that the Bulls teams that they played for were comprised of non-star talent and they won through team effort (Rose wasn't really part of the team for those stretches). This isn't so much to say that BG wasn't good, but maybe that the league is full of guys of similar skill.

[Mr. Tibbs]

The reunion is coming...so pumped!

[jl342323]

he didnt have enough spacing to get 27 ppg.

[barcodekiller]

One of my all time favorite Bulls. I remember the Ben Jordan days

[LCMJ]

he could easily have the same numbers he did in chicago, he is just no longer the player the team runs the offense through

[Alswank87]

He was a great shooter but never developed any other part of his game, even dribbling. On the Bulls he was our primary scorer and was able to control the tempo of the offense to suit him, take his time, and shoot in the situations he preferred and really didn't get $.02 about anyone else on the offense. It was ideal for him.

But Ben's game wasn't going to appeal to a lot of other teams. He shot a lot long 2s...A LOT of them. He couldn't finish anywhere near the rim so if the defender played him tight to deny the 3 he took a dribble in and shot a long 2.

Before Rose got here when he was our main offensive player the Bulls were always a poor offense. 21st, 23rd, 26th in the league. Defenders denied him the 3, he couldn't dribble or finish to the rim, therefore didn't draw fouls, and mainly shot long 2s as the bulk of his attempts. In 07 he shot 46% at the rim...that's crazy, that's worse than Rubio.

I think ultimately he was extremely good at the worst shot in basketball, and when he got to Detroit with a ton of other guard options in Stuckey who could drive, Rip who could shoot anywhere, and even Bynum who could pass...he just didn't get the rock. And he seemed to stop caring after that.

Bingo! This hit the nail on the head.

For every spectacular shot BG made, he dribbled off his foot into a turnover, made a terrible pass, and threw up a junky shot that had no chance of going in. The definitive moment that I remember giving up on Gordon was when we played the pistons in the playoffs, and the Piston offense revolved around posting up whoever BG was guarding. The guy was a spectacular jump shooter that scored in volume, but that was it. He couldn't play off anyone, he couldn't create for anyone else, he couldn't defend anyone (Kirk sort of negated that since he was a spectacular defender), and he was a ball stopper. I was surprised so many people liked him when he was here. He would have a great game probably once every three or four games, but then he would also have 1 or 2 absolutely terrible games that made me want to rip my hair out almost every time he touched the ball. As he has moved on, he has proven that he can't really play off of the bench as a role player either. I thought he could go back to being a sixth man again, but now I am even doubting that. If he came here, I don't even think thibs would play him. He's the most one dimensional player I have ever seen in the NBA, and his one strength doesn't match up with his height. If he were 6'6, I think he could've been a very good player, but he's barely 6'0.