One look at Gordon's recent history explains everything. In high school he went from hero to pariah after decommitting from Illinois to sign with Indiana before his senior year.
Death threats flooded his MySpace page, and nasty letters were sent to his high school. It got so bad that his school, North Central High in Indianapolis, had to assign two security guards to him for all its games.
"It was crazy, man," he said. "One guy wrote me and he said he was going to wipe me out, like `You won't play your senior season.' Another one said, `I hate you, I wish you would kill yourself."'
He can laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny at the time.
"Mentally, it was tough. When you're that age, that's kind of serious stuff," he said. "You have to be tough-minded. But it was frustrating, because it was like a personal decision. It wasn't about basketball."
"All that stuff is just basketball," he said. "It's just all about the chemistry part. Just basically on the court. Because when good things happen on the court, that solves almost any problems. That's where it needs to start off at.
"But I think we're going to be fine. I like it here. I want to stay and help build the franchise. I like L.A., I like the fans. To be honest, I was kind of surprised by the fans when I got here. They really have good fans. I see the same people there every night. It's kind of like college."
Ramona Shelburne, Daily News
