Skin wrote:As a hopeful AG at SF proponent through the years, I know where the OP is coming from. There has always been criticism of his play at SF.
For me, I always thought his best chance at becoming a star was making it at the SF position. Because of his athletic body type, lateral quickness and explosiveness, I envisioned him being able to defend the NBA SFs better than NBA PFs, right from the get go. The hope was that over time, if his offensive game grew then that would trigger his ascension to stardom.
Here's the problem... AG was always a dunker and playing close to the basket was a more successful part of his game. He had those skills right out of the box as he came into the league. So naturally, he would always have more success if he was put into position close to the basket. Fans saw where his immediate success was coming from and where quick to say, "Look he's way better as a PF!" ...and that's why the "AG is a PF" argument was always more popular than "AG is a SF".
But becoming a star at PF required much more than being a dunker. You have to defend... and I always saw the task of defending PFs for Gordon being very difficult. He doesn't have the length or thickness to be a post defender or rim protector. I'd rather take the wait-and-see approach for Gordon's offensive game to grow at SF, than take the wait-and-see appproach for his defensive game to grow at PF. Because of the body limitations, I just couldn't see him becoming a star at PF.
Vogel had great intensions of making this happen, but he never had the patience to execute it correctly. AG was never going to turn into Paul George-lite in one night... it was never going to happen in one season... so when it looked like it wasn't working, he pulled the plug and then everyone called the "AG to SF experiment" a big fat failure. After that, 99% of the forum took the stance of not wanting to see that happen again.
At that time, this forum was pretty joyous about his removal from SF. It sucked for me because I felt like I had to concede that maybe AG will never have the chance to become a star. Maybe all those guys who I had those fun debates with were right about him not being able to play SF. Maybe the best I can hope for is for him to be a good small ball PF... which in my mind was a part time role player.
But then, we drafted Isaac... and I thought, maybe there is hope! AG could switch with Isaac... AG at PF on offense and SF on defense and vice versa with Isaac. That brought renewed hope that maybe the Magic can develop a star out of AG afterall! Getting Isaac was a huge happy moment. ...which lasted about a minute. Isaac ended up battling injuries his whole rookie season and we could never see what the 2 of them would look like on the court... much less switching on the court. ...which was a whole concept that still needed to be more than just my imagination... Vogel would actually have to put it in place.
But then another thing happened! AG's shots started to fall like never before! His offensive game was hitting a huge growth curve and his star potential started to reblossom. While his numbers started to regress to the mean by the end of the season, there was still enough shown that he could be more trusted of playing on the perimeter with his improved shooting percentages. Still, not quite there with his handle, but I thought, "Hey, AG as a 3-D SF!" could be his calling! He could be one of the best 3 and D SFs in the game if he could keep his 3P% above 35%. In that role, he would probably never become a superstar (those hopes long gone), but he could still be a star! I've debated AG as a 3-D SF and that talk never got good traction in forum talks.
But yeah, now with baldy as our HC and the talk of AG at SF on defense and PF on offense, switching with Isaac... that talk reminds me of the Jonathan Isaac draft threads where we used to discuss it a lot and that has me excited for this season. I'm ready! I'm ready for AG to make his first All-Star game!
Yes. Love the optimism, but AG played more than half a season at SF and showed no flashes of capability playing at that position. If he had the skills or ability to be a SF, you can already see a fit at that role in a span of a few games.
defensively, he is good at the perimeter. But at offense the only way he can succeed is if he is more of a 3 and D. Even his shot percentages last year proved he is a more capable catch and shoot player, and cutter iso ball. I dont recall you saying he would fit more as a 3andD, I remember getting a lot of flak when I mentioned that he was a more athletic Ariza. Lol
Now that he is back playing PF, we rarely even see him being able to blowby past opposing PFs, what more SF who are quicker and better perimeter defenders?