Derrick White vs. Aaron Gordon

[Godymas]

Who’s the best glue guy right now in the NBA.

Who would you rather have as a third option

I’m going with Aaron Gordon, I think the raw athletic ability, the defense, the size, and his improved shooting make him a bit better overall.

[hugepatsfan]

I think 3&D PF is a really tough archetype to find without a significant trade off in some way, but also not sure I really buy Gordon's 3 point shooting. He had a massive outlier season percentage wise on pretty low volume. White's track record is long enough to say he's a legit plus shooter on high volume now and just naturally as a guard he brings more ball handling playmaking. And like 3&D PF is tough archetype to find, so is switchable point guard on defense that can shoot/handle/playmake.

I think it's close enough that ultimately who an actual team would prefer comes down to team need, but just starting a team from scratch I think it's White and not by a huge margin but also not really in question either. But I'm obviously biased as a BOS fan.

Bakc in the day though, I will say my dream Celtics lineup was always Smart/Brown/Tatum/Gordon/Myles Turner. Always wanted them to swing deals for that. So I do like Gordon.

[Doctor MJ]

Who’s the best glue guy right now in the NBA.

Who would you rather have as a third option

I’m going with Aaron Gordon, I think the raw athletic ability, the defense, the size, and his improved shooting make him a bit better overall.

I'd rather have White for most teams, but Gordon for Denver.

The thing about White is he's no mere "3rd option", but arguably the Celtics best facilitator from the perimeter. The fact that Brown is on the team and largely has carte blanche to chuck doesn't mean he's someone a team should want over White.

Gordon on the other hand really needs to be an offensive role player, and his killer edge for the Nuggets is the fact that he specifically helps you with Jokic's defensive limitations.

[lessthanjake]

Who’s the best glue guy right now in the NBA.

Who would you rather have as a third option

I’m going with Aaron Gordon, I think the raw athletic ability, the defense, the size, and his improved shooting make him a bit better overall.

I'd rather have White for most teams, but Gordon for Denver.

The thing about White is he's no mere "3rd option", but arguably the Celtics best facilitator from the perimeter. The fact that Brown is on the team and largely has carte blanche to chuck doesn't mean he's someone a team should want over White.

Gordon on the other hand really needs to be an offensive role player, and his killer edge for the Nuggets is the fact that he specifically helps you with Jokic's defensive limitations.

I’m not sure I see the bolded. Jokic’s biggest defensive limitation is that he is a Center who is not a good rim protector. And Gordon isn’t a particularly good rim protector either. I would think that someone who would fit best with Jokic defensively would be a PF that actually really protects the rim. Someone like Evan Mobley or Jaren Jackson Jr. would be great in that regard. But there’s other lesser players who could fit it better than Gordon too. Gordon isn’t a terrible fit defensively, since he has plenty of good defensive qualities. He can definitely defend in space better than Jokic, so that’s a nice plus, and Gordon is just a positive-impact defensive player in general. Gordon and Jokic also have great chemistry on the offensive end. But, in terms of defense, I think Jokic would benefit a lot if he had a PF who was a genuine rim protector, so I wouldn’t say Gordon is actually all that great a fit with Jokic on that end.

[Doctor MJ]

Who’s the best glue guy right now in the NBA.

Who would you rather have as a third option

I’m going with Aaron Gordon, I think the raw athletic ability, the defense, the size, and his improved shooting make him a bit better overall.

I'd rather have White for most teams, but Gordon for Denver.

The thing about White is he's no mere "3rd option", but arguably the Celtics best facilitator from the perimeter. The fact that Brown is on the team and largely has carte blanche to chuck doesn't mean he's someone a team should want over White.

Gordon on the other hand really needs to be an offensive role player, and his killer edge for the Nuggets is the fact that he specifically helps you with Jokic's defensive limitations.

I’m not sure I see the bolded. Jokic’s biggest defensive limitation is that he is a Center who is not a good rim protector. And Gordon isn’t a particularly good rim protector either. I would think that someone who would fit best with Jokic defensively would be a PF that actually really protects the rim. Someone like Evan Mobley or Jaren Jackson Jr. would be great in that regard. But there’s other lesser players who could fit it better than Gordon too. Gordon isn’t a terrible fit defensively, since he has plenty of good defensive qualities. He can definitely defend in space better than Jokic, so that’s a nice plus, and Gordon is just a positive-impact defensive player in general. Gordon and Jokic also have great chemistry on the offensive end. But, in terms of defense, I think Jokic would benefit a lot if he had a PF who was a genuine rim protector, so I wouldn’t say Gordon is actually all that great a fit with Jokic on that end.

Good points, and certainly having a better rim protector than Gordon in your 4 next to Jokic would be ideal.

At the same time, you do also need that 4 to really be able to man guard forwards well, and most great traditional defensive anchors would struggle at that.

As I say that: There is also the matter that if the Nuggets had another capable defensive forward out there in place of Michael Porter, that would give the Nuggets more wiggle room, and that really shines a line of another aspect of Porter holding them back.

ftr, I was all for signing Porter to a rookie max at the time. Sure I'd have loved there to be all sorts of injury caveats in there, but I felt the way Porter was playing to end the regular season before they offered the contract justified a rookie max just by general level.

But even if Porter's offense continued to improve from there as you'd hope (rather than literally regress as it has), the idea of creating a Big 3 around Jokic where one of the trio was 6'10" an awful defensively should have a worry. Cool that they recognize that defense was the priority for the 3rd member of the front court, but really, it needed to be the priority for any front court player you were hoping to synergize optimally with Jokic.