Post#25 » by sully00 » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:20 pm
There is no point in arguing over whether Ben friggin Gordon is a good shooter or scorer, if you can't figure that out it is on you.
This the deal with Gordon he is 6'3" and a much better player than Jamal Crawford. His problem is that he struggles taking pgs off the dribble and can struggle defensively against SGs. That said he is a solid defender at the point and can create his own shot off the dribble. Now there is statistical evidence that says he is a much more dominant player coming off the bench than as a starter, so competition has been brought into question. With that question in play it is certainly a risk to throw 8 figures a year at. He reminds me a lot of Jason Terry, stronger and a more explosive scorer but a similiar tweener.
That said I have another take on the situation. Ben Gordon is CHI's number one scoring option and for better or worse they have done nothing to make it easier for him to be that. They want to force feed Deng and Hinrich the #1 role on this team and they are ill suited to handle it. Neither of them is a particularly good shooter or effective scorer.
I like both guys but especially Hinrich is essentially a rich man's Delonte West. A capable player but not a great fit next to Gordon who be better served with a guy who can guard the 2 and slash to the basket. I don't know that you would ever be thrilled with Gordon as a pg but you could compliment him enough to take advantage of the fact that he can score 20 ppg which nobody else on the Bulls roster can do. Even though I wouldn't want to pay his check in a lot of ways Larry Hughes is a nice compliment to Gordon.
At first I really liked what Paxson had done in CHI but since the Eddy Curry situation blew up he has done nothing right. The money he has blown on HInrich, Wallace, and Nocoioni combined with passing on Aldridge and now he can't sign his leading scorer who he has also failed to compliment, with a half decent low post presence and gave another complimentary player a franchise deal.