MoMM wrote:From next PG/Kawli to "solid starter" wannabe...
In 2018 he will become a UFA, how much will he ask for? Will we pay him based on potential?
He is being asked to do things that he isn't well-suited for, and that is making people forget about the things that made him such an exciting prospect last year. He was impactful last season while having essentially nothing scripted for him on the offensive end. Off-the-ball cuts and offensive rebounding was enough to get him some opportunities to contribute at the offensive end. We tolerated the occasional errant shot because his talents were allowing his productivity to shine despite his deficiencies.
I think a part of the problem is that he wants to be more of a wing than a conventional big. There was a trend of this for many years where roles and positions were mislabeled (threes became twos; fives became fours) because many of the skills that make bigs so effective aren't glamorous enough. If he thinks of himself as a perimeter player, we have a problem. It's not where his talents lie.
Gordon is capable of being very good at things that help a team win, but don't necessarily translate to adoration or contract negotiation leverage. Fournier scores points and does so with above average shooting efficiency metrics. He provides almost nothing else, but that is enough to get you paid.
What concerns me about Gordon's situation is that his role has completely changed. He is being asked to do things that have very little to do with what got him drafted 4th overall. If he comes out of college as a wing that can't dribble or shoot, his athleticism isn't nearly enough to carry him to the top of the draft. The shift in development isn't a big problem by itself, except that it seems to be coming at the expense of the skills that made him an elite prospect. This is what I found so incomprehensible about Vogel's explanation of why Gordon isn't being utilized as a roll man in PnR situations.
I thought this new role was simply a way to get him court time while accommodating the additions of Ibaka and Biyombo, but comments from Vogel and Hennigan are making me wonder if organizational incompetence isn't the real problem. You don't pick a mold and try to cram a player into it. You put them in situations that accentuate their advantages and mitigate their deficiencies. We seem to be doing the opposite with Gordon. For what? So we can find minutes for "rim protectors" to try to mask the deficiencies of Vucevic and Fournier? If we make Gordon available, 29 other teams will be there hoping to vulture from our mishandling of his development.
"Xatticus has always been, in my humble opinion best poster here. Should write articles or something."
-pepe1991
