bwgood77 wrote:Revived wrote:Ghost of Kleine wrote:[
2- Aaron Gordon: Right now our frontcourt severely lacks speed and athleticism, along with frontcourt defense. Gordon is averaging: 13 points/ 7 rebounds/ and 2 assists. But is supremely athletic, and could be amazing for us in a Shaun Marion type role. Using his speed and athleticism to not only energize our apathetic team, But also use his explosive and speed to provide much better rebounding and rim protection than what either Saric or Kaminsky are capable of.
Is Gordon a good defensive player/rim protector? I don’t watch any Magic games at all and know very little about any of their players including him. I know defense used to be a knock on him early in his career but perhaps that has changed.
I’d still take him over Saric because of the athleticism point that you brought up. One thing I’ve noticed this season is how unathletic we are with guys like Kaminsky, Saric, both Johnsons and Jerome getting playing time in the rotation. It makes Oubre look like an athletic freak because of how those guys can all barely get an inch or two off the ground.
I prefer this over athletic players with zero game like Josh Jackson and Chriss obviously but shouldn’t have to pick between one or the other since there are many players who are athletic and still competent.
It’s one of the main reasons why I’d prefer Gordon or LMA over Kevin Love in trade possibilities.
Gordon is decent. 31 mpg, 13.7 ppg, 7 rpg, 2.7 apg (I guess you said that), but shoots only 31% from 3. In college he was known as strictly a defensive guy but he's not a great defender at this level. Doesn't really get steals or blocks/rim protection really. Defense is better than offense slightly since he shoots so poorly (51.6 TS%). I don't think he's worth his contract and probably not a good fit next to Ayton.
Yeah, I do hear you in regards to him being just statistically average or " pedestrian " in terms of production. I guess for me, I just feel that his talent level, ability, and athleticism is being/ has been improperly utilized in Orlando. It's funny when comparing percentages of the three: Gordon, Oubre, and even Shawn Marion. When going over them, I found them to be fairly similar mostly in terms of Fg%, 3pt % and in terms of production. But of course with Marion having a slight edge in free throw percentage. Aside from that I found real similarities in their overall utility skillsets and athletic ability.
Now in regards to their more obvious differences, Oubre brings energy with high levels of charisma, And marion was a versatile defensive specialist with an awkward yet somewhat effective shot. Gordon however is more or less a bigger, stronger, and more explosive version of Oubre ( but without the flash and bravado). Now I've likely beat this theory into the ground by now. But I do genuinely believe that he( Gordon) can develop and become a Marion 2.0 for us as a versatile positional defender, Using his stellar athleticism and explosiveness to be highly disruptive to the opposing teams.
Also, I again propose recreating our own version of the " Run n' Gun" suns that utilized their good athleticism and speed and open court dominance whilst also having a really good facilitator on the break in Nash. I think that we could replicate that style of play with our roster, playing to the benefit of Ayton, Booker, Oubre, Gordon and even for Bridges, on run outs, given their overall high level athleticism and talent, especially with Rubio beingbour facilitator. I just think that combination going full speed in the open court would be very potent and nearly impossible to stop ( as per what I envision in my previous posts). One final consideration with respect to the Oubre and Gordon comparison, Is the potential for Oubre to likely outplay his current contractual value as we enter 2021 free agency.
Meaning he could very easily play himself out of our price range. Now currently Gordon is on a descending value contract. Meaning that should Oubre price himself out of our range, Or should we expect that he will command a market value beyond what we deem reasonable for his resigning, We'd then just be able to slot Gordon into his spot, and at or within only a maybe one million difference in salary to what Oubre is currently making. Then when Gordon expires fully in 2022, We could accurately gauge his value in comparison to Bridges progression. So, should we trade for him, and find that the change of environment and a new system boosts his production and consistency, Then we can always look to trade Oubre whilst at premium value for more assets ( either expirings or picks, etc.). That would allow us to absorb Gordons' salary fully without any real detriment to our plans for max cap space in 2021. And as far as his fit next to Ayton, He might not fit perfectly next to Ayton, But then again, His athleticism, speed, strength and explosiveness might be a boon for us in creating mismatches. Also should Ayton return, And not be able to maintain any measurable improvement in terms of dominance and aggression (as he showed in the King's game), and should he for whatever reason revert back to a finesse game, Then Gordon's stellar athleticism could theoretically help to somewhat offset that in the frontcourt I believe.
Now having said that, My first choice is still Aldridge, mainly due to his contract actually fully expiring in 2021. As well as his apparent statistical improvement in shooting the 3, as well as his improvement in blocks. Currently he's averaging around :
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2983/lamarcus-aldridge .
18.8 points / 7.1 rebounds / and 2.1 assists. With a 19.97 PER! Also whilst shooting close to 35% from three and blocking almost 2 shots per game ( 1.7). So I see him as an upgrade at the 4 for us over Saric currently, As he can also still score in the post consistently and contribute, even IF his three point shot wasn't falling. Also, due to his improvement in shooting his threes, I don't really see any real floor spacing issues. Also considering that Aldridge still would command a double team in the post, That'd create great mismatches for Ayton( as they just can't double both, and still guard the perimeter) as well as open looks on the perimeter for our shooters too. This is mainly due to the immense gravity that both Ayton and Aldridge( ***on opposing corners) would create in the post. Lastly, Our frontcourt with the added size, production would be incredibly dominant in terms of post scoring and rebounding, What with the size and post dominance that Ayton, Aldridge and Baynes would create. Whilst Booker, Oubre Cam, and Bridges create absolute havoc on the perimeter, and in cutting to the basket.Not to mention the incredible screens that all three could set for Tubio, Booker, Cam Johnson and Oubre. Finally, given both Aytons' and Aldridge's size in the post, Along with Aldridges' current almost 2 blocks per game, and Aytons' ( hopefully ***) improved defensive improvement and tenacity, We'd have our rim protection issues covered really well, by just funneling opposing teams directly between our two dominant post bigs. And we'd always have two bigs with size and dominance on the court at all times in our rotations.
So ideally, Aldridge would give us an immediate boost, in addition to Aytons' return which would drastically increase our odds of once again surprising teams, and going on an extended winning streak right when we'd need it most. And also almost guarantee us a playoff position. Whilst having absolutely no detrimental effect on our 2021 free agency plans. Yet also makingbus appear to be a lot more of a competitive team and making us considerably more desirable to any big name targets in that free agency, as we enter it with max cap space too. So our post trade roster could essentially look like this:
- Rubio/ Okobo/ Carter.
- Booker/ Bridges/ Jerome.
- Bridges/ Oubre/ Cam.
-Aldridge/ Kaminsky/ Diallo.
- Ayton/ Baynes/ Kaminsky. I really like the potential of that lineup personally.
