Originally Posted by
THRILLHOUSE
We need a player like Gordon playing at the level that he's capable of if we want to be legitimate contenders two years from now. I still don't think he was in game shape last season, as evidenced by his drastic dropoff in play after halftime. I finally saw that those numbers could be separated on NBA.com:
first half: 14.8 minutes, 10 points, 45% FG, 37% 3PT, 1 rebound, 1.6 assists
second half: 15.1 minutes, 6.2 points, 33.8% FG, 25.7% 3PT, .8 rebounds, 1.7 assists
Project those first half numbers over a reasonable 33 minutes per game, and you've got 22.3 ppg on solid FG%, and top 10 type free throw attempts per game (his 2.8 FTA in the first half was 6th amongst guards).
So really, as disappointing as his season was last year, his first half production was fringe all-star caliber, and at the weakest position in the NBA right now. Memphis got demolished and the Pacers barely lost in their conference finals because they didn't have a guy that could create his own offense. EG can. It's a big risk to take on his being able to both stay healthy AND not be a complete malcontent, but it's a risk we have to take if we want to legitimately contend and not be a Hawks/Rockets of the past 5 years type team.