Keeping Eric Gordon is the right decision

Is keeping Eric Gordon as a Pelican the right decision for the franchise? Or is it in the best interest of the franchise to move him? The answer may be simple to most as Gordon has seemed to wear out his welcome to Bourbon Street. However, I am going to argue that keeping Eric Gordon on the roster is the right decision for the future of the Pelicans franchise.

First, it is important to start with the premise that the goal of the franchise is to win an NBA championship. With that being said, I believe it is without a doubt that keeping Gordon gives the organization the best chance of achieving that ultimate goal. Personally, I would rather have one championship and nine losing seasons in a ten year span than ten playoff seasons with no title. If you would rather prefer the latter, then I agree that trading Gordon would be the preferred manner of dealing with this delicate situation that must be currently weighing on the mind of Dell Demps. I bring this up because of the injury concerns that have plagued Eric Gordon throughout his short career. The safer move would be to trade Gordon and fill his cap space with lesser players but yet are more reliable to stay on the court. However, NBA is a big boy league where there must be risk involved if you have big dreams.

The NBA is a star-driven league. Fortunately, the Pelicans drafted a superstar in the making last June in Anthony Davis. I expect Davis to be one of the all-time greats when all is said and done but he needs some star power around him. Recent history has shown for the most part that you need multiple stars to have a shot at contending. LeBron got tired of doing it himself and Kevin Durant is not having fun carrying the entire burden without Westbrook in this year’s playoffs. Eventually, Dell has to take a calculated risk to pair Davis with a fellow star. I believe keeping Gordon is the proper risk to take as the potential reward in keeping Gordon substantially outweighs the risk involved in my opinion.

Dell is well aware that Eric Gordon has star talent and thus has invested big money last summer. In a league that fans are calling James Harden, Steph Curry, and Carmelo Anthony superstars, you can make the case that Gordon makes a star impact on the court when healthy. Defense accounts for half the game, even if it is not sexy for fans to applaud great perimeter defense over windmill dunks. What is the old saying? Defense wins championships. Eric Gordon is one of the top perimeter defenders in the league and can guard both guard positions. I believe Dell and Monty’s philosophy is to have two exceptional defensive guards as the makeup of their defensive unit and Eric Gordon fits perfectly into these plans. He is an efficient scorer prior to this year who can get to the rim at ease, has an outside shot that opposing defenses have to respect, and is great at orchestrating the pick and roll game. It is not unreasonable to expect him to average between 22-25 ppg and 4-5 apg to go along with great perimeter defense moving forward if healthy.

Of course, the dooming phrase “if healthy” always pops up with Gordon. It is important to point out that he doesn’t have any health issues that are degenerative that are probable to derail his career. This is how his past injury woes differ from what we have seen from Amare Stoudemire, Brandon Roy, or Andrew Bynum. However, he has had a variety of different injury concerns that may suggest his body might not be able to take the pounding of the physicality of the NBA game especially since his game depends so much on getting to the rim. Therefore, you can certainly make the case that it is possible and even likely that he suffers more injury-plagued years in the future. However, even if you think this is the case, keeping Eric Gordon still gives us the best shot of winning a title as long as he doesn’t have any degenerative health conditions that would diminish his capabilities on the court.

Quite frankly, you need stars to succeed in the NBA. Replacing someone with the talent that Gordon possesses with guys with lesser talent may be able to fill Gordon’s spot production wise on the stat sheet but not the impact he can bring to the game. For example, we have seen guys such as Darren Collison fill Chris Paul’s numbers production-wise on the box score yet not impact-wise on the game itself. Obviously, Eric Gordon is not at Chris Paul’s level but my point has been made that numbers can be misleading in the game of basketball.

I think my point of needing all-star talent has been established (Think Denver Nuggets). I would agree that trading Eric Gordon and replacing him with another all-star with less of an injury risk would be ideal. However, nothing is ideal is the world of running a small-market organization if you have big dreams and that is where my main point lies. Small market franchises alike have not shown any ability of signing free agent stars and there is no star talent to be acquired in this year’s draft for the Pelicans. So if needing a fellow all-star to play alongside Anthony Davis is at least part of the requirement for contention for an NBA championship, then we must ask ourselves the following: Which is more likely, Gordon staying relative healthy or acquiring someone on the same par talent-wise of Gordon? Even if you think Gordon staying healthy only has a 20% probable outcome, it still surpasses the chances of acquiring star-talent in the free agent market for this organization. (Note: The franchise’s best free agent signing ever is considered either Ryan Anderson or a past his prime Peja Stojakovic.) Therefore, in my opinion, by trading Gordon, the franchise will be forfeiting their only hope of any real contention in the Anthony Davis era. Sad? Welcome to the life of rooting for a small market team.

Agreed. I've said this before, but in the NBA, 4 quarters don't equal a dollar. When you get elite players, you keep them. Gordon is an elite scorer when healthy, and he is a top-notch defender as well. Monty was raving about him when we first got him because Monty said he was one of the scariest guys to scout when he was at Portland. He's only 24 as well, so he is still learning.

I'm dying to see Gordon run the PnR with Davis and the PnP with Anderson on a regular basis. It's going to be a thing of beauty. Nice post man, well done.

I respect anybody's opinion, but I strongly disagree. We only have Gordon under contract two more years. Regardless of Davis overall potential I don't think anybody believes he'll be at his full potential in less than 2 years. If we hold on to Gordon and he bolts we will have lost him for nothing which would be for more crippling than taking draft picks(which is my ultimate hope) or other young assets.

I'm all for gambling, but as an avid poker player I understand risk reward. If you think we are a title contending team in a two year window then you are right keep him. I think best case scenairo we are 4 years away from truly chasing a title. I don't see Gordon sticking around once he no longer has to.

Whether Gordon stays for the next 2 season or whether we trade him this offseason, I don't see him part of the future. He won't be here long enough to see the Pelicans contend. At best, he'll play a big role in helping us get into the playoffs. He's made it pretty clear that this is not his ideal situation and to this day, there's really no reason to believe that he'll ever re-sign with the Pelicans.

Everyone forget we never seen the backcourt or lineup Monty & Dell envisioned last off season.

PG) Austin Rivers
SG) Eric Gordon
SF) Al Farouq Aminu
PF) Ryan Anderson
C0 Anthony Davis

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Originally Posted by R_Ash

Everyone forget we never seen the backcourt or lineup Monty & Dell envisioned last off season.

PG) Austin Rivers
SG) Eric Gordon
SF) Al Farouq Aminu
PF) Ryan Anderson
C0 Anthony Davis

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And why was that?

I'm with dathrone. eric gordon is a great talent, but he doesn't want to be here. we can't have that influence around anthony davis. ya'll may think i'm nuts but id actually trade him for avery bradley, who's widely regarded as the best perimeter defending guard in the league. seriously though, olidipo needs to take gordons place. this guy is going to be one of the best

I would like to keep Gordon, and try to move Lopez and Vasquez for a quicker and veteran pg.

Here we go again with the "he doesn't want to be here" argument. He's UNDER CONTRACT for the next 3 years, it doesn't matter what he wants.

Trade him IF it makes the team better, not just for the sake of trading away someone who "doesn't want to be here."

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Originally Posted by HK-47

Here we go again with the "he doesn't want to be here" argument. He's UNDER CONTRACT for the next 3 years, it doesn't matter what he wants.

Trade him IF it makes the team better, not just for the sake of trading away someone who "doesn't want to be here."

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He's only under contract for 2. The 3rd year is a player option. Therefore it does matter. If he opts out really we only have one year to get him re-signed are we move into the last year forced to do something to get value for him past that year. Where Gordon wants to be very much matters as the future of this franchise is concerned.

He'll only opt out of his contract if he's out performing it. 15.5m is a lot to give up, especially when a lot of teams won't want to go over the cap at that point due to the new luxury tax rules.

And that means if he's outperforming his contract, the Pelicans will likely offer him another big contract to stay... and they could offer him a bigger contract than anyone else. I don't really buy the non-sense that he doesn't want to be here. He just wants to get paid. And if he continues to miss a lot of games due to injury, he won't be opting out in 2 years because no one is going to give him a big contract.

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Originally Posted by bradael

He'll only opt out of his contract if he's out performing it. 15.5m is a lot to give up, especially when a lot of teams won't want to go over the cap at that point due to the new luxury tax rules.

And that means if he's outperforming his contract, the Pelicans will likely offer him another big contract to stay... and they could offer him a bigger contract than anyone else. I don't really buy the non-sense that he doesn't want to be here. He just wants to get paid. And if he continues to miss a lot of games due to injury, he won't be opting out in 2 years because no one is going to give him a big contract.

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If he doesn't opt out, what does that tell you? Probably says we wasted 58 mil on the guy. And was too stubborn to get rid of him while we could. If you expect him to perform at the level you hoping that he does, he's going to opt out. As the benefits outweighs the cons. He'll be eligible for the true max his option year which will be the biggest reason to opt out.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

I respect anybody's opinion, but I strongly disagree. We only have Gordon under contract two more years. Regardless of Davis overall potential I don't think anybody believes he'll be at his full potential in less than 2 years. If we hold on to Gordon and he bolts we will have lost him for nothing which would be for more crippling than taking draft picks(which is my ultimate hope) or other young assets.

I'm all for gambling, but as an avid poker player I understand risk reward. If you think we are a title contending team in a two year window then you are right keep him. I think best case scenairo we are 4 years away from truly chasing a title. I don't see Gordon sticking around once he no longer has to.

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Actually, we have him for 3 more years, with the 3rd year being a player option. In that final year, he is getting paid big money, so I doubt he turns that down. He'll play it out, and what usually happens if a big name player leaves in FA (especially a max guy) is that he leaves via S&T. Now sure, you have occasions like LeBron where the Cavs were left with nothing, but it's not often that a great team has that kind of cap space. Most often, teams get a nice return for their max players.

For me, I'd rather a great player (which I think Gordon can become) who is injury prone, than 2 good players who are going to give us 82 games a season. Sure, Gordon count for nothing when he is injured, but hopefully he can learn to manage it because it takes great players to win championships. You look at injury prone guys like Bogut and Curry, who have had a very rough past few years, but they are both healthy in the playoffs, and they are playing great basketball. You look at DWade, and he is super injury prone, but you play through it in playoff basketball. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili with the Spurs... Tyson Chandler with Dallas a few years ago. The list goes on and on. Players get injured. That's a fact, and it happens a lot. It is what it is. We try our best to manage it, but you can't trade a player as talented as Gordon for scraps just because you are afraid he'll get injured again. That's just my opinion.

Gordon doesn't have any degenerative disease, he doesn't have a torn ACL or Achilles, he hasn't had any major injuries (the misdiagnosis kept him out a while, but that's not a major injury). Why move him when he is only 24 years old, yet he is one of the best, most dynamic scorers in the league? And on top of that, he's a 2-way player, which is rare nowadays.

You keep suggesting we lose a few more seasons and collect assets, but we've done that for the past 2 years, and you can't compare this roster to OKC when they were rebuilding. We are much further along than they were at this point, and every rebuilding plan is different. This isn't a video game. You can't just keep losing for 4-5 seasons until you get a bunch of top picks, and even if you do, it doesn't work out more often than it does work out (look at Sacramento and the other perpetual bottom-feeders). What about the fans? What about the people who pay money to see games? They aren't going to understand that losing a few seasons is more beneficial in the long-run. Sure, it's ideal to tank a few years, get some high draft picks, and do it that way, but it's not practical. We are ready to start winning next year, and that's what we're going to do. Bet on it.

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Originally Posted by ScoutWithoutClout

I'm with dathrone. eric gordon is a great talent, but he doesn't want to be here. we can't have that influence around anthony davis.

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This is pure opinion and speculation on your part, so I don't see how you are trying to use it as fact.

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Originally Posted by ScoutWithoutClout

ya'll may think i'm nuts but id actually trade him for avery bradley, who's widely regarded as the best perimeter defending guard in the league. seriously though, olidipo needs to take gordons place. this guy is going to be one of the best

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Yeah man, that's pretty nuts IMO.

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Originally Posted by bradael

He'll only opt out of his contract if he's out performing it. 15.5m is a lot to give up, especially when a lot of teams won't want to go over the cap at that point due to the new luxury tax rules.

And that means if he's outperforming his contract, the Pelicans will likely offer him another big contract to stay... and they could offer him a bigger contract than anyone else. I don't really buy the non-sense that he doesn't want to be here. He just wants to get paid. And if he continues to miss a lot of games due to injury, he won't be opting out in 2 years because no one is going to give him a big contract.

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He'll get paid anywhere if he's healthy and ballin'. Guys opt out for more guaranteed money. So even if he doesn't have the best year going into his option year he's still likely to opt out. Unless he's just awful or has some season ending injury he's likely to opt out from a business prospective. Even if he inks a deal like 4 years 48 million. It's less than 15 mil a season but 48 million guarenteed trumps 15 million guaranteed.

Either way the point everybody is clearly over looking is we don't have control over Gordon rights pass the 2014-15 season so whether we are speculating or not we have no say after two seasons. It's foolish to discuss this Gordon with this team and conveniently omit that fact.

There is no rush to move him. His stock is very low at the moment. Once he gets healthy and plays consistently is when the trade discussions should commence. If he is not 100% sold on being here at that time, then this is where we look at pulling the trigger.

sorry guys but I don't believe keeping eric is a good idea, he's nothing but dead weight imo, the pels are a below .500 team with or without him

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Originally Posted by ScoutWithoutClout

I'm with dathrone. eric gordon is a great talent, but he doesn't want to be here. we can't have that influence around anthony davis. ya'll may think i'm nuts but id actually trade him for avery bradley, who's widely regarded as the best perimeter defending guard in the league. seriously though, olidipo needs to take gordons place. this guy is going to be one of the best

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In terms of Bradley, I don't think you're nuts at all. I'd ask for Jeff Green too, though.

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Originally Posted by iNolaNightmare

In terms of Bradley, I don't think you're nuts at all. I'd ask for Jeff Green too, though.

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Bradley and Green? Where do I have to sign lol

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Originally Posted by takezor

Bradley and Green? Where do I have to sign lol

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That's what I'm saying. They'd probably want our 1st in that package too.

i did not factor in the whole "He doesn't want to be here" argument into what I wrote....you can say Anthony Davis won't want to be here as well when we are unable to replace Gordon with someone equally as good...that was my main point, in order to contend, you need another all-star to play alongside Davis and keeping Gordon is our only chance of that based on the history of free agency and this franchise

Keep him until his stock goes up. Then if he starts his injuries or I don't feel like playing card we can trade him. I'm not ready to compare Eric to Baron Davis just yet.

People are talking about him staying healthy like it's a certainty. Dude has been hurt every year for the pass 4 years. Regardless of how low people think his value is now it will only get lower the closely he gets to the*open market that's just common sense. Less teams will be willing to part with legitimate asset/s for a potential one year rental of Gordon.

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Originally Posted by PelicanFever

i did not factor in the whole "He doesn't want to be here" argument into what I wrote....you can say Anthony Davis won't want to be here as well when we are unable to replace Gordon with someone equally as good...that was my main point, in order to contend, you need another all-star to play alongside Davis and keeping Gordon is our only chance of that based on the history of free agency and this franchise

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The team owns Davis' right at the very least 5 more years. Realistically 8-10. If we can't find additional talent in that time we are screwed anyways. They didn't stop making quality players after Eric Gordon. This is completely ignoring the fact that in just two years he can walk away from the franchise and there's nothing the organization can do to stop it.

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Originally Posted by PelicanFever

i did not factor in the whole "He doesn't want to be here" argument into what I wrote....you can say Anthony Davis won't want to be here as well when we are unable to replace Gordon with someone equally as good...that was my main point, in order to contend, you need another all-star to play alongside Davis and keeping Gordon is our only chance of that based on the history of free agency and this franchise

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Question, When was Eric Gordon an all-star player? Did I miss something?

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Originally Posted by PowerPel

Question, When was Eric Gordon an all-star player? Did I miss something?

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being an actual "allstar" on paper is crap, gordon is an all star talent, anyone who averages 22-4 at 21 years old is a supreme talent while being a pitbull on defense