QUOTE (dasox24 @ Feb 22 2008, 08:26 PM)
Well, I'd personally say Gordon has underperformed as much as or more than those two you mentioned. Let's compare:
Hinrich - scoring down 3 ppg, minutes down 1.5 mpg, FG% and 3P% down, but everything else is about the same
Deng - scoring down 1 ppg, minutes down 3 mpg, FG% and 3P% down, but everything else is about the same
Gordon - scoring down 2 ppg, minutes up 2 mpg, FG% and 3P% down, assists down 1 per game, but turnovers also down 1 per game
All in all, they've all underachieved about the same on the offensive end. However, another factor is defense, and there's no arguing that Hinrich and Deng are far better defenders than Gordon. An undersized 6'3'' SG that can't defend well is worthless to us, especially when he's not playing well on offense. At least Hinrich and Deng bring other intangibles if they're having an off-night on the offensive end.
Personally, I'd rather have Thabo playing and getting us about 14 ppg, 7 rpg, 3 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg while shooting 45% and playing far superior defense than Gordon playing and getting us about 20 ppg, 3 rpg, 3 apg, >1 spg while shooting 45%. Oh, and you also have to factor in the fact that Hinrich plays much better with Thabo next to him. In the last 10 games with Thabo (and no Gordon), Hinrich is averaging 20 ppg, 6 apg, and shooting 46% from the field.
That's funny. You bring up Gordn's less assists but don't bring up the same thing for Kirk. Kirk has been very disappointing. And Deng has been the most disappointing by far. My whole arguement is what our expectations were going into the season. Going into the year we thought Deng could potentially be an all-star this year especially with the way he finished last year. But he has taken 2 steps back instead of 2 steps forward. Gordon is Gordon. We knew what we were going to get. Sure the things you mention are negatives but we didn't expect Gordon to be an all-star defender this year.
And by the way, Gordon is a late season type player. He's going to finish the year strong. He always does. But the only question is if his teammates will do the same. I hope they do.
Ben Gordon is (was/with Hughes) the only legit 20 point scorer. Why don't you give him credit for what he has done this year. He's shooting 42.8% which isn't great but it is higher then any season except last year. He's shooting 39.7% from the arc which isn't what he normally does but it's pretty good for someone who shoots so many threes. That's a better percentage than Ray Allen. I love how you marginalize the fact that he's committing only 2.3 turnovers this year in more minutes when compared to 3.04 last year. That's a significant improvement. I know that it's because his role is different this year. He's not doing as much of the ballhandling. But he's still being effective as a scorer. And don't forget that he's shooting 91.5% from the free throw line. He's not getting there as much as I want him to but the fact that 2 years ago shot 78.7% and now shoots 91.5% shows the amount of work he puts in to improve his game.
Meanwhile lets see how much Kirk has really stepped back. Kirks averaging 13.3 ppg vs 16.3 ppg last year (which I like. but it's not b/c he's shooting that much less). The thing that is most disappointing about Kirk is that he seems to have lost confidence in his jump shot. He's only shooting 41.2% from the field but what I hate most is that he's only shooting 32.1% from the arc (after shooting 41.5% from the arc last year). If no player on the Bulls can consistently hit their outside shot then it means that Gordon will not get as many good looks b/c defenses will focus on Gordon. So if other players start making their shots we'll start seeing Gordon's game benefit. Kirk's at 6.1 apg which is slightly lower than normal but I never had expectations for him to average 7 or more so oh well.
The whole point of this is that Gordon is not the problem. The problem is everyone else who can't score. When a team only has one scorer it's hard for that guy to do all the scoring especially when he's 6'2". I think Larry Hughes will open up a lot of options for Gordon and hopefully Deng and Hinrich will get fully healthly and start hitting their shots. Then we'll see a more effective Gordon. And we'll see more 6-10 3point shooting nights like the one he threw up last night.