Surprisingly, Ben Gordon recovered from foul trouble in the second half of the Bulls' loss to the Wizards on Sunday. He ended up with 20 points, although they weren't enough to rescue the Bulls.

"You have to be able to play through things like that," Gordon said afterward.

He managed to do that in the second half, but the second-year guard remains unsure of himself on defense, which leads to unpredictability on offense.

"It's not unlike the way he's always played," coach Scott Skiles said. "Ben was a high turnover player last year. He knows he needs to work on that. There's still a lot to learn out there. It's just that the incredible fourth quarters last year took the focus off a lot of the other things.

"Now it's a bit different. But without Ben making shots during certain periods of the game [Sunday], we wouldn't even have had a chance."

Gordon's troubles Sunday were rooted in his defensive assignment against All-Star Gilbert Arenas to start the game, Skiles said.

Layups

The league upgraded Shaquille O'Neal's flagrant foul on Andres Nocioni to a penalty 2 and fined him $5,000. O'Neal committed the foul in the second quarter of the Heat's victory on Saturday. ... Luke Schenscher would be hard-pressed to win a foot race, but he has found a way to impress Skiles. "He's actually been one of our better help defenders," Skiles said. "He reacts well."

SEEEE Luke Can play Defense. I like LUUUUUKE

LMAO. That is the best that you can say about Luke? He's a good help defender? Yeah that's about right seeing as the guy can't cover someone by himself anyway

I can see Ben Getting traded this offseason for a Post Player like Jermaine Oneal,or Pierce, or even Garnett. I wouldnt give up on Ben Too fast though...

That wasnt me talking, its the Chicago Tribune, heres the linkLink

I was referring to Skiles.. Sorry man.

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke

Duh, comes to mind.

.............

It is quite obvious watching Gordon play there are multiple things that he needs to work on.

Well we all know that, this guy is just showing u what Skiles says.

I know I know. And I appreciate the comments being posted.

It's just funny the way the title is phrased.

o

doesnt really everyone on the Bulls roster need to work on a lot of things?

Piakowski doesn't...

Lol, if he is gaurding Lebron why would he need practice! the guy is a god

Pretty much if you wanted to, you could get a laundry list for the summer for each of the players to work on.

I could tell you right now what Ben needs to work on:
Improve his dribble
Improve Defensively
Improve with his passing
Learn to take smarter shots; He forces too many shots.

The problem is some of these things, I don't think he'll ever figure out (namely the defense). He doesn't have the handles or passing ability of a PG and he doesn't have the size or defensive abilities to guard a SG.

You're right he'll probably never figure out how to be a great defender, but that doesn't mean he can't be a damn good player, even for the Bulls.

Ben needs to cut down on the turnovers. That is one thing he can and should learn soon. Hell, his coach had 30 assists in a game, that's a good start.

Smarter shots are another thing, but there's a bit of a problem here...some of that isn't his fault. Right now, there's no gigantic threat on the Bulls to score other than Gordon, and hence, he has no one to really create good shots for him. You team him with a powerful post presence who can command a double team, and suddenly his shot selection will almost certainly improve.

If I were planning this team, my role for BG would be something like the role he played last year...super 6th man/scoring threat. He's never going to be a great point guard, nor is he going to be a great 2 guard, nor is he going to be a great small forward, etc., because he just doesn't have the skill package for any of them. But if you build a team where he can get used in scoring circumstances against an opponents backup players, such that there's someone better at defense than him at the 2 slot who can spend most of the game guarding the Kobe Bryants, then he can be an excellent backup to Hinrich and this hypothetical 2 guard, since he can provide scoring punch off of the bench.

i think that he would be a great starter one day if he gets a little more talent.

Right, Ben Gordon is a 3 point specialist. He's too small to play SG, an he doesn't have the skills or the brains to play PG.

And that is my primary beef with John Paxson. Half of the people on this site could build a better team. Selecting Ben Gordon with the #3 overall pick should get you banned from the NBA, not to mention cutting Trenton Hassell in favor of Linton Johnson?

Have y'all ever heard Kevin Garnett talk about Hassell? He loves that guy. He even promoted him for the Defensive Player Of The Year award in the season before last year. What's Linton Johnson up to nowadays?

And if Paxson had kept the heartless, brainless Eddy Curry, there'd be absolutely no hope for the Bulls in the long run. That's the only thing that he has going for him at the moment.

He also did a real nice pickpocketing of the Phoenix Suns to get a guy who if he was in this year's draft would probably be the consensus #1 pick in Deng, in exchange for what, a pick in the 20's last year? That was a pretty damn good one too. I'd also say that Hinrich has turned out to be a pretty damn good draft pick too. And he made the decision to resign your boy Tyson Chandler. And I still am a big fan of his choice to get a real coach in there instead of Cartwright. Oh, and the sign & Trade with Crawford, which turned into Noc (and AD last year), was pretty darn good too.

Yeah, Gordon right now looks like he was picked too highly. He's certainly not a "Bust" along the Kwame Brown lines, at least not yet. He needs to develop a more consistent shot before he can become a real key piece.

But if I weigh letting go of Trenton Hassel and picking Ben Gordon up against Stealing Luol Deng, drafting Kirk Hinrich, finding Noc, and giving the Knickerbockers a complete savaging for Eddy Curry, I think Pax has done a hell of a job in pointing that team in the right direction.

I think fans go tjree ways with Gordon. Most popular thing to do is vastly underrate him and what he does. The other half vastly overrates Gordon. Then there's the small sample size that realizes Gordon's deficiencies, but also realize he's worth something and helpful to this team.

to me i think that we should trade him and someone else to get another draft pick in the draft either a second or a first pick what ever the other team would want.