Link: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Gordon has shown signs of snapping out of it. He shot 8-of-17 and led the Bulls with 20 points against the Lakers. He is 27-of-59 (45.8) from the field and is averaging 23 points in the first three games of this trip.</p> Tired of how he had been playing, Gordon, the Bulls' leading scorer (19.8 points per game), decided to be more assertive on offense and not necessarily make getting teammates involved his top priority.</p> ''I'm not doing that anymore,'' Gordon said. ''I'm going to be aggressive. Whenever I get a chance to shoot, shoot it. Miss or make them, and just have my teammates feed off me. Just try to make the right play. If I've got guys open, try to find them.</p> ''That's when we're at our best; not being tentative out there and making timid plays. Just playing hard.''</div></p> Several thoughts come to mind as I read this:</p> <ul>[*]Was Ben's top priority before getting his teammates involved? Is that why he's averaging 3 assists and 3 TOs? [*]How will his teammates feed off him? [*]Does playing "team first" necessitate playing "timid", whereas looking for your shot first and trying to find guys if they're open equate to "the right play" and playing hard?[/list]
If he's hitting his shot then I think its a good thing. If he's out there throwing up bricks and gunning then there is a problem. I think what he's suggesting is what the bulls lack. They need a guy who says give me the damn ball, i'm goign to take over this game and score.I think if Deng is going to be the star Bulls fans and Paxson think he can be then he needs this attitude. Look at LeBron. He demands the ball when he needs, but still can get his teammates involved. I think thats whats missing.</p>
I kind of do too, but I'm not sure Ben can back up the big talk. And I'm not sure if the way he said it didn't sound like talking out of turn.</p> But if he steps up and we start winning I don't think anyone will complain.</p>
Let's look a little deeper at the numbers. Gordon has 25 TO in 9 games. 15 of those game in 3 of the 9 games, 6 in the first game of the season and 4 in the second game. In the other 6 games, he's averaging just 2.5 TO/game. Just 1 TO in each of the last two games.</p> I don't think the turnovers are the big problem.</p> Assists. Now that's an interesting issue. I counted at least 3 passes that would have been assists in the Lakers game that ended up as missed shots. That's the norm when your team is shooting 34% from the field in spite of your 8-17 shooting. So his passes are supposed to be so good his teammates can't help but score? Those are the kinds of passes he is making, but he can't help it if Wallace misses a dunk, if you know what I mean.</p> The above should answer MikeDC's first point.</p> I see Gordon playing a lot more PG this year than in past seasons, already. Thing is, he's not the same kind of PG as Hinrich and the offense really needs to be designed around who the PG is. This is why Phoenix looks so different without Nash on the court - none of the other guards runs the offense the same way, nor is the offense really suited to their style of play. In fact, it sure looked like D'Antoni used the game against us to run/practice a very different kind of O without Nash out there so much (smart!).</p> Gordon's not going to be as effective doing the drive and kick as Hinrich is when it's Hinrich (34-104, 5-28 3pt) or Griffin standing in the corner waiting for the open 3pt attempt. Gordon can use those same picks set by the bigs for Hinrich to get enough space to get off a shot, or use those picks to get a drive for a layup attempt/draw the foul.</p> I also see Gordon not being as fixated on keeping his dribble - he gets rid of the ball much earlier in the shot clock when running the offense than Kirk or even Duhon (and I personally like and appreciate that). When Kirk keeps his dribble, the ball does remain in the hands of one of our most trusted players (he can score, dish, and is less turnover prone). When Gordon gets rid of the ball earlier in the clock, the ball ends up in Ben Wallace's hands more; I think we all agree we'd rather see that not so often.</p> I think this is what he's saying in the quotes above - plugging him in at Hinrich's role and expecting him to play just like Hinrich is "timid" - it's pass first, look for your shot second.</p> I see replays of the old Bulls/Suns championship games, with KJ at the point and see a very similar offense to what we're running here. The big difference is that those old Suns teams consistently attacked the basket, and the drive kick resulted in a 2nd and 3rd and 4th player driving down the center of the lane instead of from the wings. KJ was 6'1", about Gordon's size. KJ was a scoring threat, averaging about 18PPG for his career. KJ also averaged 9.1 APG for his career. Gordon has the potential to be a very similar player to KJ before it's all said and done (I've suggested he could be like Baron Davis, too).</p> If you have a guy like Ben Wallace who can be active at offensive rebounding or tipping the ball back to a guard after a miss (seen a lot of that lately!), then to play to his strength you need to shoot and let Big Ben do his thing on the misses. That's how you get your teammates feeding off what you do.</p> </p>
