I disagree with that. Ben Gordon is not a player that only does one thing well. Ben Gordon is a guy that does well in almost every facet of basketball. Gordon is just a terrible dribbler. If Gordon ever learned how to dribble, he'd easily be a top 10 player in the NBA. His dribbling is just pathetic though. But the guy is a great shooter, a decent penetrator, and has so many moves to create just that little bit of space, and he's been great defensively this year as well, and has passed the ball well (his assist stats are deflated by the rest of the team sucking besides Rose/Gooden).
Wow, that sounds almost exactly like the stock defense of Hinrich, substituting shooting for dribbling. You don't hide great defenders on guys like Batum and Radmanovic. And we should really be talking about Rose, not BG.
Gordon's a lot better than Hinrich. He's averaging 20.4 PPG 3.7 APG 3.0 RPG on the highest scoring efficiency on the team. If you look at the 82games stats, Gordon has the highest production, while holding his opponent to a very low production. There is less for Gordon to improve on to become one of the elite players than 8 PPG Kirk Hinrich. If you were to do a scouting report of Gordon, it would probably look something like this. Outside Shooting: A+ Midrange Shooting: A Short Shooting: B Layups/Dunks: C Penetration: B Passing: B- Dribbling: F Defense: B Offensive Arsenal: A+ He's a good player, who has made all of his weaknesses into something he is good at, or at least average at. That is, except for dribbling. Also, I didn't call Gordon a great defender. By no means is he a Bruce Bowen or Ron Artest elite defender. He is just playing great defense in the role that he is being asked to do for this team.
I don't get the dislike for Gordon by the team and some of the fans. It's like the grass is greener elsewhere so we should dump (on) our most consistent player since he's been on the team. At the SG spot, there's only a handful of guys I'd rather have: Kobe Wade Joe Johnson Roy Iverson (though I'd rather have Ben because he's younger at this point) Carter (again, age) If I look at guys who CAN play SG but don't regularly, add: Granger Stephen Jackson Iggy Maybe Ronnie Brewer Pierce And some of those may be a reach at full-time SG. Some of those aren't as good at being team players, IMO. And some (Brewer, Iggy to name two) aren't the pure scorer that Gordon is. The only knock I have on him is he's short for a SG. Alongside Hinrich, the backcourt looked overmatched a lot of the time. Next to Rose, not at all; it's our frontcourt that looks weak.
I don't dislike BG, I just don't think he's anything special outside of being a good long range shooter. I'd add to your list Kevin Martin, Fernandez, Mayo as guys I think are better SG's. BG isn't consistent, in fact, he's the antithesis of consistent. Every third or fouth game he has a good game and the conversation inevitably turns to how the bulls could possible not have signed him to a big long term deal. The next two games we talk about how BG can't pass out of a double team, or makes a crucial TO with the game on the line, or continues to not have any impact in the first quarter. If you take out BG's six game stint coming off the bench where his PER was over 23 while he racked stats in what amounted to extended garbage time, his PER would be around 16.5, exactly what it was playing next to Hinrich and Duhon. He's just a slightly above average SG guard. His +/- is negative, even more so since he's been starting, which another bad sign giving that he's the leading scorer and highest usage guy on the team. Add in that he gets the easiest defensive assignment every game causing Rose and Deng/Hughes to take tougher matchups, and there's nothing remarkable there. The bulls with BG as the starting SG aren't going anywhere. It's the same scenario as two years ago; they will beat most bad and mediocre teams, but get handled by the good ones. That's not to say it's all his fault because I don't think it is. But if the goal is to build a championship team, then I don't think you build it around BG as the starting SG. And that's the conundrum, because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to bench him unless you have somebody better, or make a commitment to developing somebody better. And you can't bench him and leave in quick shot Hughes. And you can't bench both because that will poison the locker room. So even with Hinrich out/gone and Thabo getting splinters, the bulls are in a bad spot in the short term.
He's not exactly a jumping jack, is he? I sort of agree on Noc, but I still can't see how this team, with this finances keeps him. Glue guys are great if you've got something to glue together. But if you've bought so much glue you can't afford to buy the actual pieces to whatever the hell it is we're gluing together then... we're just gonna sit around sniffing glue.
Ben Gordon: Outside Shooting: A+ Midrange Shooting: A Short Shooting: B Layups/Dunks: C Penetration: C+ Passing: C- Dribbling: D Defense: C- Offensive Arsenal: A+
