Ben Gordon was always a nice guy, or at least, smiled and talked nice in front of the media. John Salmons and Lou Deng shouldn't be mentioned in the same paragraph as Gordon when it comes to finishing at the end of games. The Bulls need someone who can consistently hit threes to give Rose some more room to operate.
Seeing as how they have gotten off to a better start, I'd say they aren't missing him at all. In the last Bucks game, Salmons did a perfect imitation of BG by missing the first three and then hitting the second improbable three in the last 20 seconds. And the bulls are much better off with the ball in Rose's hands at the end of games. Gordon is already at least 0-2 for the pistons on "big shots." Actually, the bulls record is exactly the same as it was last year through 16 games. So they are pretty much the same.
You know what, I'll qualify that. If BG is coming off of the bench like he should have, then yes, the bulls would be missing him. If BG could have grown 8-10 inches they would definitely be missing him.
How would you compare this team to the Bulls in the last 16 games last year? Personally, I would have hoped that the Bulls would be a heckva a lot better with Noah off to a much better start, Rose having a ton more experiance, Salmons and Miller on the team, etc. You can argue that Bulls have regressed to setup a shot at a premier FA, but any logical view of the situation is that the Bulls have regressed and clearly miss Gordon. It's a shame b/c if we had traded Hinrich for cap space and drafted one of the stud points instead of James Johnson, we could have been in soooo much better shape. edit: To be in sooo much better shape, we would also had to signed BG when he was an RFA.
To answer this question, yes. He made life a lot easier for everyone because of his ability to stretch the defense. He gave Rose more room to operate and made it easier for Deng down low too.
I look at things in a similar way as well. Our record last year was 41-41, but we were a 35 win team before the trade and 50 win team after the trade, so we ended up with 41 wins. Since our roster is pretty much the same sans Gordon, it's useful to compare this team to the team we had the 2nd half, and not the 1st. And in that case, the results aren't very good so far, even adjusting for the schedule.
We added Deng, basically, and let Gordon walk. To me, the ideal thing would have been to keep Gordon AND have Deng back healthy, along with Miller and Salmons for a full season. Are we championship contenders? Probably not, but if we moved Kirk and added a full boat/near full boat FA next summer, we'd be pretty amazing. I suggested a lineup of: Rose Gordon Noah Salmons Deng (at the 5) before Gordon was allowed to walk. Deng's already playing a bit at the 5 (when we have enough healthy guards to play 3 at once). Like I said, probably not a championship contender, though you never know what the addition of Deng and having Gordon still might do for Rose's game. He sure showed signs, at times, last season of being capable of maybe approaching elite status (who needs that FA then?).
Without Gordon, this team is so much better defensively. And our guards are really moving the ball, rebounding, and honestly, we haven't missed a beat shooting. FTW!
A little more seriously in my experience, the biggest problems are often quite simple. In this context, sure, Gordon was just another piece. Just like the keystone is just another piece in a Roman arch. Look at the keystone, and it's about the same size or even smaller than the other pieces of the arch. It's also the difference between a functional piece of architecture and a pile of rubble.
Sorry but BG stretching the defense and being the "keystone" is all bullshit. The only argument you can make is that the bulls would be better with BG coming off of the bench, which they would, but they'd be paying him $11 mil a year to do it. He's definitely better than an injured Hinrich and a gimpy Pargo or Hunter. Except for the last game, the bulls aren't getting blown out until their bench comes in and gives them nothing. They are in games until halftime, something they weren't at the beginning of last year, or the entire year before that with BG as the "keystone." It's also a bad comparison to the second half of last year with Miller giving them nothing now and no bench. Just take a look at Detroit. Even with Rip and Prince out, instead of starting BG they moved Stuckey over to the 2 and started Chucky Atkins at the point. Detroit was doing the same switching thing with BG taking the nonscoring small and they were getting blown out. BG's a sixth man, not a "keystone." No they aren't a good team this year. But they weren't a good team last year, or the year before. And don't let the post all star break surge fool you. They've done that 5 out of the last six years when other teams start tanking for ping pong balls. There's a lot more hope now given that 2 of the bulls top 6 are out right now than there was in years past where the bulls game plan was to lull teams to sleep by letting them run up big leads and hoping their starters got stiff on the bench.
Gordon wasn't supposed to play against the Bulls. He had a sprained ankle. I guess the competitor in him was enough to gut it out and play anyway. Detroit's last game: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2009120608 With Richard Hamilton(notes) sidelined since the first week of the season because of an ankle injury, Ben Gordon(notes) slowed by his own ankle problem, and Rodney Stuckey(notes) in foul trouble, the Pistons went with 6-foot-11 rookie Austin Daye(notes) at shooting guard in the second half. “We knew Ben didn’t have anything for us tonight—I give him a lot of credit for trying—but it was in our best interest to give Austin an opportunity and he really came through,” said Pistons coach John Kuester. “He made some big plays when we were struggling to score.” Gordon came in when Stuckey picked up his fourth foul, but was obviously limited by the sprained ankle. “It’s part of the game, and it is something I’m going to have to deal with,” Gordon said. “We’ve got a day off tomorrow, and that will help a lot.”
By the way, anyone that thinks or thought Kirk was anywhere near as valuable as BG was, as it turns out, wrong.
