I was just reading one of Ben's old journal entries from last year on his website, and he talked about what he was going to work on in the summer. He said his all around game, especially shooting, dribbling, and defense.</p> Just thinking, last year he led the team in rebounding during our training camp. He was what was dubbed by Skiles I believe as the best defender in camp as well. There was a youtube video taken from some news broadcast, where the guy talked about that, you guys remember where the reporter said at the beginning "What was once a weakness is now a strength for Ben."</p> We know that he does pilates and intense plyometrics as part of his workout routine. He probably added more balance exercises into his routine as well.</p> Last year, his main offensive addition was the work he did on his midrange shot. Luol Deng got a lot of praise for his, but Gordon, not so much, and flew under the radar. I felt because of his improved midrange game, he strayed away from the three point shot way too much early on in the year. Hopefully Ben comes out gunning from the three point territory right away in the year, instead of easing into it. He was a little hesistant on his three point shot for the early parts of the season.</p> In addition, we all know Ben is a great penetrator. We see him penetrate the lane at will. The problem has always been that nothing gets accomplished once he gets in there. If he goes for a layup, he just gets hammered, so he just started penetrating, and then doing a spin, or stop into a midrange jumper instead of going all the way. But this is something that Ben might not have to do an improvement himself on. Thanks to our good friend Mr. Donaghy, and not because of the game fixing, but the admitting that the NBA does indeed use star treatment is huge. Ben would just get hammered when he drove, which made it ineffective. With consistent, and fair refereeing, Ben should get to the line a lot more, or, the players will back away from hammering him, and he will be able to finish. With him missing, if he's not hammered, it will probably be one of those types of misses where it rolls off the rim, which would be perfect for Tyrus to clean up on with putback dunks. (Tyrus should be on the court a lot more to do that type of work also).</p> His dribbling is the big one. As far as stutters steps, jukes, crossovers, Ben Gordon is top notch in the league. That is how he allows himself to get open, we've all witnessed that. But he is somewhat lazy with his regular dribble. He isn't able to keep a dribble like Kirk. He needs better control of the ball, he needs to learn how to dribble around the court with more demand. In addition to that, you see glimpses of Steve Nash when you watch Gordon play. He is just one of those creative passers. He is more of a playmaker than anyone on our team. His main two weaknesses with this are first off, lazy passes. He needs to work on making his passes with more precision. One play that sticks in my mind is the one where he threw the alley oop to Tyrus, and it was off...but of course Tyrus was still able to throw it down because he's Tyrus and all. Also a lot of throwing it out of bounds. In addition, his decision making is a little off. He tries to force things where they can't go sometimes. Like I said, he has flashes of Nash. The problem is that this is what it was like with Curry, showing flashes of Shaq, Chandler flashes of KG (some people are probably saying...what?...but Chandler showed some huge glimpses of a very versatile and dangerous offensive game before he hurt his back). The difference though is 1.) Gordon isn't going to suffer a limiting injury like Chandler did, and 2.) He works harder than both Curry and Chandler. So Gordon reaching, and improving something is a lot more likely than those two doing anything. He still has a long way to go, but I fully believe the Bulls will be at their best, and most dangerous when they learn to put the ball in his hands for the majority of the game. Good things happen when the balls in Gordon's hands. No more offensive lulls from the Duhon/Hinrich led offenses. Kirk gets to move to the two guard, and go into the shooter role. Hopefully Skiles is helping mold him into more of a point guard this offseason.</p> Now one of the first things I mentioned was rebounding. I think it would be absolutely huge for the Bulls if he becomes a great reboudner. A good rebounding guard in the league is a great asset, that I think is underrated in the NBA. Thabo is probably the 2nd best (if not best) rebounding guard in the NBA behind Jason Kidd. The problem with Thabo though is that he is a complete offensive liability, and inconsistent on defense, making him a liability at times. Guards that can rebound are valuable, but guards who ONLY can rebound, not so much, sorry Thabo. But if Ben Gordon could become a better rebounder, that will be huge. Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd are the first two guys that come to mind for most people when you think of the fastbreak. Thats in a large part due to their rebounding. Those midrange rebounds become offensive rebounds a lot of the time. Guys like Kidd just jump in and nab them up. The ball is in the guards hands right away, at 3/4 court length, instant fastbreak. No need for a long outlet pass from a big to start the break. If Ben could get those 3/4 court rebounds, and just break out into the fastbreak would be huge. I think we should look to fastbreak a lot with Tyrus and Noah to run the floor. </p> I know a lot of people are really high on Luol Deng, but I think a lot of people are sleeping on Ben Gordon. The guy has been at the Berto since about 2 weeks after we got eliminated from the playoffs, and has been working hard all summer under the coaching staff. I think he will improve the most out of anyone on the team. </p> So what do you guys think of, as far as things he'll be working on this offseason, and their effect on the team?</p> </p>
