Since many people are talking about this in various threads, I figured let's discuss it in a separate one Based on MDA's vision of a position less offense, how they like him next to Harden just like Ty and how much he is paid, I'd say he has a great chance to start. I'm torn about him starting, because neither he nor Harden can guard PGs and you cannot expect Ariza to do it. However, Beverley is far from great so I'd like him to experiment with it at least. It seems too good an opportunity not to play them together. Two shot creators as well as Ryan, that just makes sense. You can keep one of Harden and Gordon on the court at all times, so please don't start that if they both start there's no scorer off the bench. So all in all, I think MDA, Morey & Harden envision it and if you can try it with Ty, you definitely can with Gordon. Makes too much sense imo. Thoughts?
Offensively, it makes a ton of sense to start him next to Harden, with Harden the primary ball handler. We'd have to have a killer team defense to make it work on that end though.
The odd man out would be Ariza. Harden is much more competent defensively as a 3. You put him on SFs, Gordon on shooting guards, and Rubio on the point.
I don't think our bench is strong enough to be productive without having EGO on there. However, if someone emerges as our leader off the bench, then EGO would do fine as a starter. I really don't think defense is a priority at all this season.
We ought to try this first and see if Beverly excels as the energy guy off the bench. But the flip side is that Gordon may be more suited to the sixth man role given Harden's control of the offense. So I'm torn.
You can sub him out for Beverley, then bring him back to play besides Beverley when Harden sits. Easy.
Having Harden dribble the ball up the court and fight off defenders is going to wreck his body. You have to have a true PG who can bring it up. If Gordon is playing alongside Harden, its because we are playing small, and one of the bigs is sitting.
Well, Morey might bring one in, but as the roster is now we have no true PG and Harden is the closest to it. MDA also said he envisions Harden in the role of Nash so..
He won't be a starter. Eric Gordon has played 30+ minutes his whole career, never having a season where he played less. However, he also has not been able to stay healthy. Playing heavy minutes won't be good for his durability if we account for the fact that D'Antoni's offense is also fast paced. Eric Gordon is still only 27, and entering his prime. Before his injuries he was considered one of the best up and coming SGs. This is a chance for him to get his career back on track whilst he is still young, and I highly doubt Morey would risk another injury by giving him starter minutes. This will be a very interesting situation for the Rockets. Eric Gordon seemed like his career would have followed the trajectory of Brandon Roy/McGrady if he continued his career direction with NOH, but instead he got pulled out of that situation to be placed in a spot where he will have reduced minutes and offensive burden. This could actually save Gordon's career and allow him to have a productive and efficient 2nd half of his career.
I don't think he will be a starter. Nor should he, in my opinion. We need a reliable scorer to come off the bench and let harden rest for a bit. He will definitely be a closer.
Eric Gordon would get abused on defense against opposing PGs (not to mention the toll it would take on his already brittle body). Moving Harden to SF could work but i don't think he'd be as effective on offense because he would be facing longer and stronger defenders.
I like to have consistency with my starters. So like Nene, considering injury history, I wouldn't start a player that almost always misses 20 games a year.
If he can stay healthy, Eric Gordon is a much better starter than PBev. I remember him as a very good offensive and defensive player.
We will see what MDA decides. I wish the NBA season was shorter, but one of the good things about how long it is is that we have a good chance to try a lot of different lineups and combinations. But, IMO, this shouldn't even be a debate at all. If it was up to me, Gordon would be coming off the bench without question. For two reasons. One, this gives us another scorer to come off the bench. Yes, he and Harden would still overlap their playing time. But this gives us more of a chance to decrease the lulls in scoring by constantly having a dynamic scorer in the game. But 2, and maybe more importantly, is we unfortunately need to limit his playing time. We can't underestimate how plagued by injuries this guy's career has been- which is why I'm not a very big fan of the signing. Having him as the 6th man off the bench helps to facilitate that. Like I said, it will be interesting to see what MDA decides and to watch him experiment with this new roster.
