Is he a good fit for the Rockets? Is he attainable given our cap situation this summer? I do know that he becomes a restricted free agent on July 1st, meaning the Bulls can match any offer. From CBS Sportsline (updated 4/21): "Ben Gordon and Luol Deng left Friday after player interviews with general manager John Paxson believing they will be back with the Bulls next season, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Gordon and Deng, both of whom turned down five-year contract extensions worth $50 million last fall, will be restricted free agents July 1. "I didn't get any indication from Pax that I wasn't in the plans," Gordon said. "The organization knows what I'm capable of, so if they feel that I'm a piece that they need, they'll make the necessary moves." Deng also said he wants to remain with the team. Paxson likely will let both players solicit offer sheets from other teams that the Bulls would match. If they don't get offers they like, they could sign one-year qualifying contracts with the Bulls -- $6.4 million for Gordon and $4.4 million for Deng -- that would allow them to be unrestricted free agents after next season." http://www.sportsline.com/nba/players/playerpage/498284 I personally think Gordon could address at least two of our concerns: 1. We need another scorer, ideally a perimeter player that can create his own shot. 2. We need a better player next to McGrady in the backcourt. At the end of the day, Alston just isn't cutting it. He is way too inconsistent of a scorer. You can argue that our PG doesn't need to put up a lot of points, but he should at least be efficient. Alston is one of the least efficient scorers in the entire league, not just compared to other PGs. I know Gordon is primarily a SG, but do we really need a pure PG? Adelman has had great success with scoring PGs in the past and Gordon is certainly capable of playing the point. He played both guard positions at UConn. Or, would it be too much of a stretch to make Gordon our starting PG even if we could somehow afford him? Many would say Gordon can't play PG at this level. Offensively, imagine how much pressure he could take off of McGrady on the perimeter. He can score inside and outside. The Rockets should insist that McGrady play closer to the basket next season. Post him up high and coming off screens, even if he doesn't like it. Let Gordon be the primary ball hander. If opposing defenses don't respect him, he will punish them. Alston simply can not do that. Battier will continue hitting spot up 3s. Scola will have another year under his belt. Most importantly, Yao will be back and we will once again have a dominant low-post presence to match an improved backcourt, assuming Gordon is part of it. Gordon can shoot from outside, penetrate and finish, hit FTs and make baskets in crunch time. He is also strong enough that he should fare much better at defending some of the more physical PGs in the West (Williams, Davis, etc...). I don't have any doubt that Gordon is a solid player. The questions are: Will he be available and can we afford him? Will the Bulls match any offer? Does he fit our needs? Can he replace Alston as our starting PG? Here are his career stats (check out the percentages): http://www.nba.com/playerfile/ben_gordon/career_stats.html
whats wrong with alston. his running the team very nice. what we need is someone who can attack the basket and shoot jumpers. lets get cory maggette.
Just some quick commentary from the times I have seen him play: He is not a point guard, nor is he a combo guard. Ben is just a 6'3 shooting guard with an extremely streaky shot. His defense is downright horrid. He has great work ethic, but the money he is probably going to be looking for won't be enough for us to afford him. Basically he is a rich man's Luther, except he was asking for 50M for five years just this past season. Bottomline, horrible fit for the Rockets. We need taller swingmen, not shorter.
EXCELLENT CHOICE !!!! one of the two guys that i would seriously get excited over if they came to H-Town... 1) Artest 2) Maggette 3) Igoudala
I agree that Gordon is absolutely a rich man's Luther Head. I want the rich version. He is much, much more skilled than Head and he gets to the basket. In 06-07, he got to the line 5.5 times per game. Check out some of his career numbers: Career FG %: 43.2 Career 3PT %: 41.6 Career FT%: 85.8 Career PPG: 18.0 (averaging only 30 mpg)
People will underrate Ben Gordon because of his size, but a career 42% three point shooter, 86% free throw shooter, 6th man award winner, and proven 4th quarter stud isn't exactly something to shake a stick at. If we had to give him 10 mil per? No way. If we could get him in a sign and trade for 7 mil or less and we didn't have a chance at a better player? I would do it.
Gordon would be a nice upgrade in talent but would command to much money. We need taller, tougher, grittier players i believe, and someone that could put that ball through the hoop.
Gordon > Head for sure... but yeah, I'd much rather have a slashing 2 or 3 gaurd, at 6' 6"... Someone like Mickael Pietrus or Maggette would be better IMO... The reason Alston sucks is that he's forced to shoot over people or create his own shot, b/c besides McGrady and to a MUCH lesser extent BJackson, he's the only one capable of doing so (save for Yao). Alston can be the point guard, we just need another perimeter scorer to help Tmac out. I'd like a starting 5 of: Alston McGrady Battier Scola THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA with Pietrus or Maggette first off the bench in for TMAC for some serious scoring you could run: BJackson Tmac Pietrus/Maggette Battier Yao There is a high probability that he finished this layup with 2 points..
if we can puck up another scorer adn a backup center than i am fine with alston staying at the point. but he wil;l haev to cut back on his shots by about 5 next yr. we just need to get rid of head, Bjax, and hayes and get ppl that can play defense and score. we are finet at the 4 and the and our starting 2,3,5 are good also we just need a good young athletic 5 to back up YAO and a reserve 2/3 that can shoot and create. if there is any way to pry sean williams from the nets we need to do it, and we need magettie or miller then we will be in good shape.
If theres any Guard/Forward I really want and we have a chance at getting without giving up the farm.... It's Francisco Garcia. This guy is young, a stud, and ready to breakout... problem is he plays the same natural position as Kevin Martin. Garcia would be the perfect tall, physical guard, who slashes, hits 3's and shoots at a high percentage, and has high bball IQ to boot. Plus he's way underpaid. I'd give up Luther Head and a 1st rounder easily.... That probably won't be enough to get it done... but we need to get this guy ASAP.
Mike Miller and Kyle Lowry still make a lot of sense to me if Memphis will take expirings and picks for them. You have to have 3 quality swingman in the 6'6" to 6'8" range that can either score or play outstanding D or both. We've got one scorer (McGrady) and one great defender (Battier). We need another swingman in that size range to play 30 minutes a game that can give us either very efficient offense (Miller) or decent offense and defense, without giving up our other two swingmen. We need THREE quality swingmen. It doesn't do any good to get rid of Shane unless we get TWO quality swingman back on the roster. There are 96 minutes at the 2/3 that have to be covered, that's 35 for McGrady, 30-35 for Shane and 30-35 for somebody else. If........we could get Brandon Rush or Douglas-Roberts out of this draft, they could very well be the quality swingman that we need to give us the remaining 30 minutes. That would leave us with all our expirings to trade for a top notch point guard. The guy I would like to have off the Bulls roster is Kirk Hinrich. He may be gettable for expirings and a future draft pick. He can shoot it well, handle well, set up the offense, assist, and he is ALSO a top notch point guard defender. I really don't want to spend $10 mill per on a Luther Head upgrade, since we are looking to replace him with a swingman anyways. I want to get an upgrade to Rafer Alston.
just say no to undersized shooting guards (unless they're really really good, which ben gordon isn't).
