Friday, October 1, 2010

Alumni Profile: Ben Gordon


Looking Back: Ben signed a sizeable contract with Detroit but didn’t live up to it. He was bothered by injuries that had him miss twenty games. He was back to his sixth man role for much of the season, starting only seventeen games, the least since his rookie year. While he doesn’t mind coming off the bench, his best year was in 08-09 where he started seventy-six games. His team struggled to find an identity and was out of contention early.

The Good: Gordon is such a versatile player. He can start, come off the bench, be a primary ball handler, a pick-and-pop shooter or pure jump shooter, can create his own shot, and hit the clutch shot. There is no doubt that he has all the offensive tools to be an elite player, but he just hasn’t reached that echelon yet. He has not yet become a major starter in the league, even with his starter like offensive numbers.

The Bad:
Defense isn’t what comes to mind when thinking of Ben Gordon. He is serviceable, but he picks and chooses his efforts at this end of the court. He is also a streaky shooter and he was mostly off last year, hitting only .321 from three, a drastic dip from the year before of .410. He isn’t the best passer either. If the ball is in his hand then it is more then likely going to be shot.

Looking Ahead:
Ben will be healthy and ready to redeem himself from the poor season that he had. He was on some bad Bulls teams similar to the one he was on last season and was never discouraged. He should be an offensive spark off the bench again. It is unsure what Detroit will be able to do in the East, but they should be better then last year. How better is still to be determined.


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