Might as well let Baron Davis play center too.

so whos helping out there

He makes up for his lack of height with his athletic ability and long arms.

He will have trouble developing NBA PG skills if he doesn’t have them already.

I’m sure he can handle 5 minutes per night at the PG, though. If Daniel Ewing could, he should.

Gordon is a shooter and will always be a shooter. And at that he may one of leagues best scorers eventually even though he is slightly undersized, he more than makes up for it in his speed and incredible strength. Also Kaman is more of a center then Camby is.

I’d say you’re making a nice try at the “all or nothing” approach to Gordon as a PG, but it’s a huge stretch. I’m not buying it, and I don’t know that anybody else is.

Gordon was drafted by the Clippers because he was the best pure SG available, and the best catch-and-shoot player, with the best 3 pt range. He was also the strongest and most athletic player.

But he wasn’t the best combo guard, or the best PG. Bayless and Augustin are both better at the PG position. You compare Gordon to Baron Davis, and there are lots of similarities. But Gordon simply doesn’t have the handle or dribble like a PG does. Baron always has had it—he’s been a PG from the beginning, played it in college and in the pros. Maybe Gordon’s high school experience as a PG should count for something, although we don’t know much about it. He doesn’t seem to have a PG mentality, and he has been going in the other direction, manufacturing points and making plays as an off-guard. There are a variety of high school PGs, and some primarily manufacture points on their own because they’re better than their competition and they can shoot. Westbrook averaged 29 pts a game in high school, but he had rudimentary PG skills when he came to UCLA and since he played a lot of SG he still has a lot of work to do. My guess is that Bayless and Gordon are similar players. Bayless may be more like Baron Davis, a better dribbler, but he’s not as strong as Davis and Gordon, and he doesn’t have as much of a PG mentality as Davis does.

The Clips had a real need for a great shooter, and Gordon is the guy. We’ll figure out the rest as we go along.

Eric Gordon has been pegged as a SG but he insists that he prefers to play PG. Please refer to this interview for more information:

http://dimemag.com/2008/06/nba-draft-qa-eric-gordon/

That being said, I still believe that we need to think of the future. How will EG defend the ever taller SG’s such as Mike Miller? He is so young, we really need to guide him into the correct role for him in the NBA. The truth is that if Gordon is our SG of the future then we are probably in some trouble if we wish to make it to a championship. He is very similar in attitude as Barbosa and lets face it Barbosa is not a perfect PG but he is worse as a SG (as is Iverson). Without Nash hogging the minutes, Barbosa would probably be a better PG. Lets not let that happen with EG. He needs a role model and guidance at this early stage of his career. That does not mean we should try and force a square peg into a round hole, but we should at least try to see if it is a fit before we look at alternatives. I just can’t see Gordon as the SG of the future. I can, however, see him as the PG of the future. Either way, if our playoff hopes this year rely on a solid contribution from the youngest player on the team then i guess my hopes of playoffs this year are probably not going to be realized.

We need a true starting SG and a true backup SF in order to compete with the best. Azubuike will fill some of that need (if we get him), but we still need another solid player. I would rather EG be a backup PG then a third string SG. With Mobley secure in one of the slots (preferably backup), that would mean that EG will be forced to play starting SG minutes by the end of the year. I do not recommend this even though it makes sense for the team as is. We need to trade TT for a backup SF or hope that TT can fill this role (if he is healthy). Either way EG will probably get more time to play the PG this year and will get better as the season progresses. Please understand that I am not stating that EG should be the backup PG regardless of how he performs in this position. I am suggesting that we give him a year as backup PG and not confuse him by teaching him to be a SG. If the experiment works – then great. If not, he can try his hand as a SG next year – no harm done. If he seems to shine as a SG this year, we may never give him a chance to be a PG and his career will be set – we are then looking at having a 6’3” SG that will score but hurt us day in and out with his defense. If that is the case, we should probably trade him now, get max value for him and obtain a SG or SF that is tall enough to be a perimeter defender.

From what I have heard Gordon is actually a servicable defender against larger players. I believe that when Dunleavy drafted Gordon he even said they put him on a much larger player to see how he react and Dunleavy said he did very well. Gordon can think he is a PG all he wants but in truth he is SG even if a bit small, but I am sure Dunleavy would not have drafted if he thought his height would be a permanent problem for the team.

I was psyched the Clips drafted EG. I watched his hot start and the late season fade after the Kelvin Sampson fiasco. The whole IU team faded badly at the end of the year, not just Gordon. Barring major injuries, I expect him to develop into at best a sweet shooting scorer (a cross between Ray Allen and Dwyane Wade) and at worst a solid starter.

I was especially impressed by how well he stood up to difficult situations last year. He was especially good at shaking off bad starts and exploding for lots of points late in games. The game at Illinois was his most impressive effort (to me). EG backed out of a verbal commitment with Illinois to play for Sampson at IU, and the Illini’s whole game plan seemed to be about shutting EG down. They pressured him into a terrible 1 point first half in which he looked like a very sloppy, rattled rookie. But then he calmed down at half time, stopped forcing ill-advised shots and eventually led the Hoosiers to a thrilling 2OT victory.

That game reflects a lot of what I expect out of EG. He’s very young and didn’t even have a full year to learn from his head coach. I expect NBA defenders to frustrate him badly at times. As long as the Clips are playoff contenders, EG probably shouldn’t be more than a fringe rotation player for at least the first half of the year. But he’s going to be a special player in a couple years if he puts in the work and is developed properly. Think Monta Ellis’s career trajectory.

At no time last year did EG look like he could successfully run Indiana’s offense as the PG so I wouldn’t expect him to be successful PGing an NBA team this year. There are so many intricacies to playing Point Guard in the NBA that playing EG there is asking for him to fail. Maybe they can experiment with him for a few minutes in garbage time, but he should focus on learning how to fit his strengths (shooting and penetrating) into the Clippers’ offense and of course how to play solid defense. Once he’s comfortable with his strengths, he may be able to learn PG skills a la Monta.

I agree that there is a possibility he could learn a few PG skills as the years wear on or during garbage time. CC what did you think of his defense in college on players his size and players larger then him.