Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets Agree To 4-Year Deal

Eric Gordon has agreed to a 4-year, $53 million deal with the Houston Rockets. Here’s what he brings to a revamped Rockets team.

After an underwhelming 2015-16 season that saw them barely make the playoffs only to be ousted in five games by the Golden State Warriors, almost everyone knew the Houston Rockets were in for a major revamp this offseason.

For starters, the team let interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff go and brought on offensive novice and notorious defensive liability Mike D’Antoni as head coach. Now the front office is shaping the roster in accordance with D’Antoni’s 7 Seconds Or Less offense.

After adding former New Orleans Pelican stretch-4 Ryan Anderson on a four-year, $80 million deal, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Rockets have also reached an agreement with Anderson’s teammate Eric Gordon on a 4-year, $53 million deal.

After being drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers with the seventh pick in the 2008 draft and being traded to New Orleans as part of the deal for Chris Paul, Gordon’s numerous injury-riddled seasons, including last year when a injury to his right ring finger limited him to 45 games, caused him to fall out of favor with Pelicans faithful.

Once the Pellies took Oklahoma sharpshooter and prolific scorer Buddy Hield with the sixth overall pick in June, the writing was on the wall for Gordon’s time in New Orleans.

Now Gordon heads with Anderson to Houston to join a team in the midst of a similar rebuild, trying to recreate the roster while maintaining a competitive unit around megastar James Harden.

With the additions of Anderson and Gordon and the exodus of post ballstopper Dwight Howard, it’s clear that Daryl Morey and company are all in on D’Antoni’s vision.

The team is taking concerted steps to get smaller and faster and create an offense where Harden is the initiator and is surrounded by floor-spacing shooters. In Gordon, they’ve got that and then some.

Along with an incredibly reliable stroke from downtown (.383 for his career), Gordon is a very capable all-around scorer who gets to the lane with ease with his quick first step and still finishes with elite athleticism despite having knee problems early in his career.

Like Harden, he gets to the line frequently and is an excellent free throw shooter with a .814 career clip from the stripe.

While his lengthy injury history is and should be a concern, it should also be noted that Gordon is still young at just 27 years of age and has never averaged less than 15 points a game for a season in his eight-year career.

If Gordon can manage to avoid injury in a similar fashion to the way he did two seasons ago when he played in 64 games for the Pelicans, he will add reliable perimeter shooting  and a secondary scoring threat to a Rockets team that was over-reliant on Harden in that category last season.

Pair him with the deadeye shooter that is Ryan Anderson and you have two immediate scoring boosts that also complement Harden’s inside-out style of play.

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The Rockets may still be a defensive wreck next season, but with the additions of these two former Pelicans, they’ll definitely be able to put up points with the best of them.