New Orleans Pelicans: Eric Gordon Gets Snubbed
By Owen Sanborn
Disclaimer: I know, another Eric Gordon story. My sincerest apologies.
Sports Illustrated comes out with a yearly list that ranks the NBA’s top 100 players and one player that will not be found on the list is Pelicans shooting guard Eric Gordon. There is a consolation prize however, because Gordon does make the list of snubs.
Last year, Gordon was also unranked on SI’s list, but that was following an injury riddled season in which he could be excused for. Although he battled some injuries throughout last season as well, he played in 64 games which is the most since his rookie season in 2008-09. It appears that he got snubbed off of this year’s list due to sub-par play, not the dreaded injury bug.
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This is a telling time in Gordon’s career given that he was supposed to be the next face of the franchise after he signed a max-level contract (four years, $58.4 million) with New Orleans. He was often seen as the next top-flight shooting guard in the league and no doubt go-to scorer for many years to come. Basically, he was supposed to be everything that James Harden currently is.
Now he can’t even crack the NBA’s top 100 list from Sports Illustrated’s perspective and has one of the league’s worst contracts.
Look, I feel like I have talked about Gordon’s shortcomings at nauseam over the past few weeks. And I feel bad about that because he seems like a good dude, but has just fallen into bad luck with injuries. I just want the guy to be successful because when he plays well, then the players surrounding him will play better.
He still is only 25 years old with plenty of talent to overcome his naysayers and return to one of the better shooting guards in the league. People should not whisk him away and give up on him. At least not yet.
No player wants to be labeled as “overpaid” or “overrated,” but I am afraid that is where we are heading in regards to Gordon. This top 100 list from SI is the latest example of that fact.