Eric Gordon: Looking to Thrive With Alvin Gentry

Eric Gordon has always had high expectations in New Orleans ever since he was a part of the Chris Paul trade. At the time, he was thought of as being the “next great shooting guard,” similar to the narrative that has been built around Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal. Unfortunately for Gordon, injuries have derailed his career from ever taking off. He never quite made the leap.

Now, he has to deal with third-banana status behind Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans (sometimes even fourth banana if Jrue Holiday ever gets it going). That is a humbling circumstance for a player who was once dubbed as a potential franchise cornerstone.

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But I think at this point in his career, the role of supreme spot-up shooter with some off the dribble juice suits Gordon perfectly. And things only figure to get better with Alvin Gentry at the helm of the offense.

“(Gentry’s system) works well for guards who can playmake and guards who can shoot,” Gordon told pelicans.com earlier this week. “When you’ve got guys who can shoot on the floor, it really spreads out everything for everybody. It’s a fun style of play and there are a lot more pick-and-rolls that we haven’t done as much in the past. It’s going to be a totally different type of game.”

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Sign me up Eric, sounds a hell of a lot more fun to watch than the offensive slog Pelicans fans were subject to at times last season. The offense was respectable and did creative things occasionally, but the lack of tempo often resulted in random shot clock bailouts from Davis and Evans that happened to fall. This year I assume that we will see more method to the madness with the offense.

As I just eluded to, the Pelicans did not run last year, coming in at a putrid 27th ranking in regards to pace. With a roster full of young, springy athletes, ranking near the bottom of the league with other snails such as the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz is a complete misuse of their skill set. Pushing the pace matters. Just ask teams how difficult it was to defend Golden State last season.

Gordon also touched on Gentry’s affinity for pushing the pace, “I don’t think we’ll ever be up against the shot clock anymore,” Gordon said. “(Gentry) is all about possessions. We talked about how limited we played and how slow we played. He wants that way up. He wants the game fast, he wants more shots. He thinks that’s going to be tough on a defense, to see so many shots go up and go in, wide-open shots. The faster you play, the easier shots you’re going to get. He keeps emphasizing that you have to play fast 100 percent of the time. He doesn’t want it to be 60 percent of the time. And he wants the offense to be in a rhythm.”

Gordon is going to soar in that type of offense given his skill set. He wants to chuck it and utilize his 45 percent mark from beyond the arc last season. Gentry is going to give him the license to do so without any feeling of remorse. And the Pelicans are going to need that scoring punch from Gordon early on with Holiday reportedly going to be on a minutes restriction until January.

Throw in that Gordon is playing for a new contract and everything sets up nicely for him to build on his excellent 2014-15 campaign.

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New Orleans Pelicans: Eric Gordon Will Thrive With Alvin Gentry

By Owen Sanborn | Sep 25, 2015

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