Houston Rockets: 5 goals for Eric Gordon in 2017-18

3. Be more consistent for whole year

Here’s another goal related to playing at a similar level for the entire year. Not only did Gordon’s 3-point shooting fall off starting in January last season, his play in other categories did as well. Let’s take a look at some numbers for Gordon:

• Pre All-Star break:  17.2 PPG, 2.8 APG, 2.7 RPG, 41.7 FG%, 38.5 3P%
• Post All-Star break:  14.0 PPG, 1.9 APG, 2.7 RPG, 37.6 FG%, 33.9 3P%

Gordon took a significant dive in scoring and playmaking in addition to his decline in shooting percentages. There are two possible reasons for this decline in the second half of the season. First, the Rockets acquired Lou Williams at the trade deadline, which forced Gordon to play in a three-guard lineup with Beverley and Williams. This forced him into an uncomfortable role as a small forward in many lineups, and also took away a significant portion of his ball-handling duties.

The second potential reason is that Gordon simply wasn’t used to playing significant minutes so deep into a season, seeing that he hadn’t played more than 64 games in a season since his rookie year. It’s possible his body didn’t hold up well enough over the course of the season to remain as consistent.

This season there is no Lou Williams, and Gordon will move back to a more traditional sixth man role, which should make him more comfortable. Ads mentioned previously, he will always be playing alongside a great point guard, making it more likely he will get quality looks on a regular basis. That all sets the floor for what would hopefully be a more consistent performance from Gordon over the course of the season. It’s important that he is just as good in March as he is in December for Houston if they’re going to be true contenders.