38. Aaron Gordon
There’s no shortage of reasons why Aaron Gordon is one of the top candidates to make his ranking on this list seem ridiculous one year from now. The only question is, ridiculous in which direction?
On one hand:
- He won’t turn 23 until training camp of next year, even though it feels like he’s been around forever
- Gordon’s per 36-minute scoring average has gone from 11 to 14 to 16 to 21 points
- He’s shooting over 35 percent on 3s on nearly six attempts per game
- Over 40 percent percent of his shots are unassisted, in the top quarter of all big men in the league, according to CleaningTheGlass.com. He’s also become an excellent cutter and pick-and-roll ball-handler.
That all of this comes on the heels of Gordon finally playing his natural NBA position of power forward full time bodes well for continued success. If you catch Gordon on the right night, he looks like the perfect NBA player for 2018: shooting and moving on offense while defending all five positions on the other end.
So why the hell isn’t he higher?
For that answer, let’s also consider:
- Gordon is in the last year of his rookie deal and is about to get a very large raise this July.
- Gordon’s 3-point shooting, following a blistering 60 percent month of October, has gone as follows: 39.8 percent in November, 36 percent in December, and an Andre Roberson-esque 20 percent in January. His attempts, meanwhile, have increased each month.
- For all of Gordon’s exploits, the Magic currently sport the worst record in the NBA.
There is a silver lining regarding that last bit of depressing reality. Although the Magic are a not-too-great 13-26 when Gordon plays, they are a desultory 1-9 in games he’s been out.
So where does that leave us with the former Wildcat? Could Gordon be the second-best player on a contender? The third? If his shooting continues to plummet, does he even have a role on a successful offense in the modern NBA?
The best hope for Gordon upping his value here likely has nothing to do with anything he’ll do on the court, but rather whether the Magic can hit lottery gold yet again and draft the superstar that lets us know just how valuable a secondary piece Gordon can be.
So I guess the answer is “check back next year.”
Maybe.