Orlando Magic: 2017-18 player grades for Aaron Gordon
By Luke Duffy
Weaknesses
It certainly wouldn’t be true to say that Gordon has no weaknesses in his game. If he didn’t, then the Magic wouldn’t have won only 25 games.
But it is also now true that he is arguably their best player, so really, his biggest weakness in 2017-18 was an inability to play as many games as the team would have liked. Gordon played 58 times, starting all but one of those contests, with various injuries keeping him out of the rotation at key times in the season.
These included games missed because of calf and hip flexor injuries, as well as concussion. It almost felt like Gordon would go on a great run of games, only to then get injured again.
When he was actually on the court though, it is his defensive abilities, which have improved, that still need more work.
A strong defensive showing in the third quarter showed a Jonathan Isaac-Aaron Gordon forward tandem has potential on defense. That was the one major highlight of Isaac's return from injury Friday. Story: https://t.co/WnmtsoWBAS.
— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) March 31, 2018
It was hoped that former head coach Frank Vogel could unlock that potential, but that didn’t quite happen. It is hoped now is that playing with guys like Jonathan Isaac and Khem Birch can help Gordon get to a higher level on this end of the court.
His 3-point shooting still needs some work as well, as his percentages plummeted after those strong first two months.
If we really want to nitpick, Gordon had a tendency to go one-on-one against opponents when the Magic were down during the season (career high usage rate of 24.7 percent). Then again, given the fact that his teammates didn’t exactly step up all that often, it is unfair to come down too harshly on him for this.