Magic will meet higher expectations; 5 predictions
By Luke Duffy
2. Aaron Gordon will be an All-Star
Last season Aaron Gordon established himself as the best two-way player currently on the Orlando Magic roster. He was tasked with defending opponent’s best players each night, which he did dutifully and often extremely well. He also averaged 16 points per game and shot a career-high 34.9 percent from 3-point range.
His jumper looked much more fluid, while playing for coach Steve Clifford did wonders for his defensive development. Both he and Khem Birch where the driving forces behind the organization as a whole being brilliant defensively after the All-Star break, so to see neither of them fail to get a single vote for All-Defensive honors was baffling.
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Gordon took his game to another level in the playoffs though, and was easily the standout performer (and really only performer period) in their five game series against the Raptors. He shot 40 percent from deep across the slate of games and in Game 4 had 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Still only 24, there is zero reason to believe he is finished growing yet, even if there were murmurs that that might be the case earlier in 2018-19. It was thought that he would be a great player next to a legitimate superstar, the third best player on a potential title winning team. He might yet still be that, especially with Isaac also set to improve.
But it looks like a lot of people got his ceiling wrong, and by the time this season is over, Gordon could well have established himself as the best player on a franchise that will be making the playoffs for years to come.
Unlike Victor Oladipo before him, the previous front office didn’t give up on Gordon too soon and he is now repaying the Magic for their patience. An All-Star appearance and some All-Defensive validation should follow.