How much would you pay for a 31-year-old undersized two guard who scored 5.2 PPG in 19 games last year? Well the Charlotte Bobcats paid $13.2 million for him last year. That’s about $133,333 per point scored… And this guy’s a scorer (allegedly). So you can consider the 27 rebounds and the 21 assists he racked up last year just icing on the cake. That’s just a bonus. Like his 34.3% field goal percentage.
They don’t just give players like this away… (Well actually they do…)
The Bobcats waived him on March 2, 2014, ending a rocky 2-year stay for BG in Charlotte in which he struggled with injuries, battled inefficiency, fought with coaches, and offered little to zero veteran leadership. It should be noted that Charlotte probably never expected much from Gordon. He was obtained in one of those classic NBA trades in which one team trades a colossal mistake they made to another team for one of their colossal mistakes in hopes that a change of scenery could somehow rekindle some of that player’s past success. In this case, Charlotte traded Corey Maggette (and his remaining 1 yr/ $11 million deal) for Ben Gordon (2 yr/ $25.6 million) and a future 1st round pick (which recently became Noah Vonleh). Maggette retired after the 2012/13 season, the same season Gordon should’ve retired after.
So why were the Pistons so eager to move Gordon? Why would a team that’s CLEARLY in rebuild mode trade a first rounder that ultimately became a lottery pick in what many believe is the most talent-laden draft in that last 18 years? Was Gordon that bad? … No, but his contract was. In the summer of 2009, with plenty of cap room, much maligned GM Joe Dumars used the majority of his salary-cap space to form his own “Big 3” pairing Richard Hamilton with recent signees Ben Gordon (5 yr/ $55 million) and Charlie Villanueva (5 yr/ $35 million). Needless to say, this team had very little success, never making the playoffs and failing to finish any higher than 4th in the Central division. After never scoring less than 15.1 PPG in his five years in Chicago, Gordon failed to ever score more than 13.8 PPG in any of his three seasons in Detroit.
Again, zero-time All-Star Ben Gordon came into this league as a scorer, so where are all the points? The worst part about the 3,363 points that Gordon has managed to score over the LAST 5 years (keep in mind, Kevin Durant scored 2,593 in 2013/14 alone) is how many shots he’s had to jack up to score them. Since 2009/10, Gordon has shot 42.2% from the field (37.8% from three). In fact, efficiency has never been a big part of Gordon’s game. His player efficiency rating, much like the rest of his statistics, has been remarkably dreadful since he arrived in Detroit. Gordon’s most efficient season with the Pistons was in 2009/10 when he posted a 14.09 PER; conversely, Gordon’s highest PER in Chicago came in 2006/2007 when he posted a 18.31 PER. To give you an idea of Gordon’s current efficiency, he posted a 12.74 and 6.48 PER in his last two seasons with the Bobcats.
Taking Gordon’s last five seasons into consideration, I was naturally dumbfounded when I saw the Orlando Magic signed Gordon to a 2 yr/ $9 million deal yesterday. Now in fairness, the second year has a team option so if Gordon doesn’t live up to the Magic’s expectations (he won’t, and what’re they expecting exactly?) they can waive him with basically no repercussions. Nonetheless, how does this help Orlando?
The fact that the Magic have a good front office is what makes this move so puzzling. Rob Hennigan, a product of both the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder front offices, has done an excellent job rebuilding the team since he took over GM duties in 2012. Ultimately, the Magic won the blockbuster Dwight Howard trade that summer, when they unloaded Howard, the always injured Jason Richardson, and two bums (Chris Duhon and Earl Clark) for Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, Arron Afflalo, Josh McRoberts, a first round pick in 2014 (which ultimately became Elfrid Payton), a couple more picks, two scrubs (Al Harrington and Christian Eyenga), and a $17.8 million trade exception. Even more impressive was Hennigan’s insistence on NOT acquiring Andrew Bynum in the deal. In fact, after one season, the three principle players in the deal (Howard to LA, Bynum to Philadelphia, and Iguodala to Denver) all found new homes the next summer and left the teams that worked so hard to acquire them. Furthermore, to Hennigan’s credit, he’s done an excellent job of acquiring young talent both via trade and the draft. In addition to the aforementioned Vucevic, Harkeless, and Payton, the Magic also drafted Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, and Andrew Nicholson, and acquired both Evan Fournier and Tobias Harris though trades.
So two questions remain: A) Why bring in a scorer who can no longer score? B) Why pay him $4.5 million? I don’t know the answer to A. I am aware that the Magic were 25th in offense last season and need scoring. But how is Gordon gonna help? He’s obviously the third two guard on the squad (behind Oladipo and Fournier). No way he plays over 18 minutes a game or scores more than 8 PPG. Sidebet: I also doubt he appears in 50 games. Any takers? And I have NO IDEA why the Magic would give this dude $4.5 million. Can’t you pay him a veteran’s minimum (another amount he’s probably not worth)? I mean, realistically, was there ANY market for Gordon’s talents this summer? I find it very hard to believe laughable that there was any type of bidding war for him? If so, does Kwame Brown have another 2 yr/ $6 million deal in him? Fuck it, let’s give Mark Blount another 6 yr/ $41 million deal… Ben Gordon, I ain’t mad at cha. Cash your checks and stay out of the way.
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