Four games into his NBA career, Aaron Gordon looked a lot like the youngest player in the NBA. He was out of sorts with the ball in his hands, floating into the wrong areas at the wrong times offensively and his defensive impact wasn’t great enough to register him as a positive influence on the court. With an undefined role and perhaps a lack of clear direction, Gordon looked very much like a rookie in need of a lot of time to find himself as a player.
But on Friday night, we got a glimpse of all of the tantalizing qualities that made Gordon worthy of his prestigious selection on draft night and a look at the difference maker he might prove to be in the long haul. Gordon started the fourth quarter on the floor for the Magic and didn’t come out of the game until the result was decided, and he earned every minute he got in this one.
Gordon’s energy on both ends of the floor rescued the game for the Magic. He was really active around the rim offensively, making for an easy outlet when Elfrid Payton got into the teeth of the defense, and generally lingered in high efficiency areas without mucking up spacing. Gordon would get Orlando off on the right foot in overtime, getting an AND-1 to go for the first bucket of the period and his corner three late in the shot clock with 1:35 left in overtime gave the Magic an insurmountable seven-point lead.
And that’s to say nothing of Gordon’s inspiring defense. Even if Gordon isn’t able to develop a consistent outside shot (although he did drill both of his threes in this game), he appears to be a strong asset at the power forward spot as a tenacious defender and athletic rebounder. Gordon put the clamps on Thaddeus Young, an above average and talented offensive player, late in this game, he sent back a couple of shots and he was effective at cleaning the glass as well. Gordon finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while grabbing six boards and blocking a couple of shots. In his 22 minutes, Gordon didn’t commit a foul or a turnover, adding to his overall effectiveness on the evening.
Gordon’s performance helped secure back-to-back wins for the Magic, but it also posed some interesting questions going forward. As good as he was tonight, Gordon is probably not going to replicate this performance every night – at least not this soon. This makes for an interesting decision for Jacque Vaughn, who I thought coached a really good game against Minnesota. Vaughn has done well to get Maurice Harkless back in the rotation after a brief absence and his next tough choice will be balancing Gordon and Tobias Harris’ minutes at the four, which is where they are both at their best, while still having to play Channing Frye and his $32 million deal.
Frye is off to a poor start with Orlando, and while he still has some valuable NBA qualities, I think it’s obvious that dedicating the power forward minutes to Gordon and Harris, thus freeing more time for Harkless on the wing, is best for the franchise in the longhaul. One solution would be to play Frye primarily as the back-up center, shifting the starting line-up to include Harkless at the three and Harris at power forward. Your second unit would ache defensively with Frye as the rim protector, but you’d also have a human trampoline in Gordon to help clean up the mess (or at least try to).
Even without a staring line-up change, it’s clear that Gordon (and Harkless, who scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, pulled down four boards and came up with two steals on the night) deserves more floor time so that he can find a groove and perhaps come up with more game-saving performances like the one we saw against the Timberwolves.
Speaking of Minnesota, I’d be remiss not to mention Ricky Rubio’s awful looking ankle injury, which forced the star point guard out of the game in the second quarter, certainly changing the course of the game in a major way for both teams. Without Rubio’s tough defense at the point-of-attack, Payton found himself with more space to operate and attack, and he wound up with 15 points and four assists.
It was certainly a pleasant surprise to see the Magic win their second straight game, even if it did come at the expense of an unfortunate injury. After Harris had a confidence building moment with his game-winner against the 76ers, it can only help to have Gordon deliver such a strong all-around performance as Orlando steadily builds toward Victor Oladipo’s return.