Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Vol. 5: Lottery dreaming
I can give you the team answer and the statistical one here.
The team will tell you Aaron Gordon is a forward. We got this refrain from Victor Oladipo for his rookie year as they tried to run him as a point guard and put the ball in his hands more and more. That is to say, Gordon will probably be splitting time at each forward position for most of his career.
According to Basketball-Reference, Gordon has played 68 percent of his minutes at power forward. Take that for what you will.
Long term, it is still tough to say exactly where Gordon will fit within the Magic lineup.
His style of play probably fits playing power forward a little bit more than playing out on the perimeter. He still has to work on keeping his dribble tight and attacking from the perimeter to be a three.
Not to mention, his 3-point shooting. That has improved and will have to be a part of his game moving forward. It is still too early to really pin down a position for him. He needs the direction of a coach as much as anyone to give him a role that fits his talents.
At this point, we cannot assume the Magic are going to take anyone. We do not even know where they are picking yet! So I do not want to say they should take Karl-Anthony Towns yet or figure out how Gordon would fit in with him.
I do like playing Gordon with a guy like Tobias Harris who can play both forward positions. They seem to cover for each other’s mistakes.
Next: Who should the Magic target in free agency?