Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Aaron Gordon

The rookie combo forward out of Arizona was not expected to play a big role this season but in his limited opportunities some encouraging signs were seen.

When the Orlando Magic selected Aaron Gordon fourth overall this past draft many people (myself included) thought Gordon was a couple of years away from contributing to this team.

Gordon’s offense was non-existent outside of dunks. He was not strong enough to defend NBA power forwards yet.

So where could he play? Where did he fit?

At the start of the season, the Magic relied heavily on Aaron Gordon as a small forward, he even replaced the previously reviewed Maurice Harkless in the rotation. Early on Gordon struggled big time, he seemed lost (as most rookies do) on defense, and offensively he was just kind of there.

As the season progressed Gordon started to grasp the NBA game a lot better and the results were impressive.

Defensively Gordon seemed to have distinguished himself as Orlando’s most versatile defender, capable of defending one through four on the floor. With his defense on the upswing Gordon also showed off all of the work he had put into his shooting.

Gordon’s season unfortunately, turned upside down after suffering a stress fracture of his fifth metatarsal (The same injury Kevin Durant suffered).

After coming back from the injury Gordon was not the same player offensively as he had been before, and while his defense and energy were positives his lack of offensive game usually hurt the team more than his other traits helped.

So what was the story of Aaron Gordon’s season?

Next: The Good & The Bad