Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Ben Gordon

The Good and The Bad

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Generated 5/22/2015.

Gordon’s numbers were always going to be modest. He is not the same player he was six years ago with the Bulls. He probably will not ever be that player. But there was also a half-decent chance he was not the player from his lone year in Charlotte either. A guy with that much talent surely had the ability to come back to his mean.

His 56 games in Orlando saw him come back to the mean some. His numbers showed that. His field goal percentage bumped up to a more respectable — but still not great — 43.7 percent and he was able to score and spread the floor some.

But not much.

The threat and idea of a healthy Gordon sounded great. Even if it happened once or twice during the year.

The reality was Gordon was better than he was in Charlotte, but not a major contributor to the team. He never provided the spark off the bench the team needed to keep the offense humming and give the Magic’s starters a rest. And he was never a player to make a huge impact defensively.

Gordon is not a player who should be in to hold the boat steady, so to speak. He is not that kind of player. He has never been. Not, at least, when he was effective.

Then again, Gordon was not likely to be that impact player again. It was hard to pin down exactly what Ben Gordon was supposed to be this season.

And by the end of the season, even with the team’s depth stretched thin by Evan Fournier‘s injury, Gordon was not even playing. He was a DNP-CD for the final 10 games of the season. It seemed like at a time the Magic could even just use him as a body, they were ready to move on.

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