Scott Skiles’ Strategy with Luol Deng, Shawn Marion Will Benefit Aaron Gordon
Scott Skiles helped carve Shawn Marion and Luol Deng into formidable NBA players, and now he can do the same for Aaron Gordon.
With this young Magic team, Scott Skiles finds himself without a premier option at power forward — at least not yet. But there is a very interesting parallel with Skiles and two of his former squads’ players: In Phoenix, combo forward Shawn Marion and in Chicago, small forward Luol Deng.
Skiles helped form both players into All Stars, and the hope is now he can do the exact same thing to 2014 No. 4 overall pick Aaron Gordon.
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Let’s begin in the Valley of the Sun:
Skiles coached the 2000 Phoenix Suns to a 53-29 finish and helped the team defeat the San Antonio Spurs 3-1 in the first round of the postseason, and he did so with a 6-foot-8 power forward by the name of Shawn Marion.
Marion retired following the 2015 season, but his best seasons came during his time in Phoenix. Skiles was largely responsible for shaping “The Matrix” into the player he became.
“The Matrix” version of Marion was a player without a position, a true hybrid forward. But Skiles found a way to plug him into a fast-paced attack that saw the UNLV product average more than 19 points and 10 rebounds per game.
In that time, Marion developed an effective 3-point shot, hitting 39 percent from behind the arc in Skiles’ final year of the three-year stint spent coaching the Suns.
Gordon is almost eerily similar to Marion.
Gordon showed all the signs of having a stroke equivalent (and far prettier) than Marion’s in Summer League play, beginning the session on fire by hitting his first four jumpers, two of which were 3-pointers. He finished summer league having hit 6 of 12 from distance.
Gordon went inside for boards and snatched them to the tune of 11.7 per game. Without question, he is a dynamic athlete in Marion’s mold, capable of defensive plays on the basis of strength, speed and agility.
Marion averaged 2.9 steals/blocks per game in 2002, and he eventually upped that figure to 3.7 at his best. To envision Gordon doing this is not altogether too challenging.
Recalling the two shots he snatched out of mid-air last season alone illustrates the abilities are there, and having a more experienced coach like Skiles should help Gordon reign in a focused effort.
Eventually the potential for Gordon to become a defensive pest capable of drilling the three is within grasp.
To simply say Skiles might know how to bring this about seems like less speculation than actual fact — Gordon may finally begin cashing in on his immense potential under a coach whose past record shows he can make this work.
Another case of Skiles developing a hybrid forward? Luol Deng.
Deng, much like Marion, came into the NBA in need of a defined role. At 6-foot-9, he found himself slightly undersized to play the 4-spot, but Skiles helped develop the Duke phenom into a strong threat at the 3-spot.
Deng initially could not shoot the three ball, but Skiles actually had him abandon it in his third NBA season. The result was that Deng focused more on shooting in the mid-range and getting to the rim, helping him average 18 points per game on 51.7 percent shooting. He was never hoisting threes at a high rate, but if Skiles sees Gordon is best suited shying away from the three, he will let him know.
Later in his career, Deng was able to add the triple and it helped him evolve into an All-Star. Development is still clear.
Once again, Skiles had helped form a young talent whose career could have failed to take form. Deng’s model of success is different than Marion’s — but only slightly — and Deng became a formidable defender in his own right (twice top-5 in NBA defensive win-shares), though his individual stats are not quite as overwhelming as Marion’s (1.8 blocks/steals for Skiles in his third NBA season in Chicago).
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Naysayers could easily interject Gordon is a different case than Marion and Deng because he is a different guy, and a different player. But the similarities really cannot be ignored, and Gordon will work. He is working with the same athleticism as Marion and that is the foundation for becoming the power forward the Magic need.
Positionally, it may not be of utmost importance who is assigned the role of ‘3’ or ‘4’ when Gordon is on the court with Tobias Harris. However, the fact Gordon and Harris are playing for a coach who has implemented hybrid forwards with such success is a strong indication the Magic could be on the verge of a major breakthrough.
Skiles has been here before, and it is favorable for Gordon that he follows his advice, relying on a coach who can coax the most talent out of pure basketball players.