Aaron Gordon still going through growing process for Orlando Magic

Aaron Gordon re-signed with the Orlando Magic and immediately had star expectations. He has not met those but is still growing in many ways.

No one is harder on himself than Aaron Gordon.

While always courteous with the media, after defeats Aaron Gordon has a morose quality to him. He answers questions honestly, but it is easy to feel how much the defeats hurt him and his hunger to win.

But like so much of this Orlando Magic roster, the how in winning is the part that no one really has a firm understanding. The Magic have won more than 30 games just once in Gordon’s four-year career, and he was hurt for much of that run to 19-13 with a broken foot in his rookie year.

The Magic have certainly done something of a disservice to their former fourth overall pick. Like so many of the players on the team, he picked up bad habits that come from perpetual losing. Breaking those are not easy.

This is all the background behind Gordon this year. And how his development has had a strange, winding road.

After his breakout season last year, he signed a lucrative four-year deal. The team indeed got something of a bargain, front-loading that deal starting at $21.6 million this year. But that still comes with the weight of expectation.

And Gordon has struggled some to live up to those expectations.

His ups and downs are part of the growth process, as frustrating as they may be. He has struggled in some of the areas he succeeded in last year, but he has thrived in others. Gordon has started to round out his entire game.

That probably will not satisfy everyone. It certainly does not satisfy Gordon. He has a high standard for himself and in some respects, Gordon is not having the same kind of year as last year.

This year, Gordon is averaging 15.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Both are down from last year’s 17.6 and 7.9 rebounds per game. He is shooting a more efficient 45.8 percent from the field and 38.0 percent from beyond the arc. But his shot attempts are down.

Lacking from Gordon’s statistical profile this year are the scoring outbursts that characterized his early season breakthrough last year. Gordon’s season high is his 31 points in the home blowout over the New York Knicks. He has just eight games (out of 29) scoring more than 20 points. He has six games scoring fewer than 10 points.

His run of games in Mexico City were as frustrating as anything else — 16 total points, seven total rebounds, 10 total assists and a 36.1 percent effective field goal percentage. He certainly shrank some offensively in the altitude.

But things have changed for him and the way he is approaching the game. Those 10 assists in the two games in Mexico City included a career-high seven assists against the Chicago Bulls.

It is true, Gordon has not fulfilled the All-Star promise of his offense from last year. But he is rounding his game out in other ways while reducing the inefficiencies that characterized his game toward the end of last season.

That has been the biggest task for the Magic this season. As John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com detailed when the team was in Mexico City, keeping Gordon within the confines of the system and contributing positively to the team is a big part of his game now.

It goes back to something then-coach Frank Vogel said last year. Gordon’s best offensive games came within “the flow of the offense” rather than when he tried to force things in isolation or by overdribbling.

Undoubtedly characterizing’s Gordon’s season so far is complicated.

Gordon’s pull-up shooting is happening less and less frequently as the offense works around him rather than through him.

Last year, Gordon averaged 4.4 pull-up field goal attempts per game according to Second Spectrum, shooting a 34.1 percent effective field goal percentage. This year, Gordon is down to 3.8 pull-up field goal attempts per game with a 45.7 percent effective field goal percentage.

That little improvement means he is scoring less because he is shooting less frequently. But he is far more efficient. It is seen elsewhere in his game.

Last year, Gordon had 5.2 drives per game according to Second Spectrum. He shot 37.9 percent from the floor on these plays, scoring 2.8 points and dishing out 0.3 assists per game.

This year, he is also at 5.2 drives per game. But he is shooting 46.8 percent from the floor and scoring 3.0 points per game and 0.4 assists per game.

This is where Gordon’s play has made a bigger difference offensively. Gone are his aimless dribbling possessions (mostly) and his wild forays to the basket. In are more controlled possessions where he forces things less and is able to find open teammates more.

Gordon has become a lot more efficient even if his raw numbers are down. The only place where he could stand to improve is his catch-and-shoot percentage (at 37.2 percent this year, very similar to last year).

Orlando Magic

Offensively, Gordon has left some things to be desired. He is far from finished or perfect.

It is likely in his 3-point shooting and spot-up shooting that this raw scoring difference comes. Because his increase in his passing — from 2.3 per game to 3.0 per game and an 11.7 percent assist rate to 14.3 percent — it feels like he is doing less offensively.

Quite the opposite, he is doing more and doing it more efficiently for the most part.

There is undoubtedly still some frustration. His game against the Utah Jazz displayed that. He struggled to shoot and was clearly trying to force things to get himself back in rhythm. That led to his six-turnover effort.

As much as he has improved himself, he still has the penchant to overdo things. But those instances are becoming less and less.

Of course, his game still comes with its growing pains. His scoring is down and his inconsistency is up. Gordon is not quite living up to expectations fully. Even with the improved efficiency.

His usage rate is still a robust 22.2 percent, but still down overall (from 24 percent). That is not the profile of a star player — Nikola Vucevic‘s usage rate is at 27.5 percent.

But that is not what Gordon is. Not yet, at least.

The Magic are still asking the question whether he will get there. They paid him like it — at least for this year. At some point, the Magic will need more from Gordon. And perhaps that big game is still on its way from him. Or even that long extended stretch of stellar play.

So far, he has been smart with the shots he has taken and where he searches for his shots. Gordon is doing a better job finding some balance and looking for new ways to contribute more effectively.

This is also be part of the growing process for him. Just as much as his wild forays were last year. Gordon’s season likely will be a search for this balance.

For a baseline, the Gordon the Magic have gotten so far has been plenty adequate.