Aaron Gordon fulfilling his promise to become a two-way player

Coach Steve Clifford had the goal for Aaron Gordon to round out his game. Gordon is doing that and making the Orlando Magic a whole lot better.

There is a lot of noise around Aaron Gordon.

The pressure is very real on a young player with the weight of expectation and a freshly minted contract. There is a responsibility not to let that be the end of the road, but just the beginning. And, yes, there is the pressure to produce.

For a lot of fans, last year’s breakout season with his 40-point games was a clear sign of his impending stardom. Aaron Gordon has not met those hopes. His season has taken on a different tact.

There have not been the big scoring games that raised hopes like last year. Instead, they are replaced with something else.

There have been games where he has struggled even to get shots. He shot the ball just six times against the Toronto Raptors on Friday and has six games with fewer than 10 shots. The ball does not always find Gordon and he does not always seek out a massive amount of shots.

Yet, coach Steve Clifford has only heaped praise on Aaron Gordon. His goals were never about individual offensive accolades or putting up big scoring numbers. Clifford laid out his goals on Media Day when he shouted “All-Defensive Team” as Gordon met with the media for the first time.

It was an ambitious goal and a different direction from where everyone thought he might head. Sure, Gordon could still be a strong defender. But for this team, his focus needed to be on the offense end.

Yet, Gordon has taken on the responsibility of defending the best player on the other team. And taken to it with relish. His defensive game has gone to another level. He is contesting shots, skying high for blocks and generally making life hard for some of the best players in the league.

Blake Griffin has dominated the league throughout the season so far as a surefire All-Star, but he could not break down or push around Aaron Gordon on the block. Griffin finished with just 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. More impressively, he had just two rebounds.

This came a game after Kawhi Leonard went 7 for 19 from the floor in the Toronto Raptors’ loss on Friday. That cannot get attributed to Gordon alone, but he did a lot of the grunt work.

If Gordon’s main goal for this season was to become a better two-way player, he has certainly done that. So while his raw scoring numbers are down, he is doing plenty outside of that and growing his game.

A lot of that is from things that do not show up on a box score. It shows up in the deflections and positioning he has to keep players away from the basket and the discipline not to bight too often on ball fakes.

This success also takes the confidence and resilience to bounce back when they inevitably score and resolve to win the battle more often than not.

Gordon’s individual stat line on Sunday was a sign of how complete his game has become.

He scored 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting, adding 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. It was a masterclass in both offensive and defensive efficiency. It might very well be the most complete game of his career.

Throughout Sunday’s 109-107 win over the Detroit Pistons, Gordon was active around the basket. He deflected rebounds away from the titans of the post in Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin on several occasions. He challenged shots at the rim in a way few players can on this team.

Gordon has come into his own on this end and is starting to make a bigger difference.

It might be hard to see all the time. Gordon continues to be up and down in the scoring column — his scoring average is down to 15.1 points per game — but every other aspect of his game has gotten better. He seems perfectly content with this too, focusing on doing whatever his team needs of him at the moment.

In some ways, Gordon has gotten back to his roots in doing all of this and becoming this kind of player. He entered the league as an athlete with strong defensive instincts. But as he bounced around positions and focused more on his offense, he lost some of that. His role demanded more.

Clifford has shifted that focus back to his defense. He has admitted he needs to find ways to get Gordon more shots within the offense. A lot of that still has to do with the team’s overall ball movement and cutting. Gordon scored on several occasions simply off cuts to the basket and in transition.

That is where he is most effective. Gordon’s 3-point shooting is much more consistent, and he is looking to make wild, over-dribbled, isolation forays to the rim or mid-range less often.

Orlando Magic

Gordon is still figuring out his offense even five years into his career. But the light has clicked for him defensively again. And he has bought in fully to that role.

Even on nights where Gordon is not scoring the ball effectively — or not as involved in the offense as some might want — he finds a way to positively impact the game.

It may not be the full growth everyone expected from him, but it is growth nonetheless. And a big one from a player who is still incredibly young. Gordon still has several leaps to make in his game if he continues to put the work in.

That noise may never go away this season. Or, at least, not while he remains the team’s highest-paid player. That moniker carries the weight of responsibility.

But Gordon had handled it well. He may not be the one starring for the team, but he has found his role and found a way to star on his own.

Gordon may not be All-Defensive Team yet. But he is well on his way. And the Magic are better off for it.

When he takes over a game defensively, as he did Sunday, and then adds in his offense, the team can be pretty good.