Orlando Magic Playbook: Aaron Gordon’s passing helped unlock his game, Orlando Magic’s game
Gordon’s evolution as a passer
Aaron Gordon will not get confused as a dominant or primary playmaker any time soon. That is not his first role on the team offensively.
Gordon offensively is still more of a slasher, working off cuts to get to the basket where he can use his athleticism. He is better working in and with space. He is still struggling to create his separation off the dribble.
Then he is probably more of a spot-up shooter before he becomes an isolation player or driver.
This is not the primary skill he has. But when he has employed it or used it, it has unlocked a big part of his game.
Not the least of it fitting in with the overall offensive mentality Steve Clifford preached to his team.
"“It’s just getting to the open man,” Gordon said in March. “Everybody is talented around here. Everybody is capable of scoring the ball. It’s just about getting it to them in places where I know they can put the ball in.”"
That is a big realization and speaks to the amount of trust the Orlando Magic had in each other as they made their playoff push. Continuing that trust and re-establishing it will be vital to the team.
Gordon had 24 games of five or more assists last year. They did not correlate to the team winning as the team went 13-11. Orlando would still need Gordon to score.
Here is a rare pick and roll with Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic. It is easy to see how his size gives him an advantage to find gaps and feed Nikola Vucevic as he rolls through the lane:
Gordon ran only 2.0 pick-and-roll possessions as the ball handler per game, according to NBA.com’s stats database. It was not his best play either, as the Magic recorded only 0.77 points per possession. The team did not use it very frequently. But it is something they could explore more.
Gordon showed flashes throughout the season of this kind of passing ability. This ability to read the defense and make strong plays. If there is still one area where the Magic could expand his role as a playmaker, it is in the pick and roll.
He has to earn that though.
Here Jerami Grant and Nerlens Noel are both considered good defenders. But they both have to respect Gordon’s pull-up game. His improved ball handling allows him to make this read and engage this play, even bringing the ball up.
More commonplace is a read like this one from Gordon:
Gordon works off the dribble here, attacking the late-rotating defense and getting into the paint. The defense has to collapse in on him and he swirls a difficult pass around the defense to D.J. Augustin for the layup.
That is not an easy pass. Especially since Vucevic did not vacate the area that Gordon drove into. The defense is extremely congested.
Gordon would display a lot of passes like this one. He, like the rest of the team, got really good at making the simple play. That was again a message that permeated throughout the team.
Teammates would say they did not notice Gordon was a better passer, but rather the whole team was making smarter passes and smarter plays.
"“I think Coach Cliff has a lot to do with that teaching all of us to make the right plays,” D.J. Augustin said in March. “I don’t think it’s a matter of him being a better passer. I just think he is making the right plays this year. He is playing with a lot of control. He is not just trying to force things and he is letting the game come to him. AG has been playing great and it’s showing his growth as a player this year.”"
Gordon seemed to make it a point throughout this season to be better about playing purposefully. For the most part, he cut out the wasteful dribbles and the slow isolation plays. When he caught the ball, as he did in the last play, he moved and attacked quickly.
That is the big thing to notice in both these plays. There is little wasted movement. He drives decisively and incisively and makes his read and decision quickly as the defense is reacting.
That is the biggest lesson of all for Gordon. Because he can still get himself in trouble.