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Aaron Gordon, a No. 5 Pick?

If they stay at 5, I think Aaron Gordon continues to look like a good pick for the Jazz. Would love to see that private workout tomorrow.
 
In a lot of the articles and scouting reports I have read they say that Gordon is a Power Forward and would have a very hard time ever being able to play SF in the league. The only and I mean only reason that I would consider Gordon over Noah V. Is if Gordon could start and play almost all his minutes at SF.

Even then if its between AG and NV I would take Noah all day.
 
I echo the sentiment stated a few posts back about Gordon's ability to play the 3. If he can, great. But if not we already have a small 4 in Jeremy Evans.
 
infection said:
I don't really follow much of the college game until I get to looking at stats, more or less (admit it, so does the majority of everyone else), leading up to the draft. However, I remain skeptical about Gordon. Not necessarily that he can't be good and a significant player, but more that I'm skeptical about how non-complimentary his weaknesses are to our team. Previously, I've mentioned the JazzFanz Bonerz scale, which is essentially a ratio of athleticism:talent. I think if people are excited about Gordon, then that's fine. However, amidst that excitement, it's not necessary to have to feel obligated to believe they'll improve at something beyond a degree that is reasonable. Very often we talk about players developing some certain part of their game, one that they're not just poor at, but something they're not skilled at, at all. There are many components of the game and it's the amalgam that makes someone an NBA caliber player. Too often we assume that there's this magic where just because somebody is at a professional level overall, that each aspect of their game is of NBA quality. The point I'm getting at is that people typically can develop skills of which they already have and can improve upon. They typically don't develop something from nothing simply by some kind of NBA magic... or even by working with a shooting coach. Every year we thought AK was going to come back with a jumpshot because we thought all he needed to do was work on it over the off-season... or all he needed to do was work with Hornacek.

The bottom line is that Gordon's free throw shooting is on the level of pretty poor city league guys. This isn't a knock of Gordon because obviously he has a significant amount of talents and abilities that has advanced him despite that. But just because we may like the guy doesn't mean that we need to believe that he's going to "work hard" and become a decent FT shooter. We can accept that as part of his game and be ready for it without compromising our excitement or passion for him.

My feeling is that it's possible this guy could be a good accessory piece that could put you over the top. But you can't have a guy put you over the top if you don't have the pieces to get you close to the top to begin with. So, I'd rather pick up a guy that at least has that potential. Is he a rich man's Chris Singleton? Who knows.
Click to expand...

Using Singleton and AK as example to support your claim only weakens it a bit. While I agree that magically a player's weakness doesn't just go away if he enters the NBA. However, AK got by on his talent. Rarely, did he work on his game. All reports I've heard about Gordon is, he is obsessed about basketball. He is going to have more time just to concentrate on basketball. He is 18 years old and wants to be great. He has been one of the better players in his age group and seems to have an alpha dog type personnel vs a Derrick Favors - nice/quiet guy mentality. I think he will improve on his FTs if he wants to be great.

Magic wasn't a great shooter when he came into the league, Jordan didn't have three point range, Lebron's outside shot was inconsistent when he came in the league. Kobe struggled when he came in the league. Now if Gordon had some physical ailment like Brewer or he had the form of Gilchrist then I would not be so high on him. I think you can't just say well a certain player didn't do this in college so he will never be able to do it in the pros either. Seems like the other side of the coin to the people who think his poor FT shooting will magically disappear once he gets to the NBA. Neither is true 100 percent of the time. Players can overcome weakness if they have the desire, focus and work ethnic to do so. They might not become great at this particular weakness but they can eventually make a weakness not as glaring.
 
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