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Eric Gordon: Fit on the Clippers and Scouting Report
One of the Clippers’ three moves at the trade deadline was obtaining former Clipper Eric Gordon. We already did a roundtable with overall thoughts on the deal, but here’s a bit more thorough of a breakdown of who Eric Gordon is in 2023 – and what he adds to the Clippers.
Basic Information
Height: 6’3
Weight: 216 pounds
Position: Shooting guard
Age: 34
Years in NBA: 15
2023 Stats: 13.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists,
and 0.6 steals in 30.2 minutes per game across 47 games played on 42.9%
shooting (48.4% on twos, 34.7% on threes on 5.2 attempts) and 81.5% from the
line (2.9 attempts)
Strengths
Shooting: Eric Gordon’s biggest strength as an NBA
player is his three-ball. For his career, Gordon is a 36.9% shooter from deep
on 6.2 attempts per game – a good percentage on high volume. This year, Gordon’s
numbers are down slightly, to 34.7% on 5.2 attempts, but he’s also playing for
a bad team with no real offensive flow. One figures his shooting will perk up a
bit getting more open looks on the Clippers. Moreover, Gordon is not just a
catch-and-shoot guy – he takes three off the bounce, and he does them from very
long-range. Consider that this season, 93.2% of Luke Kennard’s 3s were assisted.
Reggie Jackson was a bit lower, at 85.7%. Well, EG was at 76.5% of threes being
assisted – still the vast majority, but clearly more capable of creating threes
for himself than Luke or Reggie.
Driving: Eric Gordon is also a potent slasher, though
not as much as he used to be. This season, 40% of his points have come in the
paint, and 17.8% from the free throw line, compared to 39.6% and 10.8% from
Reggie and 19.7% and 6.9% from Luke. Per basketball reference, nearly 44% of Eric’s
shots have come from 0-10 feet from the rim, compred to 36% from Reggie and 18%
from Luke. Those aren’t insanely high numbers, but for a team in the Clippers
that has really struggled getting downhill this season, Gordon adds a bit more
there compared to the Clippers who previously manned the bench guard roles.
Heft on Defense: While Eric is not tall, he’s a very,
very strong dude, which has helped him on offense in driving to the basket, and
also on defense. He’s certainly not an option against big men or much taller
wings, but he’s an ok option on a lot of wings. That switchability is something
the Clippers value defensively, and is something else Eric brings that Reggie
and Luke did not.
Weaknesses
Rebounding: Eric Gordon is one of the worst rebounders in the NBA. No, seriously. Of 193 NBA players who have played at least 1,000 minutes this season, Gordon ranks dead last in total rebound rate (% of rebounds collected of all available when on the court) at 3.7%. The next lowest is Lonnie Walker at 4.2% (a legit gap considering the sample size). And it’s not just a one-off – Gordon’s career rate is 4.2%. Despite not being tiny, and possessing plus athleticism for much of his career, Gordon just can’t rebound. Being a bad rebounder is always a negative, but it makes Gordon harder to fit into the Clippers’ small ball lineups – he should be tethered to one of Ivica Zubac or Mason Plumlee (who rank 11th and 18th respectively in TRB%). I’d bet one of those two guys is usually on the floor, so maybe it’s not that big a deal, but it is something to watch for.
Playmaking: A lot has been made about the Clippers’
lack of a traditional point guard, and while I think that specific complaint is
off the mark, more playmaking would be welcome. Well, that’s not really Eric
Gordon’s forte. He’s averaged 2.9 assists this year and hasn’t cracked 3 per
game since back in 2015 in New Orleans. While Gordon can certainly make simple
reads and help initiate the Clippers’ drive and kick game, he’s not going to be
passing anybody open or running a ton of pick and rolls either. If the Clippers
ask him to be a primary ball-handler, it won’t end well. Secondary? Still probably
not ideal. Tertiary (which I think is likely in most lineups), and they should be
cooking offensively. I wish they’d gotten a better passer (I really have talked
myself into Mike Conley being a great fit), but such is life.
General Defense: Despite what I said above about Gordon’s strength and being able to defend larger players, he is, overall, a strongly negative defender. Every single all-in-one stats has him there: -1.6 on Basketball Reference’s DBPM, -0.5 in DEF EPM, -2.9 in 538’s RAPTOR, and -0.94 in BBall Index’s LEBRON. One of these by itself might not mean a ton – but all of them together paint a picture of a well below average defender. Now, Gordon was playing for an awful, young team. On a better team that’s trying to win, his effort will go up – and he should be more effective as well in a smaller role. Still, he’s been bad defensively for years, and is not likely to help much on that end of the floor. Hopefully he’s not a sieve, and is just good enough he can’t be heavily targeted.
Fit
Pulling everything together, I’m a bit skeptical on Eric
Gordon’s fit on this Clippers’ team. If they didn’t have Norm Powell, he would
be filling that role. With Norm, he’ll be doing a lot of the same stuff, but
worse, which is fine – Norm has been excellent for most of the season, and having
a lesser version of him is a good addition. I just think that diversity of
skillsets is important, and that the Clippers getting more of a playmaking-type
guard (Conley, Lowry, or even VanVleet) or athleticism in the frontcourt (Jarred
Vanderbilt, Jalen McDaniels, John Collins being examples) would have been more
helpful. I do wonder if Norm and Gordon being so duplicative leads to one of
them starting and Terance moving to the bench to balance things out a bit, but
we will ese.
Eric Gordon is, at the very least, fantastic Norm insurance,
and will be very helpful on Kawhi/PG load management or rest games (or, knock
on wood, injuries). He seems like the most likely of the expected 9-man rotation
to get axed in the playoffs, but as a regular season addition he should help.
Eric Gordon: Fit on the Clippers and Scouting Report
Robert Flom