Remember when we signed him people were left dumbfounded but Morey got him dirt cheap it seems. Dude is averaging 24 points and is currently a top 5 SG in the league. Plays great on both sides of the ball and has great chemistry with Harden.
I don't recall anyone substantial on this board criticizing the signing of E-Gord. Everyone knew he is a legit allstar caliber player who has a deadeye shot. There was a huge concern of him getting injured, especially since he has scoliosis that will never go away.. which I still get worried about each time he does those ridiculous dunks.
But why won’t he?. He’s our third best player and prolly gets the third most minutes. He’s improved stats aside you can see that he’s developed his game. He’s been pulling off some slick all star level moves
Dude is a great player on a great contract and an absolute luxury for us to be coming off the bench. No one was concerned about his contract. Everyone was concerned about his injury history.
people were worried about his injury history combined with ryan anderson's injury history. everyone knew the contract was good IF he was healthy, but so far, he's exceed expectations! Love egod
EG is a surprisingly violent basketball player on offense. His drives to the bucket, even his fakes and faints out on the perimeter, are really aggressive. Last year EG started strong but tailed off as the season went on. All that aggression takes a toll on his body IMO. I don't know if he can keep it up. I hope he can.
It's hard to do this in retrospect, but please remember that Morey takes risks, within the limits of what data suggest is reasonable, and some bets will pay off better than others. You'll get some Lins, but also the occasional Harden. You'll get a Gordon, but also an Anderson. We b**** about the bets that don't pay off. But in real time, when decisions have to be made, they're part of the deal.
I agree with everything you said except the occasional Harden part. You don't get an occasional Harden that was dumb luck that okc wanted to trade a guy still under team control for one more year on his rookie deal at the age of 21. Morey got lucky. Teams get players of Hardens caliber once every 20-25 years of that. the rockets have been lucky to get guys close to his level (tmac, Yao,) but the Last true MVP transcendent player we had was the dream and we drafted him almost 35 years ago. There is like 5 guys in the League as special as harden (KD,Lebron,steph,Kawi,russ) and another 3 that could be (Giannis,KAT,AD)
I think the hope is realistic IF Chris Paul gets healthy soon. By playing off both James and Paul , Gordon should get enough easy looks to not have to go "violent" all the time . I agree he takes some hard hits and falls a bit akwardly .
What are you calling "dumb luck"? Harden being available or Morey recognizing Harden's talent. I remember a majority of people thought OKC won that trade.
Gordon started great last year too, but dipped as the season went on. He "regressed to the mean". I think Gordon is only average on defense at most. If he had good D he wouldnt have been so affordable. But even that has exceeded my expectations, he does at least try on d.
Even more glad we did not give him up for Melo. I wanted Melo here too. But we're getting allstar caliber play from a guy NOBODY talked about when he came here last year. The guy is quiet, low maintenance & the ultimate team player. The Rockets made the right move not giving up Gordon
Same here. While spectacular, I would rather not see EGOD do those dunks in lieu of a longer, healthier career with us.