No defense for calling Gordon an NBA star
Considering the response of my last overrated-themed column (two weeks ago on Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano), I?have to dwell on that theme again.
Maybe I?can be considered Northwest Indiana's expert on overrated sports figures. The latest on my list is Ben Gordon.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Bulls guard who brings back memories of Vinnie "The Microwave"?Johnson from the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s has plenty of overexuberant Bulls fans calling him "Ben Jordan," but he's not good for the team.
Even on Tuesday night when the Bulls went toe-to-toe with the defending champs again, he likely had some dopey Chicago fans saying, "He's such a grinder"?because he played through pain, or "He's so clutch"?after he hit another circus shot to give the Bulls a 93-91 lead with 16.6 seconds left.
It's all hogwash.
Ask stat geeks about the word "clutch" and they'll say it's a misnomer, an outright lie.
In the NBA, great players hit big shots because they're great. Bad players aren't clutch because they're bad. Are Lebron James or Kobe Bryant clutch? Yes, but they hit so-called clutch shots because they're great players.
Gordon wouldn't have to hit improbable shots late if he did other aspects of the game better in the first 46 minutes of most games. It's an insult to Michael Jordan for anyone to use his name to describe the superstar-wannabe Gordon.
MJ?played defense. Correct that ... MJ?played stifling, tough, in-your-face defense, placing him on the NBA All-Defensive team several times. Gordon has never been and will never be on that squad, unlike Bulls teammate Kirk Hinrich.
Not that I'm saying Hinrich is better than Gordon, but he is more efficient (Gordon scored 26 on Tuesday, but shot a paltry 6-for-21 from the field; Hinrich scored 19 on 6-of-12) and Hinrich was named to the NBA all-defensive team in 2006-07. Gordon not only fails to play defense well, he seems to be regressing.
Hinrich also shows his value to the team with his plus-minus number. Geeks know that's a fairly new stat measuring how many points a team gives up and scores while a player is on the floor. Plus numbers mean the team is better off when the player is out there. Hinrich led the Bulls this year by a large margin (+176) despite playing less time off the bench, averaging only 9.9 points and missing 31 games. Gordon played all 82 games and he was sixth on the team at plus-48.
Gordon is truly overrated on offense to anyone who knows basketball. He can light up the scorebook with jaw-dropping shots, but Ben Gordon is more about Ben Gordon than the Bulls, or whatever team he ends up with next year.
He's going to get his 20 points, whether he needs to take 12 shots or 32 shots. He'll even toss in 30- or 40-point efforts, such as the 42 in Game 2 of the current series. But he had zero assists in that game.
Not exactly MJ-like, huh? Not even Kirk Hinrich-like.
Oh, and MJ or Hinrich have never grabbed themselves inappropriately on national TV after making a shot (Didn't see that deplorable display? Visit my blog at blogs.post-trib.com/gorches for the video). If the Bulls don't bring Gordon back as a free agent next season, I?won't shed one tear and the Bulls will be better off.
