NBA New Orleans Pelicans

Austin Rivers Should Start Over Eric Gordon For New Orleans Pelicans

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By @KellanMiller

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Tom Szczerbowski- USA Today Sports

Writing has always been a therapeutic process for me, so when I penned an article for Rant about Eric Gordon’s offensive woes, I figured putting figurative ink to figurative paper would somehow alleviate the figurative headache he has caused for New Orleans Pelicans fans this season. No such luck. Aside from a solid 14-point showing against the San Antonio Spurs, Gordon has struggled to be much of an offensive presence this season, real or figuratively speaking.

While Gordon is not quite on pace to join the likes of Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and other awful players who top the all-time missed shots list, he is getting a lot of minutes and not doing much with them. Heading into Thursday’s game with the Los Angeles Lakers, Gordon’s stats were dismal to say the least — 19 percent from behind the arc, 29 percent field goal percentage, 33.5 MPG with only 7.8 PPG to show for it. In the win over the Lakers, Gordon played a little over 35 minutes and finished the game with only seven points. Conversely, Austin Rivers finished with eight points in 20 minutes of game-time.

For the amount of minutes he’s getting, Gordon should be contributing a lot more. As I discussed in my previous article, at one point in his career Gordon was absolutely sensational and universally thought to be the next phenomenal shooting guard until injuries derailed his ascendance. With guys like Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans playing beside him, Gordon has developed into much more of a facilitator than score-first kind of player. Undoubtedly, we are working with a small sample size, but Gordon looks out of place in his new role.

Although Rivers left much to be desired in his first two seasons, so far he has consistently provided quality minutes off the bench, leading many Pelicans’ fans to wonder aloud whether or not he should be starting in Gordon’s place. His downfall has been a lack of a mid-range game, but Rivers draws the attention of defenses when he crashes the paint. Rivers is still a liability on defense, but he is developing at a nice pace. He is currently averaging 7.1 PPG with 20.7 MPG. With Davis and Omer Asik in the paint, Rivers would continue to draw defenders away on his signature attacks, leading to easy scoring opportunities (except for the times he is being smacked silly by Ronnie Price).

To the naked eye, it’s not so much the injuries that are affecting Gordon as the style of play. Monty Williams‘ system seems to be benefiting everyone except for Gordon, who would be much more effective if asked to operate the second unit like he was asked to with the Los Angeles Clippers. While he has never been the type to horde the ball for 20-seconds-a-possession like Lance Stephenson, he is much better with the rock in his hands. In his prime years, Gordon displayed a knack for scoring anywhere on the court. Although I’m sure the decision would sting, I doubt Gordon has some Allen Iverson-like aversion to coming off the bench if it meant that his team would benefit. Playing alongside Anderson and Jimmer Fredette, Gordon might find some breathing room if not having to worry about adhering to a “defer” type of style.

The Pelicans have the misfortune to play not only in the Western Conference, but in the most competitive division in the NBA (Southwest). While their contemporaries in the East can make the playoffs with losing records, the Western Conference playoff picture is heavily contingent on individual games. A move to the bench would give The Pelicans the best chance of winning going forward, and in the West, the teams that hesitate to implement necessary changes are lost. It’s never too early to correct these sort of problems.

Heading into the 2013 season, Evans was asked to come off the bench as a reserve wingman. He adapted quite nicely and eventually was worked into the starting rotation. Pelicans fans can only hope that the player they know Gordon is capable of being will start to emerge once again. A move to the bench will no doubt facilitate the process and cure all figurative headaches.

Kellan Miller is a writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @KellanMiller, “like” him on Facebook, or add him on Google Plus.

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