Eric Gordon is nothing better than a complementary player.
What makes you say that? He is the number 6 most efficient shooting guard in the entire league, and he's the youngest in the top 20, except for James Harden. In his third year in the league he is a sliver away from being a top 5 player at his position, and two of the players above him are 33 and 34 (meaning their production is going to fall off, while he has tremendous upside). Number 1 is Dwyane Wade, who is unlikely to get better than he is ...
Seriously, man. By your logic Blake Griffin is only a complementary player (he is only the 6th most efficient PF at his young age).
Exactly. What does "complimentary" even mean? Okay, sure he needs other players who "compliment" him as well, great so does everyone.
As you said Gordon is one of the best players at his position already and it's a thin position going forward.
Is he a franchise player? Probably not. But a multi-year All Star (a lock for Gordon IMO) is not a "complimentary player".
complementary player, as in, he's not a guy i'd pay max dollars to be my main guy, but if i already had a nice core in place and needed a nice #3 option at SG to put me over the top, i'd make a move for him.
eric gordon is not a guy you spend a lot of money on if you don't have any main scoring options in place already.
as the team enters rebuilding, i think it's going to be very important not to jump at the first chance to sign a nice exciting scorer. it's important to wait to spend that money on somebody who can really be a valuable building block moving forward -- and by that i mean somebody who you can legitimately build around, or who at least won't impede your ability to acquire a player like that.
if you spend money just for the sake of spending money, even if you spend it on good players, you're likely to end up like Detroit, or maybe Houston as a best case scenario. you don't want to invest a lot of money in guys who are nice players but who will only raise your team a few steps out of the NBA basement and keep you stuck on the verge of the playoffs.