I'm becoming a huge fan of Aaron Gordon

[Mr October]

With Rondo's impending free agency, I can't see how this is the kind of player they want to add to a team that wants to be relevant enough to entice Rondo to resign. He has some skills and is athletic but he is still incredibly raw and to be honest, probably could use at least another year in college. If Danny drafts this kid, he's shown his hand already because Rondo will be traded soon after that and we'll go with a complete youth movement. Rondo's not stupid and there's no way he stays on a team that drafts developmental players.

I don't see how that is different from drafting any other freshmen in the lottery. Embiid is probably 4 years away from being a very good player, and big playoff performer.

[footey]

What I like most about him was shown in his interview after the game.

 I don't care about the stats, I just want to win so badly.

 I am paraphrasing, but that is the gist of his persona.   Building a team around guys like that wins championships. 

Kind of reminds me of KG, without the anger!!

[Tr1boy]

What I like most about him was shown in his interview after the game.

 I don't care about the stats, I just want to win so badly.

 I am paraphrasing, but that is the gist of his persona.   Building a team around guys like that wins championships. 

Kind of reminds me of KG, without the anger!!

+1.  He has that extra gear not many players have. Only champion players have. While you are getting tired, stressed out, mentally drained, gordon increases his energy level and mind stays clear.   

[guava_wrench]

What I like most about him was shown in his interview after the game.

 I don't care about the stats, I just want to win so badly.

 I am paraphrasing, but that is the gist of his persona.   Building a team around guys like that wins championships. 

Kind of reminds me of KG, without the anger!!

+1.  He has that extra gear not many players have. Only champion players have. While you are getting tired, stressed out, mentally drained, gordon increases his energy level and mind stays clear.

I'm sorry but a lot of bad players have that extra gear too.

It is important to keep in mind that tourney games are a very small sample size and don't include many of the best players, so be wary of increasing evaluations of players based on tourney performance.

Don't forget guys like Jerome James (and that was against NBA talent).

[obnoxiousmime]

I forget who made the comp but Luol Deng was mentioned as a possible similar type of player Gordon could become. I think the difference would be Deng is a little more offensively skilled (though I don't remember what he was like as a rookie) while Gordon is a more explosive athlete.

I'd be willing to take a gamble on him because of his athleticism and his makeup. He will make a defensive coach somewhere very happy in a few years.

[Eddie20]

I think we all see the strengths and weakness of his game. Now the question is can he improve his weaknesses? His form looks fine and it just seems as though he needs to work on his confidence and repetition. His game is probably best suited to be a 4, but ideally you'd like to have a legit 5 next to him or risk being really undersized down low.

Strengths:

Athleticism
Motor
Ball handling
Youth
Defense

Weaknesses:

Tweener
Perimeter shooting
FT shooting
Ability to create for himself offensively

[Chief]

I'm worried he will be the next Derrick Williams.

[Tr1boy]

I'm worried he will be the next Derrick Williams.

Worry parker will become DW part 2.

gordons worse case is tony allen pf version. Best case is kirilenko/marion hybrid.

Either way he is not going to be as bad as DW. Guys with size and defensive versatility dont grow on trees

[nickagneta]

I'm worried he will be the next Derrick Williams.

Really think this is a very fair assessment though I think Gordon has a better chance of being an elite defender that can guard 3 different positions and be a game changer, ala a Bruce Bowen. If he can learn to just shoot a three point shot at say 35-37%, he could be an unreal 3 and D guy that would have a Kawhi Leonard, Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier type effect on their team because the kid has a lot of intangibles.

That said, he could very easily become Derrick Williams or worse if he can never get any offensive moves going so he can contribute on that end.

[Mr October]

I'm worried he will be the next Derrick Williams.

The hope is that by all accounts Gordon has a great attitude, works hard and is very coachable. Those qualities give him a solid advantage when it comes to improving his game.

He is absolutely a tweener risk though. For a small forward i would give him a checkmark for 4/5 skills.

Pass... Check
Rebound... Check
Dribble ... Check
Defense .... Check

He is just a poor shooter, scorer. But i think he has potential. He has good hands, finishes very well. Hopefully all he needs is reps to get his shot respectable, and get a little floater for those times when he cant get all the way to the hoop.

I would risk grabbing him in the 6-8 range.

[Lucky17]

So, would calling Gordon a longer version of Corey Brewer be an unfair comparison?

Edit: Here's a little DX writeup of Brewer:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Corey-Brewer-414/

Has obviously has some outstanding tools to work with, including great quickness, a superb first step, and the kind of smooth fluidity that you just can’t find anywhere else. As we’ve mentioned many times this year already, it’s pretty amazing how effective a player Brewer is considering how much room he still has left to improve on his skill-set. His handle is pretty loose, his jumper is streaky, and only weighing out around 180 pounds, he’ll probably be one of the skinniest 6-9 players to play in the NBA in quite some time.

With that said, Brewer’s shooting has a ton of potential as we saw in the Final Four this year, where he was named Most Outstanding Player for those who forgot. His shooting mechanics are clean and very fluid, with a crisp, quick release, good balance, and the ability to get his shot off almost whenever he wants thanks to his height and length. He shot around 70% from 16-17 feet out from what we charted, and about 60% from the NBA 3. Those are decent, but definitely improvable numbers, although it’s not hard to envision him becoming a very solid NBA shooter considering his mechanics and work ethic. His shot can flatten out at times in terms of the arc he gets on it, something that he’s already working on from what we were told. He put up a ton of jump-shots in the time we saw him, and was pretty streaky overall.

Obviously not being a pure “drills” player in terms of his skill-set, it was in the five on five pick-up game where Brewer really shined. He looked a bit bored at times doing some of the drills, but his competitive juices really got flowing once the ball went in the air. He made some fantastic passes all game long whenever the ball was in his hands, including a beautiful alleyoop pass to Martell Webster to start off the game.

Always there was his uncanny sense for sniffing out steals in the passing lanes, and he looked incredibly smooth slithering through the defense with his terrific first step to get his shot off. Despite his skinny frame, he took the bulkier Marcel Jones down into the post on a number of occasions to finish with a turnaround jumper or up and under, and on one occasion exploded over the top of a couple of opponents for an awesome put-back dunk. Even though Brewer later told us that he was instructed not to play too hard and to avoid risking an injury at all costs, it was pretty hard for us to see that on the court. At one point Brewer went careening off the court and crashed into the weight room fencing just to save a loose ball. If that’s indicative of Brewer’s innate competitiveness in a setting like this, one can imagine how he’ll compete when every possession counts. The one negative we could analyze from this setting was probably his pull-up jumper, which was not really falling for him at a high rate.

All in all, Brewer looked and played the part of a top 10 pick, and considering team needs factors and the strength of this draft on the wing, he should not end up sitting too long in the Green Room on draft night.

[Tr1boy]

So, would calling Gordon a longer version of Corey Brewer be an unfair comparison?

Not accurate. Gordon for a freshman is very strong.  Brewer is a sg that can guard multiple positions also. But gordon can guard pretty much all positions. Gordon is a better offensive player already. All brewer can do is shoot open jumpers and score in transition

[Mr October]

So, would calling Gordon a longer version of Corey Brewer be an unfair comparison?

I think Gordon would have better skills as a defender entering the NBA vs when Brewer entered the NBA, due to better footwork, rebounding and strength.

But if one is to comp a ceiling of Kirilenko, perhaps Brewer is more like a floor.

[Who]

So, would calling Gordon a longer version of Corey Brewer be an unfair comparison?

A more athletic Mbah a Moute is what I think of when I see Aaron Gordon. 

[The One]

He will be special...he has the D, the athleticism, the drive, the handle, the pro body, and he's only 18 and a half!