Similarities: Super athletic, strong finisher, elite P&R forward, leaping rebounder (with elite second and third jumps).
Differences: Less of a shooter than AS, weaker post game than AS, higher BBIQ than AS, greater court vision than AS, better ball handling/passing than AS.
Bill Simmons recently said that Aaron Gordon reminded him of "Shawn Marion 2.0 with a dash of Blake and a dash of Kirilenko thrown in." Can we simplify that to say Stoudemire+Kirilenko? Obviously I'm referring to his ceiling, not his most realistic projection, but still.
Didn't understand the love affair some had with Gordon until I heard whispers that the Celtics also liked him. Having great respect for the Celtics front office and scouting team I checked him out and was pleasantly surprised. He's in the top three in terms of defensive potential in this draft (joined by Wiggins and Embiid), passes incredibly well out of double and triple teams, and plays with a Faried-esque motor. His shooting is worrisome, as is his post game, but if he can be just average in both areas, I believe he'll be an All-Star. It's promising that he's one of the youngest (if not the youngest) players in this draft, and he supposedly has a high-level work ethic.
I believe Randle is vastly overrated and am not yet sold on Vonleh, at least in terms of replacing one of my favorite Celtic players in Sully. I'm sold on Gordon, at least as a candidate to pick in the 5-10 range should we trade up. He's the only PF in the front end of this draft that I'm scared to pass up on, as he's the only PF in this draft that I believe could end up being better than Sullinger.
Thoughts?