Stat of the Day
Ben Gordon is now 8th in the league in points per 48 minutes at 33.6, or .7 pts per minute. Among Eastern Conference guards, he trails only Agent Weirdo, D-Wade and Michael Redd (by only .2 points). Of the others in the top 20 who play regularly, only two players---Pau Gasol (25.2) and Amare Stoudemire (29.2)---play fewer minutes than Ben's 29.8, and both of them are recovering from major injuries.
Noce, incidentally, is 34th. Deng is 50th.
Noce, incidentally, is 34th. Deng is 50th.
posted by BenGo07 at 11:21 PM
5 Comments:
While it's highly unlikely that Skiles will keep him on the pine all that much longer,Ben could conceivably go down as the best non-starter in league history. Check out these stats from K.C. Johnson
"Ben Gordon has had two 40-point games off the bench in six days. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Brian Winters is the only other player during the last 30 seasons to have two 40-point games as a reserve.
Gordon has scored at least 20 points in nine straight reserve appearances."
At one point does Coach give Ben the minutes he deserves? Matt's last post over at Blogabull is right on the money in my estimation. It's not like a relief pitcher trying to move into the rotation; Ben has started all of his life. He's used to it.
Here's my concern about starting Gordon, though. It's not like the Bulls have regularly been facing huge first quarter deficits as of late--maybe they did in the Minnesota game, but aside from that one, I can't think of any other recently. And by now, we're aware that Gordon can heat up whenever you put him in. So why not allow Noce and Deng and Hinrich (when he's healthy) to heat up early, and then have Gordon come in later to provide that extra scoring boost? I guess I'd like to see Gordon playing more, but do the math. He's averaging about 30 min. a game, and he's not normally coming in until about 4 min. left in the 1st quarter. So from that point on, he's playing in about 3/4 of the game. Considering he usually takes a break for the first five minutes of the third, I feel like we're getting the big, crunch time minutes that we need from him the most, and we're keeping him fresh in the process. So long as the Bulls keep playing the way they are, and Gordon doesn't let not starting bother him, why should it bother us?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Much like the real Ben, BenGo, you're at the top of your game. Your points are well taken about when Ben plays and establishing some form of flow/consistency before Gordon explodes off the bench. A counter might be that while Ben takes his fair share of shots, the offense is more effective when he is in, meaning that the now hobbeled Noce and Kirk and Deng should be able to find their shots and "heat up" either way. In the end, it doesn't really matter who plays and when if they keep playing like they are, with which none of us could disagree.
Gotta love Ben. I think this whole starter/non-starter thing is silly. If you're playing 30 mins out of 48, what difference does it make to start at the beginning of the game?
Think of it this way: everyone else needs a little slow time to warm to play well. Not Ben.
Post a Comment
<< Home