The ideal Rockets offense, the one that optimizes everything, is for James Harden to dribble in place somewhere around the top of the arc for however long he wants (as long as it’s within the 24 seconds allotted by the NBA) before shooting a stepback three. Clearly, Eric Gordon doesn’t fit in this type of offense; no one does. Luckily for him and everyone else on the Rockets (except for Harden), we do not live in an ideal, perfect universe. We live in a flawed universe where people other than Harden get to touch the ball on offense.
Houston fans who are upset by Harden’s MVP snub last year and who may be getting ready to be upset at his upcoming MVP snub should remember that it’s all Mike D’Antoni’s fault that Harden isn’t averaging 100 points per game. The MVP voters would surely vote for him then.
As it stands, Gordon gets to touch the ball sometimes. Most of the time it’s so that he can shoot a three, a thing which he’s been on-and-off with over the course of the season. I seem to remember a version of Gordon with the Clippers/Hornets who wasn’t solely reliant on the the three-ball to score, but that version of Gordon is long gone, and if he’s not hitting threes, he might as well not exist on the court. He hit his threes tonight. Next game, he probably won’t, but he’s actually been trending upward so maybe he can, you know, take the load off Harden or something. Heh.