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Ben Gordon Shining As An Elite Sharpshooter In The D-League

Despite being ten years older than his teammates and opponents, Ben Gordon has shown that he can still shoot the lights out.

By Francis Adu

It is common for former NBA mainstays who have been away from the league for a brief while to join the NBADL in order to prove they still have their talent. Such recent examples include Westchester Knicks’ Von Wafer, Grand Rapids Drive’s Jordan Crawford, Greensboro Swarm’s Damien Wilkins, and Delaware 87ers’ Nate Robinson. Few if any of those veterans have had their renaissance plans begin as well as freshly signed Texas Legend Ben Gordon has had since he joined the D-League.

If there was one thing Ben Gordon made his bones on in his NBA career, it would be scoring in bunches due to his jump shooters. Those skills haven’t fractured in the slightest during this NBADL stint with Gordon scoring 16.3 points per game on 51% from the field and 43% from beyond the arc on 5.7 perimeter attempts per game. Out of his 129 total field goal attempts, only 23 have come outside of the paint, which is a pretty solid sign of how reliant he is on his jumper.

Naturally for most scorers who rely on their jumpers, Gordon has not been completely consistent with his scoring performances. However, for every lull, the Legends fans get a spark from Gordon like his 34 points on 13 field goal attempts pyromania in a victory over Sioux Falls SkyForce on February 25th.

The gravity of Gordon’s shooting has added another dimension to the already potent Legends offense with the spacing he’s creating for fellow perimeter mates Manny Harris and Pierre Jackson. Unfortunately, he has not improved the league-worst Texas defense at all as Gordon’s shaky defensive reputation has also translated from his NBA days.

Still, it’s hard to be negative about a 33 year old guard who still can shoot as well as Gordon can off the dribble and off the ball. Gordon has picked an ideal time to join the NBADL waiver system and get picked up by the Legends with the NBA playoffs looming and the NBA trade deadline recently passed. If any playoff contender is worried about court spacing, especially from the bench, Gordon has proven in little time that he still can blaze the net from beyond the arc at a moment’s notice.