Photo by Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
Grantland’s all knowing NBA writer Zach Lowe took time in his Tuesday column to praise the positional flexibility of Magic rookie Aaron Gordon. Here is what Lowe said on Gordon in his 10 Things I Like and Don’t Like:
I have no idea what position Gordon plays, and that is awesome. He’s clearly a forward, but sometimes he guards wing players — even as the opposing power forward defends him on the other end. He and Tobias Harris can freely switch assignments on defense.
Gordon’s ability to defend wings from the nominal power forward spot allows the Magic to do interesting things against stretch power forwards. Gordon defended Joe Johnson for parts of Sunday’s game in Brooklyn, and the Magic in turn shifted a wing player, Willie Green, onto Brooklyn’s power forward, the sweet-shooting Mirza Teletovic.
Teletovic thrives when pick-and-popping against lugs, but he had a harder time shedding Green. This is something to watch with Teletovic, Ryan Anderson, Ersan Ilyasova, and other stretch 4s: The league is getting smarter about guarding these guys.
You can read all of Lowe’s thoughts on the NBA this week here.
