Rockets Insider: Can Eric Gordon Recapture His Star Potential in Houston?

HOUSTON — “Health is wealth” is more than just a proverb for Eric Gordon. It’s what he’s hoping will be a new way of basketball life now that he’s suiting up for the Houston Rockets.

After five injury-riddled seasons with the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans, where he was forced to sit out 173 of a possible 394 games due to severe damage in his right knee (2011-12), left knee (2012-13), a torn labrum in his left shoulder (2013-14) and a fractured bone in the ring finger of his shooting hand (2015-16), he’s ready to turn the page in favor of a new, healthier chapter.

“Really, all my injuries happened in New Orleans, so dealing with four or five years of injuries was definitely tough and frustrating,” Gordon said during Rockets media day in September. “But being here in Houston, I’m going into a season with no restrictions, happy to play and don’t even have a thought about it or deal with any injury at all.”

To some extent, he deserves a mulligan, but a deep dive into the numbers reveals there was much more to his struggles than simply staying healthy.

It seems like revisionist history now, but before the blockbuster trade that sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers on December 14, 2011, Gordon, then 22, appeared to be on the verge of becoming a perennial All-Star with L.A. He was coming off a season in which he averaged 22.3 points while shooting 45.0 percent overall and 36.4 percent from three-point range.

Early on, Pelicans fans saw flashes of greatness from the former Indiana University standout.

In his first game with the franchise, he hit a 20-foot jumper over Jared Dudley to clinch an 85-84 win over the Phoenix Suns. During his second game after returning from a three-month layoff, he dropped 31 points, four dimes and three steals on the San Antonio Spurs. During the 2012-13 season, he averaged 17.0 points per game and led or tied for lead in team scoring 19 times.

But in the end, that’s all they got. Flashes.

Gordon didn’t help his case with Pelicans’ fans when he publicly professed his allegiance to Phoenix after accepting the Suns’ four-year, $58 million offer sheet as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2012. After New Orleans general manager Dell Demps matched the offer, pressure to become the team’s superstar only intensified.

There was perhaps one bright spot—the 2014-15 playoffs, when Gordon averaged 18.5 points while shooting 40.6 percent from three. But that couldn’t mask his career-low player efficiency rating of 12.7 during the regular season.

It wasn’t all Gordon’s fault though.

New Orleans’ system wasn’t tailored to long-distance shooters. The team’s offensive efficiency …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com