Philadephia 76ers: Eric Gordon is good, but he’s no Jimmy Butler
While Eric Gordon would be a solid addition to the Philadelphia 76ers as a sixth-man, adding him at the expense of Jimmy Butler should be a non-starter.
As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare for arguably they’re most active free agency period in franchise history, one player the team has been consistently linked with isn’t actually a free agent at all: Houston Rockets shooting guard Eric Gordon.
That’s right, Eric Gordon, one of the three expendable players Daryl Morey is attempting to unload to prepare a massive sign and trade offer to bring Jimmy Butler back to his hometown of Houston.
And of the trio, filled out with questionable fit Clint Capela and do-it-all swiss army knife P.J. Tucker, Gordon has the most obvious fit with Philadelphia, and would likely end up with the team if a trade were to go down.
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But just because Gordon is a fit, is he a good fit? That, my friends, is the five-year, $190 million question.
On the surface, there’s a lot to like about Gordon; he’s a 6-foot-4, 215-pound shooting guard who’s effective both on and off the ball, and has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award as recently as 2017. Though Gordon isn’t a traditional point, he has the size to play either guard position alongside a player like Ben Simmons, and could even provide a conventional two guard backcourt with Simmons relegated to the dunker spot alongside the likes of J.J. Redick, Zhaire Smith, or even Matisse Thybulle.
Is he a Steph Curry-esque shooter from outside? No, but despite only knocking down 37.4 percent of his shots from beyond the arc for his career (36 percent in 2019 on 8.8 attempts), Gordon plays like a slightly bigger Lou Williams and could be an invaluable piece on a championship roster.
That’s likely what Philly fans will tell themselves if Gordon somehow ends up in the City of Brotherly Love early next week, but barring an absolute meltdown in extension discussions with Butler, Elton Brand should make it his goal to not let that happen.
In a vacuum, adding Gordon to this team does make a whole lot of sense, as he could effectively spell Redick on the second unit and guarantee the team always has a professional shooter in their backcourt, but swapping out Butler – a legitimate star in this league – for a fringe starter would be a bitter pill to swallow even if it came with a cornucopia of draft compensation and P.J. Tucker.
I mean the team would essentially be swapping out a starter for a reserve, and that’s never a recipe for success. Need proof? Just ask the Minnesota Timberwolves, who still finished out the season with a losing record even after a disgruntled Butler was flipped for Dario Saric and Robert Covington.
Now I may be a little higher on Tucker than most, but the combination of P.J. and Gordon are not even at the same level as Covington and Saric and draft picks aren’t going to open Philly’s contention window any wider in 2020 than simply retaining Butler.
And honestly, it’s not like Butler’s even that perfect of a fit in Philadelphia, he’s just a much better player and almost everyone available at this year’s deadline.
As fans in the 215 already know, Butler isn’t a great 3-point shooter, hates perching beyond the arc for an outlet pass, and can get a bit too greedy when the balls in his hands. If this were a game of 2K or fantasy basketball, a virtual GM would likely avoid pairing a player like Butler with Simmons and Joel Embiid and instead target a player like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, or even Tobias Harris: pretty much any 3-and-D wing.
However, this isn’t 2K, and in real life, Butler has proven himself an invaluable piece on the Philadelphia 76ers roster, essentially taking over the point guard role against Toronto as Zach Lowe so eagerly pointed out on his free agency primer podcast.
Jimmy Butler is rough, Philly tough and has found a way to capture the heart of our Fair City in a way that very few basketball players have since Allen Iverson wore the number 3.
Gordon, on the other hand, is like a B-plus Redick clone – except one whose a less effective shooter and somehow an even less effective defender, recording an -1.32 RPM versus Redick’s -0.55.
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Would Eric Gordon be a great addition to the Sixers’ roster if he can be had in addition to Butler or another better-fitting free agent like say a D’Angelo Russell as a certified bench sparkplug? Most definitely, but that’s not the world we live in. Right now the best chance of Philadelphia 76ers have to represent the East in the 2020 NBA finals is to keep Butler in town and fill out their starting 5 with the best possible players (aka Redick and Harris).