Section 215
Fansided

E’Twaun Moore could be the Philadelphia 76ers’ answer to Eric Gordon

By Matty Breisch

(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Could E’Twaun Moore be the Philadelphia 76ers’ Eric Gordon?

When Daryl Morey, then of the Houston Rockets, signed Eric Gordon to a four-year, $53 million deal in the summer of 2016, it caused many a talent evaluator around the NBA to scratch their head.

Sure, the salary cap had just ballooned up 34 percent from the previous season due to an influx of new TV money, but why waste that kind of money on an oft-injured 6-foot-3 off-ball guard when much better options like Chandler Parsons, Nicolas Batum, and Evan Turner were ripe for the taking?

I kid, of course, but only kind of.

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In 2011, Gordon was good enough to be the focal point of a Los Angeles Clippers trade for Chris Paul and actually outscored the 10-time All-Star before missing the vast majority of the season with a right knee injury. Though Gordon did return for the 2012-13 season, his numbers never quite did – going from averaging 22.3 points and 4.4 assists during his final season in LA to 15.3 points and 3.3 assists over his 221 game tenure in New Orleans.

To many, Gordon was a below-average starting two-guard with bad size and a poor attendance record. But that isn’t what Morey saw. No, on the very same day the team announced a new extension for all-world shooting guard James Harden, Morey paid Gordon an average of $13.25 million per season to serve as a ‘super sub off the bench.’

And guess what? It worked. While Gordon never played all 82 games for the Rockets in any of his four seasons with the team, he routinely finished third on the team in points scored behind Harden and whoever was his on-court partner at the time and even earned a four-year, $75.6 million contract extension in 2019.

Why is this relevant to the 2020-21 Philadelphia 76ers? Well, there’s a remarkably similar player to Gordon on the market that Morey should strongly consider signing to fill a Gordon-like role: E’Twaun Moore.

Like Gordon, Moore is a 6-foot-3 non-ball handler with a slightly above-average 3 point shot, decent defensive acumen, and a bit of an injury history. He also, funny enough, played his college ball in the Big 10 and spent a good chunk of his 20s playing basketball in New Orleans, as Moore signed a four-year, $38 million deal in 2016 to effectively fill the shoes of a departing Gordon.

So, wouldn’t it be fitting for Morey to replace Gordon with Moore just like then-Pelicans general manager Dell Demps did five years back? Honestly, some things just make too much sense.

Now I’m not suggesting Moore will need to go the route of another Morey-signee, Ben McLemore, and sign a partially-guaranteed contract, as some playoff-bound team will surely sweep up his services. But what is Moore’s goal moving forward? Does he want to chase the money once more and sign a multi-year deal while his value is at its lowest since 2016, or would the 31-year-old rather take a shot at a title on a team in desperate need of outside shooters?

To me, the choice is obvious.

If Moore is willing to take a veteran minimum deal or a chunk of the $5.7 mid-level exception, he would surely see a lot of wide-open 3s in his future, especially if he can prove to hold his own on the defensive side of the court. That bodes well for the former Boilermaker, as he’s knocked down 40-plus percent of his attempts from beyond the arc in two of his last three seasons.

But wait, it gets better.

Because the Sixers only employed one player under 6-foot-5 in 2019-20, and he, Raul Neto, is currently set to hit the open market when the league year begins, Moore would all but surely be tasked with predominantly covering point guards when he takes the court. That’s right, gone are the days of switching onto 6-foot-9 small forwards, and in their place could be a world of backcourt supremacy against increasingly smaller on ball guards.

And the cherry on the top? Doc Rivers was Moore’s original head coach when he was drafted by the Boston Celtics all the way back in 2008. Granted, he only played 331 minutes over 38 games for said Celtics squad, but hey, I’m sure Rivers would appreciate seeing familiar fans none the less.

Next. Daryl Morey isn’t Sam Hinkie, for better and worse. dark

As things presently stand, the Philadelphia 76ers don’t have all that many ways to improve their roster. Outside of the sort of blockbuster trades the likes of which every fan would love to see, the best way to improve this season’s Sixers squad is to scower the margins and find better fitting pieces who can outperform their monetary commitment. Fortunately, Daryl Morey has a proven track record of identifying underappreciated players like Eric Gordon and turning them into Sixth Man of the Year-level performers.