Rockets guard Eric Gordon will come off the bench when he returns from injury later this month, head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed at Wednesday’s practice in Houston.
Gordon started 53 of 68 regular-season games for the Rockets a season ago, and all 11 in the postseason. However, since the Rockets were set in the backcourt with James Harden and Chris Paul, the majority of those starts came at small forward — where the 6-foot-3 Gordon is undersized.
This year, with a backcourt of two former MVPs in Harden and Russell Westbrook, the same logic would seem to hold true. The Rockets began training camp and preseason with Gordon as the starting small forward and briefly placed him into that role during the regular season in early November, but they’ve since settled on a larger and more athletic starting lineup with 6-foot-6 Danuel House Jr. at that position.
I asked Coach D’Antoni if Eric Gordon will start or come off the bench upon his return from injury. His quick answer: “bench”. Gordon will once again become a 6th man. #Rockets
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) December 18, 2019
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Now 30 years old, there is certainly precedent for Gordon succeeding as a reserve. In the 2016-17 season, Gordon’s first in Houston, he won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award as a spark plug off D’Antoni’s bench.
Regardless of role, the top priority for the Rockets is making sure Gordon is healthy upon his expected return. Gordon underwent surgery on his right knee on Nov. 11, with the team announcing that he was expected to miss about six weeks. That would put him on schedule for a return in late December, which by all indications is still the plan.
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D’Antoni said earlier this week that Gordon would initially be on a minutes restriction upon his return, though he didn’t specify the potential limit.
The knee problem may have contributed to Gordon’s much worse than expected start to the 2019-20 season. In nine games, the 6-foot-3 guard shot 30.9% overall and 28.4% from three-point range. Both figures are well below the 41.4% and 36.4% percentages logged over Gordon’s first three seasons in Houston, and his points per game average dipped from 16.8 over his initial three years to 10.9 this season.
Now in his fourth season in Houston, Gordon has averaged 16.6 points (36.1% on three-pointers) in 31.2 minutes per game with the Rockets.
Gordon signed a multi-year contract extension in September, which keeps him under contract through at least the 2022-23 season. The timing of that deal makes him ineligible to be traded this season.
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