Tag: Eric Gordon

Suns at Rockets, Dec. 27: Lineups, how to watch, injury reports, uniforms

After spending nearly seven seasons with the Rockets, Eric Gordon makes his first return visit (as a player) when Phoenix visits Houston on Wednesday night.

Relative to 2023-24 preseason forecasts, the Houston Rockets (15-13) are among the NBA’s most overachieving teams, and the star-studded Phoenix Suns (14-14) are among the biggest underachievers.

Now, as the calendar approaches a new year, will those trends continue? Or is a course correction due in relatively short order?

Wednesday night’s matchup at Houston’s Toyota Center could offer clues. The second night of a home back to back for the Rockets offers the first meeting between the teams this season.

Besides welcoming in stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Wednesday’s game also marks the first time longtime Rockets guard Eric Gordon will play against his former team. He was dealt at the 2023 trade deadline in February. Expect a tribute video to honor Gordon’s six-plus seasons of strong play in Houston.

The Bahamas had a super fun celebration after winning an Olympic basketball qualifying tournament

This was HISTORIC for the Bahamas.

Although the Bahamas did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup, the national team just went on a wildly impressive stretch of play.

The team played four games in a FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament over the course of the last week. Despite a low world ranking (56) in FIBA, they won four games in a row, including two shocking wins over Argentina (ranked fourth in the world) while playing at Estadio Ciudad in Santiago del Estero, Argentina

By winning this tournament, the Bahamian national team can make a bid for the 2024 Olympics in France at the FIBA ​​Olympic Qualifying Tournaments next year.

The Bahamian national basketball team has never competed in the Olympics, so this was obviously exciting and the joy was palpable:

The Bahamas were led by Phoenix Suns teammates Deandre Ayton (15.5 ppg, 13.8 rpg and 1.3 spg) and Eric Gordon (20.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.3 spg). Gordon finished with 27 points while shooting 6-of-7 on 3-pointers.

Pacers wing Buddy Hield (19.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.3 spg) also played a massive role during the four-game tournament as well.

This was a huge step in the right direction for the Bahamas, coached by Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco. We wish we could see how they would fare in the upcoming FIBA World Cup!

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Every Houston Rockets player who’s scored 50 points in a game

How many players have scored 50-plus points for the #Rockets in an NBA game? The list is shorter than you might think.

By almost any metric, the Houston Rockets are one of the NBA’s better franchises. In addition to representing the fourth-largest city in the United States, they are one of only 11 clubs to win multiple championships (1993-94, 1994-95) and they rank 11th among the league’s 30 franchises in all-time winning percentage (.515).

That winning clip, of course, was higher before this rebuilding run of the past three seasons, which allowed Houston to get three straight top-four draft picks. But after stockpiling first-round talent from those drafts and supplementing it with a new head coach (Ime Udoka) and key veterans (Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jeff Green) in the 2023 offseason, a resurgence may not be far away.

Historically, the Rockets are a proud franchise, and they’re striving to return to their past glory. Since debuting as the San Diego Rockets in 1967-68, a wealth of basketball talent has passed through the club: Hall of Famers, MVPs and all-time greats.

Now, in this dull part of the offseason, we’re looking back at some of the history the Rockets have produced during their NBA years.

This edition looks at elite scorers. Per StatMuse, eight players have scored 50-plus points in a regular-season game for the Rockets.

Ordered by number of 50-point games, those players are:

Lakers are one of several teams interested in Eric Gordon

Veteran guard Eric Gordon is a player the Lakers are reportedly interested in signing as a free agent.

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Everyone is waiting to see what the Los Angeles Lakers will do once free agency starts across the NBA on Friday, June 30.

They have several players who are becoming free agents, including Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell. In addition, they are reportedly targeting a number of players from other teams.

Los Angeles waived center Mo Bamba and declined the player option on guard Malik Beasley’s contract, which will allow them to use the $12.4 non-taxpayer midlevel exception to sign an outside player.

One of the outside players the team is reportedly interested in signing is veteran guard Eric Gordon (h/t Lakers Daily).

Via The Athletic:

“Lakers, (Memphis) Grizzlies, (Minnesota) Wolves, (Phoenix) Suns, (Milwaukee) Bucks, (Portland Trail) Blazers and others — league sources say,” wrote The Athletic’s Kelly Iko in regards to teams interested in Gordon. “Gordon, 34, who was recently waived by the Los Angeles Clippers, is said to be prioritizing an outlined role with a contender.”

Gordon has been a potent scorer for many years. However, although he made 37.1% of his 3-point attempts this season, his 3-point accuracy has fluctuated throughout his career, so he may not be someone who can help the Lakers in that category.

Five years later, Eric Gordon reflects on Rockets’ near-miss in 2018 Western Conference finals

“You only get so many chances to win a championship,” former #Rockets guard Eric Gordon says of Houston’s near-miss in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on May 28, 2018.

Sunday is May 28, which means it’s been exactly five years since the Houston Rockets were on the verge of glory and their first NBA Finals appearance since the 1995 championship run.

But it wasn’t to be. In a perfect storm of circumstances — Chris Paul’s ill-timed hamstring injury, an historic outlier of an 0-for-27 shooting stretch from 3-point range and highly scrutinized officiating by a Scott Foster-led crew — the Rockets lost Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on May 28, 2018. Even with so many variables working against them, the final margin was still single digits.

After two more title-less seasons, James Harden forced his way out of town, leading to the franchise rebuild that continues today.

Five years later, it remains the closest that most players on that 2017-18 group, which won 65 games in the regular season — the most in franchise history — have come to winning a title. One of those players is veteran guard Eric Gordon, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers after finally being traded from Houston in February.

In a newly released episode of “The IkoSystem” podcast with The Athletic’s Kelly Iko, here’s what Gordon had to say regarding the missed opportunity in 2018 and how it could have changed history:

I think things would have been changed. I think the team would have been together. Definitely more years. I mean, winning a championship — that’s a big time thing. There’s no doubt the guys would have been together.

You only get so many chances to win a championship. And to have the chance to beat a team like that, I mean, you just never know. And sometimes when you win, you just don’t know how much that attracts other players around the league… because we had a good thing going.

While Houston wouldn’t have clinched the 2018 championship by winning that Game 7 at home — it would still have had to go through the Cavaliers, who won the East, in the NBA Finals — the Kevin Durant- and Steph Curry-led Warriors were the big hurdle.

At the time, Golden State was the defending champions and featured arguably the most talented roster in league history. Cleveland, on the other hand, went 50-32 in a weaker East and had superstar forward LeBron James on the verge of leaving in free agency.

The winner of the 2018 West finals was always going to be an enormous favorite in the subsequent NBA Finals, which the Warriors won in a largely uncompetitive four-game sweep.

The real battle came in the previous round, and Houston pushed the defending champions to the brink before failing to get over the final hump. Five years later, it’s a missed opportunity that everyone involved with the organization at the time still laments.

Gordon’s complete podcast with Iko can be listened to below.

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Eric Gordon sees former teammate James Harden as good 2023 fit in Houston

Eric Gordon: “If I (look at) a young team that’s trying to figure out a way to get back into winning, why wouldn’t you want to have a guy like (James Harden) on the team?” #Rockets

After spending nearly seven seasons with the Houston Rockets, veteran guard Eric Gordon left town in February as part of a deadline trade to the Los Angeles Clippers. But the 34-year-old made it clear upon exiting that he wants only the best for his longtime home.

This offseason that could involve a reunion with former franchise icon James Harden, who played alongside Gordon for several years with the Rockets. In each of the four full seasons Harden and Gordon played together, Houston won at least one series in the Western Conference playoffs, which no other West team did in that period.

In a newly released episode of “The IkoSystem” podcast with The Athletic’s Kelly Iko, here’s what Gordon had to say regarding the rumored reunion of Harden and the Rockets this offseason:

If I (look at) a young team that’s trying to figure out a way to get back into winning, why wouldn’t you want to have a guy like (James Harden) on the team?

You need veterans at the end of the day. That’s the only way players grow, being around veterans. Coaches set the table, but real growth is around your teammates.

Harden would join Houston as a veteran mentor for a team that has had one of the NBA’s two worst records in three straight seasons. It’s worth noting that Gordon was unable to save them from such a fate, though Harden as a perennial All-Star candidate is clearly better.

It’s possible Gordon could also become a free agent this offseason, since the Clippers hold a $20.9-million team option for his services in the 2023-24 NBA season. They have yet to indicate their plans.

Should Gordon enter free agency and Harden return to the Rockets, a reunion involving both doesn’t appear implausible.

The complete podcast episode can be listened to below.

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Report: Jabari Smith Jr. changing to No. 10 jersey for Rockets

With Eric Gordon no longer on the roster, #Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. will switch to the No. 10 jersey for the 2023-24 season, according to the Houston Chronicle.

With veteran Eric Gordon no longer on the roster, Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. will switch to the No. 10 jersey for the 2023-24 season, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

That’s the number Smith, the No. 3 draft pick from the 2022 first round, wore during his superb college days at Auburn.

Though Gordon was traded at February’s trade deadline, NBA rules did not allow Smith to change his number during the season. Thus, Smith played out the year with a No. 1 jersey, which he chose when Gordon was still on Houston’s roster last offseason. Most rookies — even highly drafted ones — defer to veterans in such scenarios.

In many ways, it’s analogous to the situation that teammate Jalen Green faced in his 2021-22 season with the Rockets. As a rookie, Green wore a No. 0 jersey because his preferred No. 4 belonged to Danuel House Jr., a veteran. Though House left the team during that season, Green had to wait until the following offseason to change.

As a slender 19-year-old rookie, Smith averaged 12.8 points (40.8% FG, 30.7% on 3-pointers) and 7.2 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game. He appears in line to again start at power forward for the Rockets in 2023-24, and an offseason of hard work related to strength and conditioning can bolster his chances of a breakout year.

Perhaps getting his preferred jersey number can help, too. If nothing else, the outdated No. 1 and No. 0 rookie jerseys of Smith and Green, respectively, could be fun throwbacks for fans in a few years.

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Kawhi Leonard calling an offensive foul on Clippers teammate Eric Gordon was too perfect

Another hilarious moment from a VERY honest Leonard.

Kawhi Leonard was predictably at the center of an important Los Angeles Clippers game Wednesday night, but not in every way you’d expect.

Sure, the forward dropped 30 points in a vital 134-126 win over the Golden State Warriors. And yes, he was his excellent old self. But that doesn’t mean he won’t call moments like he sees them — even when they go against his own team.

So when Clippers guard Eric Gordon rose up for a three-point attempt and clearly leaned into an egregious offensive foul, Leonard agreed. He wasted no time arguing and gestured along with the officials on a rather obvious call.

Look at how casually he flips his index finger forward!

Vintage Leonard. Even when he’s not actually trying to be funny, he still pulls some effortless comedy off.

Podcast: Why Rafael Stone and Tilman Fertitta were trade deadline winners

With Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving leaving Brooklyn and Eric Gordon traded for first-round value, the 2023 NBA trade deadline was a successful one for #Rockets management.

The 2022-23 NBA trade deadline came and went, and major changes came with it for the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets.

Veteran guard Eric Gordon is finally with a contender (the Los Angeles Clippers). Reserves Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando are out the door as well (Atlanta). For general manager Rafael Stone, both deals were made with draft capital in mind.

Sunday’s episode of “The Lager Line” (sponsored by Clutch City Lager of Karbach Brewing) explains why Stone and owner Tilman Fertitta deserve praise for what became a successful week for the franchise in its ongoing rebuilding efforts.

The show, hosted by Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves, also explores the ripple effects of Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn departure and whether it should make the Rockets more or less likely to hold those first-round draft assets from the Nets, which last through the 2027 cycle.

Sunday’s full podcast can be listened to below. Each episode of the show is also available via flagship radio station SportsTalk 790, as well as to all major podcast distributors under “The Lager Line.”

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Rockets GM Rafael Stone explains Houston’s trade deadline moves

In Friday’s press conference, #Rockets GM Rafael Stone shared his perspective on Houston’s trade deadline moves (Eric Gordon) and what comes next for the 2022-23 roster and beyond.

In Friday’s press conference, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone shared his perspective on Houston’s trade deadline moves — headlined by a deal sending Eric Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers — and insight on what comes next for the 2022-23 roster and beyond.

Will newly acquired veterans like Danny Green, Justin Holiday, and Frank Kaminsky be sticking around? Stone made it clear Friday that Houston is at least open to the idea, though additional conversations will be had with each of those players to determine the right fit.

None of the players acquired by the Rockets has a salary beyond the 2022-23 season, so Houston’s plan to create significant salary cap space in the 2023 offseason remains very much intact.

The rebuilding Rockets also bolstered their stockpile of future draft assets through Thursday’s deadline dealings, both with a 2023 first-round pick swap obtained in the Gordon trade and a pair of future second-round picks (Oklahoma City’s in 2024, 2025) acquired in the deal sending Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando to Atlanta.

From a GM’s perspective, here’s insight from Stone on how and why those deals went down at the deadline, along with his plan moving forward as Houston attempts to climb back to NBA relevancy.