Mark Berman: Eric Gordon (@Eric Gordon): “I’m happy that I’m back to full health as I am now. When you have surgery (right knee scope) during the season it’s always tough, but now I’m back to myself and what I should be doing.” #Rockets
Eric Gordon Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G
Born: 12/25/88
Height: 6-3 / 1.91
Weight:215 lbs. / 97.5 kg.
Salary: $14,057,730
Born: 12/25/88
Height: 6-3 / 1.91
Weight:215 lbs. / 97.5 kg.
Salary: $14,057,730
Mark Berman: Eric Gordon on making an impact on the racial injustices that are happening around the country: “This is a time where eyes are open for us.. now get to a wake up call,of course everybody as players or anyone around the world definitely want to have their input”
Salman Ali: Erjc Gordon on returning to micro-ball: “We have to play fast, play for one another. We should be able to make the game easier for one another as we play. We’re a dynamic team so when we play fast and move the ball, a lot of good things happen.”
Salman Ali: Eric Gordon on recent protests to racial injustice in America: “This is a time where eyes are open for everybody. This stuff’s been going on for a very long time… I’m just glad it’s finally coming to light. It is a wake-up call for everybody.”
Kelly Iko: Eric Gordon: I’m happy that I’m back to full health. Now I’m back to myself and what I should be doing. Re:small ball—We should be able to make the game easier for one another.
In a Monday appearance on flagship radio station SportsTalk 790 in Houston, Tilman Fertitta explained his reasons for optimism: We have as good a chance as anybody. You have Russ and James, who want this, and P.J., and Eric and Covington, it’s just a really good team. And then [Danuel] House and [Austin] Rivers. When you start looking at our eight-man rotation, you just go ‘Wow, this is pretty darn good.’
Tilman Fertitta: “I think we’re all excited to see sports today. I think we’re really excited to see the NBA because in the NBA we really know our players. Fans know their personalities. We’re so lucky to have the team we have. When you look at James (Harden) and Russ (Westbrook) and P.J. (Tucker) and Eric (Gordon), it’s exciting. I think we have as good a chance as anybody. I think the NBA and team owners have taken our time to make sure we did this right and it’s safe for everybody. I know that everybody is excited to play. I didn’t want to play if the players didn’t want to play and everybody’s happy to play.”
Eric Gordon has lost weight
Gordon generally keeps to himself and has never been a huge social media presence but don’t take that as a sign that he isn’t working, because he is. According to a team source, Gordon has already lost 12 pounds off his frame by way of track sprints and diet. There’s a hope that with the weight that has come off him, he’ll be able to prevent further injury to his knees.
Alykhan Bijani: Eric Gordon on if his knee feels better: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. My knee is feeling really good now. When you have surgery during the beginning of the season, that’s always tough.”
09 May
Before the season was suspended, Houston’s small-ball grade was incomplete. There had been bright spots and dark areas, but the reality of the situation is for such a big leap, they would need all their pieces for an extended period of time to get an honest look at it. Houston’s front office values Gordon quite highly, considering him the best “free agent” acquisition when his return lined up with the trade deadline last season and the same sentiment carries here. They see him as an extremely important piece of the puzzle due to his size, two-way ability, and three-level scoring prowess.
” You know to be honest,” Gordon says, “If we’re ever going to win something, we have to get to a point where everybody is having a good game pretty consistently, almost every night. To me, if you ever want to win a championship, all your top guys on the team have to do well. Like when you go in the playoffs and you have to have four to five guys playing well and everybody has to have a chance to be successful. And you know, it can’t be where two guys are playing very, very good and everyone else is still trying to find their way on the court. There has to be a system where we know what’s gonna possibly happen every single night. And with us, it just hasn’t been that way all season. There hasn’t been really one player that you can just say ‘He’s having a great night almost every night. You know, consistency from a standpoint.”
It is really tough. Gordon is such a wonderful fit for what the Rockets want to do on both ends of the floor but health and age (31) are both working against him. Gordon’s story also changes because of the extension he and the Rockets agreed to before this season- instead of his contract expiring this summer, Houston now owes him $16.9 million in 2020-21, $18.2 million in 2021-22 and $19.6 million in 2022-23 before a non-guaranteed final season.
If other general managers trusted that Gordon would be even mostly healthy moving forward, someone would likely jump on that as a reasonable gamble considering his talent. Of course, in that case, the Rockets would not be looking to move him. Instead, moving him for someone who can actually help the team now will be extremely difficult, especially if management does not want to take on a worse contract or attach assets. I would just keep Gordon around and see if a bounce-back year returns him to the fold unless a stronger-than-expected offer happens this offseason.
In a recent interview on The Matt Thomas Show, Gordon laid out a brief plan of what he would like the NBA schedule to change to: “I think I really do want to have the season start in December, like on Christmas, late December, and end in early August or maybe late July. The only thing that sucks is it would go into the summer, but at the end of the day, you still get the same result. You still get a lot of free time. I think we should start in December. That would do everyone well.”
For Gordon and his teammates, the season-ending happened quickly. “It actually got postponed while we were in the air flying to L.A., and we heard while we were in the air that a couple of players caught the virus. Next thing you know, we landed, and they said they canceled the season,” explained Gordon, who also said the players immediately knew it was serious. “For a player to get it, it was like, man… if this keeps going… a lot of players are going to get it, or they might already have it and don’t know,” he said.
There’s still no official word from the NBA on whether or not the season will even resume. “You can’t really prepare for the season right now, because you just don’t know what’s going to happen going forward. It’s just a weird time where you can’t really do anything, everything is standstill. A lot of people can’t work, you can hardly go anywhere, so this is just a weird time,” said Gordon.
The NBA has been trying to figure out a way to finish the season using radical methods; no fans in the stands, neutral locations, and players being quarantined. “It would be weird playing without fans, I’ll tell you that,” said Gordon. “It would almost feel like a scrimmage. And then you’re talking about playoffs with no fans, that’s just going to be weird.”
Eric Gordon said he would not object to having a season restarted in a sequestered location, one of the ideas the NBA is considering. But he also indicated it is too soon to know if even that will be possible. “That sounds like almost our only option,” Gordon said. “That’s the only thing that can make sense. Just coop us up in a hotel for months and see if we can have that chance to have the season. It’s still a dicey situation, so we’re just hoping this virus calms down and goes away quickly. As of right now, it doesn’t seem like it is.”
Eric Gordon works out at home without knowing when to ramp up for a return that is in question. But he is unwilling to allow himself to fret over what a season lost to the coronavirus crisis would mean for him and the veteran, win-now Rockets considering the far greater concerns. “It’s hard to explain how I feel because of the situation we’re all dealing with,” Gordon said. “That’s the real concern. Just try to stay away from everybody, keep healthy.”
Waiting out the hiatus with a brother and a workout partner can even make up for not having a basket to fill, though Gordon knows that will return at some point. “I don’t have a basket or a rim at home,” he said. “But I don’t worry about that too much.”
Jonathan Feigen: Rockets guards Eric Gordon (sore knee) and Ben McLemore (gastroenteritis) both upgraded to questionable to play against the Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Jonathan Feigen: Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said he thought Eric Gordon (sore right knee) will be doubtful to play Sunday against the Magic, then day-to-day after that.
Jonathan Feigen: Eric Gordon is out Saturday against the Hornets with a sore knee. Russell Westbrook out for rest in first half of the back-to-back.
Jonathan Feigen: Eric Gordon to return for Rockets vs. Jazz tonight. Will come off the bench.
Salman Ali: Eric Gordon (ruled out tonight) is likely to return from his lower leg injury on Saturday in Utah, per Mike D’Antoni.
Jonathan Feigen: Rockets guard Eric Gordon listed as questionable to play Thursday against the Warriors with a bruised lower leg. He said today he was still sore after practicing, but much better than before the break.
Salman Ali: Eric Gordon said he’s had tightness in his shin area that he’s been dealing with since the Utah game (50 point game). Gordon’s been playing through it. Says it’s nothing minor and will treat it over the next few days.
01 Feb
Kelly Iko: Eric Gordon will also start tonight, per Mike D’Antoni.
As the seconds whittled down in the fourth quarter, Tyson Chandler and Russell Westbrook were already on their feet, jumping up and down by the Rockets bench, waving their arms around and cheering their teammate. James Harden burst out of the locker room with a smile as wide as I-10, unable to contain his excitement any longer. “Yeah, buddy!” Harden yelled from under the bleachers. “50-burger! Yeah, buddy!!” “Gordon had 50 on these m————!”
For one night, even as their own world and the one around them mourned the death of Kobe Bryant, they could smile again. They could find solace in the game of basketball, the game they’ve played their entire lives. They could laugh. They could joke. They could win. “For sure, it was a big momentum game for us,” Austin Rivers said. “As a team as a whole, the past two weeks, we haven’t played our best basketball. We’ve been very inconsistent in our effort. Then we come in here tonight with our two best players and our starting center not playing, I’m sure Utah came in here like, ‘This is going to be an easy win.’ And that’s just natural for any team, but we have a lot of good players on this team.”
He was aggressive from the get-go. Obviously, he knew that his number would be called more often than not, given the absence of Harden and Westbrook and the surplus of usage that would come his way. Since returning from in-season knee surgery, Gordon has shown flashes of his old self but also signs that he still needed time to get things back to normal. “I feel like I’m getting back to being myself,” Gordon said after the game. “I told everybody — when you have surgery during the season, it’s always going to be a process. Now it’s just about us collectively playing together for one another because we can do this thing. We just gotta turn this thing around and win a lot of games.”
