Ben Gordon has often been maligned for the disadvantage he presents the Bulls because of his height on the defensive end. Fans tell tales of nightmares of Gordon constantly being posted up, and often being abused on the defensive end of the floor. But is this actually the reality of it all?

In the 29 games that Gordon started this season, the starting shooting guards were expected to score on average 16.2 points per a game based on their season scoring averages. Against Gordon, they scored on average 17.3 points per a game. So on average, Gordon gives up more to his opponents than they average.

This of course is including Vince Carter’s 41 point and 31 point games in which Gordon did not guard Carter. Or Joe Johnson’s 41 point game or Kevin Martin’s 29 point games, where Gordon spent very little time guarding them.

A common complaint is Gordon hurts the Bulls as a starting shooting guard, because while he scores 20, he gives up 20. (Which has somehow been rationalized as being worse than Thabo scoring 8 but giving up 19 or so points a game). But this is obviously not the case. Gordon is averaging 21.5 points per game as a starter this year, and the opposing shooting guards are only scoring scoring on average 17.3 points per game. The Bulls are +4.2 in the starting shooting guard matchup with Gordon as the starting shooting guard.

Gordon has outscored the opponents’ starting shooting guard in 17 of the 29 games that he started in.

But volume only tells part of the story. How do these guards do efficiency wise against Gordon? The guards are expected to score at a mark of 54.8 TS% based on their season averages. What they actually have gotten against Gordon is remarkably close, being 54.9 TS%. There is no significant variation in scoring efficiency between the players performance league wide and against Gordon.

So if the scoring efficiency is the same, where is the increase in volume coming form? The volume increase is likely a result of the Bulls playing one of the fastest paces in the league. The Bulls have the 5th fastest pace in the NBA.

As a whole, players performed against Gordon about what you would expect out of them.

In the end, there is no argument. Ben Gordon is not a liability in any shape or form at the shooting guard position. Gordon scores 21.5 points per game on 57.2 TS% as a starter, while holding the opposing shooting guard to 17.3 points per game on 54.9 TS%. The Bulls are winning the shooting guard matchup by a large margin. The Bulls should continue to start Gordon and not think twice about it.

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Tags: Ben Gordon, defense, liability, scoring efficiency, starter

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.