thelesterlee
With the 4th pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, the Orland Magic selected power forward, Aaron Gordon, out of Arizona. For 7 seasons he was the best player on a bottom-feeding team, only making the postseason twice, losing in the first round both times.
It wasn’t until he arrived in Denver that Gordon became the missing piece in the Denver Nuggets Frankenstein monster being built out of cheap Serbian labor.
Aaron Gordon’s role fits like a new pair of socks. His size makes him an automatic mismatch against 99% of switching defenses, allowing him to back down smaller players. He’s a decent enough shooter to sit on the perimeter and hit open jumpers. And he’s strong enough to defend the opposing team’s best wing scorer.
But other Aaron Gordon’s exist throughout the league. Big men being miscast as no. 1 options or wallowing in the filth of mediocrity when they could be transforming a starting 5 into NBA champions.
If you’re not totally sure what player archetype I’m describing, think Kevin Love averaging 20 and 12 in Minnesota before joining LeBron in Cleveland for a ring or Chris Both averaging 20 and 10 in Toronto before joining LeBron in Miami. Um, let me try and think of a non-LeBron example. Oh shit, how about when Anthony Davis joined the Lakers?
You get it.
I have a couple quick honorable mentions before we get into the list.
Karl-Anthony Towns/Kristaps Porzingis: KAT and Porzingis may already be in their Aaron Gordon situations, Kristaps specifically. Porzingis fits perfectly on this Celtics team. Porzingis is what Enes Kanter sees when he watches old Enes Kanter Celtics highlights.
Alpreun Senguin: Senguin fits the criteria of being a young big man racking up irrelevant numbers for a losing team but I don’t believe his skillset works unless an offense is running through him. Being the 3rd or 4th option would waste Senguin’s talent and playmaking skills.
And here are the 4 guys who have the chance to be the next Aaron Gordon:
1. Lauri Markennen
Lauri Markkanen is the exact prototype of the type of player I’m attempting to describe. Like Aaron Gordon before he arrived in Colorado, Markkanen has 7 NBA years under his belt with 1 All-Star appearance and zero postseason highlights.
Standing at 7-feet tall and coming off a season shooting 39% from 3, Lauri is a walking mismatch. A team like the Oklahoma City Thunder could use his size and shooting. Markkanen could be the final piece on a team like the Sixers who could replace Tobias Harris hunched over in the corner with his hands on his knees with Lauri’s dynamic 23.2 points per game.
Selfishly, I pray he remains on nothing teams so I don’t have to write about him often. 7 years in the NBA and I still cannot spell his name correctly without opening another tab, searching, and copying and pasting.
2. Kyle Kuzma
I recognize Kyle Kuzma already has a championship but he’s also playing for the Washington fucking Wizards. 29 NBA teams and this G-League-ass Wizards club built around the kid whose talent was punched out of his skull by Draymond Green is not the ideal environment for a player I believe is capable of contributing to a winning culture.
Kuzma averaged 22 points and it’s cool or whatever but he’s best utilized as a 3rd or 4th option who can attack mismatches and take over the scoring burden if one of his better teammates is having an off night. It’s wild how well he’d fit on the Lakers right now but they decided they needed Russell Westbrook. Rob Pelinka gets to still be the GM by the way. Lakers are about to hire their 3rd coach since winning the title in 2020.
#FreeKuzma
3. Mikal Bridges
Bridges isn’t exactly the ‘big man’ archetype that Aaron Gordon and the rest of these players I mentioned but Gordon plays on the wing more often than not and defensively, both Bridges and Gordon get tasked with locking up the other team’s best scorers.
Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Giannis—all these guys are PROBLEMS that a potential NBA championship team will need to solve. I was saving this take for an offseason preview but I genuinely believe Mikal Bridges would be the perfect fit for the New York Knicks. Like, yes Paul George and Kevin Durant and all those guys are superstars and sell a lot of sneakers and all that good shit but the Knicks need one more lockdown defender who hustles their ass off and most importantly, is Jalen Brunson’s best friend.
Mikal Bridges didn’t turn out to be the guy in Brooklyn but Aaron Gordon wasn’t the guy in Orlando either. Bridges being the glue guy on the Knicks might be the wave.
4. Bam Adebayo
Speaking of defense, how long is Bam Adebayo going to be miscast as a second option in Miami when he should be in more of an Aaron Gordon role where he can score his little 16 points and it doesn’t put his team in hell?
In 7 seasons of NBA ball, Bam has proven he can be the Defensive Player of the Year but he’s also shown scoring 20 a game doesn’t come naturally to him. He’s too unselfish of a player—an ideal guy to pair with more ball-dominant stars the way Gordon can play off Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
I pray Bam can leave Miami so I may allow myself to enjoy his talents outside of that bitch ass Heat jersey. [the most sarcastic voice anyone has ever heard] HEAT CULTURE BAYBEEE.
Who do you think has the opportunity to become the next Aaron Gordon? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
