Most fans nationwide are wondering why Eric Gordon will be a competitor in this Friday’s dunk-in and has a chance to compete in the actual Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night. The reason is that the NBA sees him as one of the league’s young stars and when the commissioners office comes a calling,……….you better listen.
The fact is that Gordon probably should be representing the Sophomores against the Rookies in the actual game Friday evening, showcasing his overall skills that make him one of the league’s most underrated and explosive young scorers at the shooting guard position.
In only his second season with the Clippers, Gordon has been averaging 17 ppg and shooting 35 % from behind the arc as the Clippers primary back-court offensive weapon along with Baron Davis. Despite suffering through some early season injuries, he has scored in double figures in all but two of his 37 games played this season. Eric even showed his offensive prowess last season as a rookie by dropping 41 points in a game to set the Clippers rookie record for scoring.
Before being selected as the #7 overall pick in the ’07 NBA Draft, Gordon was an elite scorer at both the high school and collegiate levels. Coming out of HS, Gordon is probably most known as being an AAU teammate of Greg Oden and also for his last minute decision not to play for the University of Illinois after signing a letter of intent. He instead chose to play for disgraced coach Kelvin Sampson, at Indiana, and later was a part of a major recruiting scandal which resulted in Sampson’s firing and NCAA imposed sanctions against the Hoosiers program.
While I do concede that Gordon is an excellent player on the rise, he rightfully so isn’t being given much of a chance to defeat the Raptors’ Demar DeRozan for the right to participate on Saturday night. Nonetheless, each participant deserves equal mention, so here is a video of some of Eric Gordon’s top dunks:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
