Bill Simmons Loves LA Clippers guard Eric Gordon and His Magic Jump Shot – Me Too

I just took a break from work and spent a good half hour in the magical land of “Eating Lunch While Reading the Newest Bill Simmons Column on ESPN.com”. As always, it was a glorious pleasure.

(And, for the record, Simmons can do all the podcasts he wants, but the podcasts will never come close to the columns. First off, he’s a great and entertaining writer. Secondly, his voice sounds like that of a prepubescent girl with a cold and grates at my brain like Romeo Crennel’s clock management.)

Anyway, the newest column from Bill Simmons is his 20 Predictions for the 2008-09 NBA Season. If you’re an NBA fan, give it a read and also check out Nick Gerlach’s own NBA Preview here on Midwest Sports Fans. If you aren’t an NBA fan, still check out Simmons’ column anyway because, because if we’re going to promote one giant douche here at Midwest Sports Fans, we might as well promote them all. (Yup, Simmons, these are your readers.)

While I found the entire article to be an interesting read, one passage caught my eye in particular. In a section in which Bill Simmons was discussing random things he will enjoy about the 2008-09 season, Simmons wrote:

Eric Gordon’s beautiful, moonball, knee-weakening, once-in-a-generation jump shot. It’s just perfect. I love it. I love everything about it. Every time he shoots it, the Clippers crowd goes quiet for a split-second like one of the cheerleaders just pulled up her shirt. Even the spin is gorgeous. I can’t say enough about it. I am in love with Eric Gordon’s jump shot. I want to marry it. I want to have kids with it. I will go to at least one practice or shootaround this year just to see him hoist 200 of them. And by the way, the kid is going to be great — he’s bigger than I thought, and when he drives to the lane, defenders just bounce off him. He will end up being the third-best guy in that draft. Unless, of course — and I’m contractually obligated to mention this since it’s the most jinxed franchise in sports and we’re only two years removed from Shaun Livingston’s knee flying off his body and landing in the eighth row — something horrible happens to him. Please, Lord, no. Just give us a decade of Gordon jump shots. I don’t ask for much

As many of you know, I am a die-hard IU basketball fan and don’t really have “a team” in the NBA. I root more for players and matchups and just love watching good, quality NBA competition. Well, being an IU fan has not exactly given me a wealth of NBA stars to root for. Jared Jeffries is a bench player, my favorite player ever Calbert Cheaney has been out of the NBA for a while, Tom Coverdale was white so he never had a chance, and DJ White is now out for 3-6 months after having surgery to remove a growth from his jaw.

But finally, IU has produced at least one player with true star quality: Eric Gordon.

Last year’s Big Ten Freshman of the year was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers in this year’s draft, and despite being slowed by an ankle injury early in training camp, he rebounded to lead the Clippers in scoring during the preseason at 14.6 points per game. His shooting percentages from the field were not all that great (39.2% FG and 35.3% 3FG) and he did not exactly stuff the stat sheet outside of his scoring (1.9 R, 0.9 A, but only 1.0 TOs!) but isn’t that about what we came to expect from EJ last season?

Here’s the thing — Eric Gordon does have a beautiful jump shot. He can get it off quickly and he has deep range. We all saw that during his first month as a Hoosier. Unfortunately, his wrist injury and our steadily deteriorating team discipline, morale, and offensive flow contributed our superstar freshman being forced to do everything himself and falling woefully out of rhythm. Something tells me that his ankle injury and getting acclimated to a new team probably created a similar lack of flow for Gordon this preseason (though I did not watch any games). Once thing about Eric Gordon that Bill Simmons mentioned, which is absolutely true, is that Gordon is excellent going the basket and his strong body allows him to absorb tremendous punishment and get many attempts at the line. And EJ always seems in rhythm at the line, as he was during the preseason when he connected on 87.5% of his free throw attempts.

I was pumped to read the Bill Simmons passage about Eric Gordon. His IU career began with such a bang and ended in such turmoil and mediocrity thanks to Kelvin F-ing Sampson. I would have loved to see Eric Gordon stay for one more year and play under Tom Crean — but I never for one second begrudged Gordon for going pro, or thought that he shouldn’t.

I will miss his gorgeous jump shot tickling the twine at Assembly Hall, and his bowling ball drives into traffic that drew fouls and bailed the Hoosiers out of possessions in which they exhibited poor offensive execution. But for the first time in a long time I am excited that Indiana actually has a potential star in the NBA. I don’t know how many Clippers games I will get down here in Dallas, but I will definitely be watching them when they are on.

And now that Eric Gordon is playing for the team that Bill Simmons has season tickets for, I can look forward to more entertaining updates on my new second-favorite NBA player. (EJ doesn’t trump DJ White, too much history with DJ — but Gordon will be the only one of the floor this season.)

I hope that Eric Gordon fulfills the Bill Simmons Prophecy of becoming the third-best player in last season’s draft (after Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, I’d assume). And as Gordon goes through his NBA journey, I hope IU fans everywhere will support him. He may have been the face of a team that fell light years below expectations and ended up imploding before our eyes. But that wasn’t Gordon’s fault — it was Sampson’s.

Now Eric Gordon fans can only hope that EJ has rid himself of the Sampson Curse and can avoid LA Clippers Curse. If so, he could be the best NBA player to come out of Indiana since Isiah Thomas. (Which reminds me, hopefully EJ can avoid the burgeoning Isiah Thomas Curse as well.)

[tags]bill simmons, eric gordon, la clippers, nba[/tags]

Tags: bill simmons, eric gordon, la clippers, NBA

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