This is what Aaron Gordon always wanted.
Gordon’s only averaging 10.5 field goal attempts per game this season. It’s the fifth-most on the Nuggets and down from the 11.1 Gordon averaged last year. He’s not the No. 1, 2 or 3 option in Denver’s offense when the Nuggets are at full health. The clutch, late-game, headline-making shots that go viral on Twitter are Nikola Jokic’s and Jamal Murray’s to take. But that’s all good with Gordon. He’s more than okay with Denver’s current arrangement.
“This is a great brand of basketball,” Gordon said. “You play the right way. The open man is the right pass and the right pass is the open man. That’s just a beautiful way to play basketball. It reminds me of USA Basketball a little bit and the way that there’s energy in the ball and it hops around. It’s kind of like FIBA or a world game. It’s how I’ve always wanted to play.”
Gordon has found his basketball nirvana in Denver. It’s where he’s morphed into the perfect winning player and a complementary piece on the Nuggets’ contending roster. Gordon’s playing a completely different brand of basketball than he did for the first 6 1/2 seasons of his NBA career in Orlando, and this current version of Gordon is almost unrecognizable from the one who played for the Magic.
He’s traded in mid-range jumpers for dunks. He’s eliminated step-back jump shots from his arsenal and turned his focus to finding open catch-and-shoot triples throughout Denver’s offense. He’s passing up good shots for great ones that his teammates are attempting. His shooting profile has been refined to a state that fully maximizes the Nuggets’ attack.
This season, 62% of Gordon’s shots are coming at the rim. His previous career high was only 53%. Only 15% of his shots come from the mid-range. Gordon’s previous career low was 23%. He’s dunking everything once he gets into the paint too. Gordon’s 57 dunks through 26 games are the sixth-most in the NBA. Last year he had 130 dunks total.
It’s translated into career highs across the board.
Gordon is shooting a ridiculous 70.1% from two-point range. It’s the second-best mark in the NBA (out of players with at least 150 attempts) behind only Nic Claxton (73.5%), who’s taken exactly two shots from outside the paint all season. That’s higher than the 68.4% Nikola Jokic is shooting from two-point range. It’s also higher than Rudy Gobert, Clint Capela and Zion Williamson’s two-point percentages.
He’s picking and choosing his spots from beyond the arc more carefully too. Gordon’s three-point attempts are down, but his percentage is up. The 38.5% he’s shooting from distance would be a career-high. Overall, he’s shooting above 60% from the field for the first time in his career. Gordon has also upped his rebounding. He’s doing all the little things.
“I’m just looking to be the glue guy,” Gordan said. “Do a little bit of a lot. Filling in where my team needs me. Getting where I fit in and making the game easy for the rest of my teammates.”
It’s been an impressive mindset and one that Gordon has displayed from Day 1 in Denver. His teammates, specifically Nikola Jokic, have appreciated his approach too. You get the feeling that Jokic has the utmost trust in Gordon right now. You’ve seen their chemistry in the two-man game develop rapidly over the last 2+ seasons. There’s a special synergy between Jokic and Gordon when they play together.
“We kind of have almost a little telepathy going on,” said Gordon.
Jokic always looks for Gordon when the latter has a mismatch. If there’s a switch and Gordon’s sealing his man under the rim, Jokic is going to find him. Gordon has been looking to use his physicality and overpower his matchup whenever the opportunity presents itself this season, and Jokic wants to reward Gordon when he can.
“I think you can see how he’s developed,” Jokic said of Gordon. “He can play screen and roll. He can play 1-on-1 facing the basket. He can rim-run. He’s a complete player. He doesn’t have a weak spot.”
“He’s a top-5 two-way player in the league right now.”
Gordon’s overall play and night-in-night-out consistency has been an underrated storyline this season. He’s unquestionably been the Nuggets’ second-best player. If Gordon was averaging a few more points per game — he’s currently at 16.7 this year — the forward would be garnering All-Star consideration right now. If the Nuggets are atop the Western Conference when ballots are submitted in a couple of months, he might even grab some votes. Gordon has been that good and is becoming a more dangerous player within the Nuggets’ offense by the day.
His overall game has matured too. Gordon is understanding the court and reading the floor at an incredibly high level. He’s mastering the art of the dunker spot. He’s become elite at floating into the open spaces around the basket that Jokic creates with his gravity. Gordon followed through on his pledge at the conclusion of last season to raise his basketball IQ to better complement the back-to-back MVP, and the basketball knowledge he added over the summer has made him a rock-solid fit next to Jokic and on this roster.
“I think it’s more streamlined, the way that I play my game,” Gordon said. “A lot of stuff in my bag, but now I just know when to use it, where to use it, and how it’s going to affect the game.”
His play this season has helped the Nuggets settle in at 16-10 overall and near the top of the West while battling injuries, illnesses and inconsistent play. Jokic and Murray missed time with COVID. Michael Porter Jr. has been sidelined for the last 10 games with a heel strain. Denver’s bench has been a work-in-progress to put it kindly. The defense has been a disaster. Gordon, along with most Nuggets players, deserves the blame for that.
But Gordon’s offensive consistency and dedication to his role have been fundamental to Denver’s success so far. He’s playing both the style of basketball that he wants and the one that the Nuggets need him to in order to chase their championship dreams.
“I have another level to get to,” Gordon said. “And so does this team.”
