Duan Yu possessed Aaron Gordon does his best to help Westbrook realize his dream championship

NBA playoffs are a mirror of players' strength. Some players have shown their poor performance in the playoffs, and some players have doubled their value in the playoffs. Aaron Gordon of the Denver Nuggets belongs to the latter. Whether against the Los Angeles Clippers or against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he has magical performances to turn the world and turn the tide at the last moment. So what level is he now? Today's Star Test will bring you data analysis of Aaron Gordon.

Among the top 100 NBA 2024-25 stars selected by the ringer website on April 16, Gordon ranked 54th in the league and third in the Nuggets, lower than Jokic (1st in the league), Jamal Murray (30th in the league), and the 58th place at the beginning of the season in the game has improved slightly. I believe that if we continue to refer to the playoff performance, Gordon's ranking will improve. The comments on the website are as follows:

Some players have been looking for a suitable position throughout their careers, and for a long time, Gordon seems to be one of them. In the Orlando Magic, he either competes for playing time at the No. 4 position in a roster full of frontcourt players or is overwhelmed by a team lacking the necessary offensive firepower. Eventually, Gordon became an All-Star bargaining chip – fans hope and pray that one day he will see him reach his full potential in a less burdened environment.

In the Denver Nuggets, Gordon found a home, and his basketball soul mate Nikola Jokic. All of Gordon's strengths have been highlighted in the Nuggets' more than three seasons: He is a strong, mobile defender who can press the ball with his strength or hold his place when facing a big guy, and his intuition and timing make him one of the best cut-in and finishing players in the game. When playing the exciting clips of the Denver Nuggets' 2023 championship season, you will often see Jokic getting rid of double teams again and again when there is no time left, passing the ball to Gordon who is rushing into the game. Gordon completes thunderous dunks again and again, and they are still one of the most powerful combinations in basketball.

Gordon has been suffering from injuries in his 24-25 season, missing nearly half of the game due to a persistent calf strain, but he scored a career-high three-point shooting percentage, which is a boon for a team with a very smart and cautious outside shot selection. His versatility is a band-aid for a team with never-reliable bench lineup. Gordon's basic stats will never surprise you, but his overall influence this season is second only to Jokic, who has played his best basketball performance to date.

A brief summary of the website evaluation is that Gordon's shortcomings around Jokic were compensated and his advantages were amplified. At the same time, his shooting has made rapid progress this season, so we followed the logic of the website comments and used data to correspond to it.

Gordon has excellent physical fitness and athletic ability. He participated in the 2014-15 rookie joint trial. He was 2.03 meters tall, weighed 107 kg, had an arm span of 2.12 meters, had a height of 2.66 meters, a maximum jump of 99 cm, and a body fat rate of 5%. He showed his athletic talent and physical talent to the fullest in the dunk competition.

This season, he played No. 4 and No. 5 in 11% of the time. Because the Nuggets do not have a qualified substitute center, Gordon basically earns rest time for Jokic 11% of the center time.

This season, the inside score accounts for 65.5%, the outside score accounts for 34.5%, the assisted score accounts for 65%, and the ball-holding score accounts for 35%. The ball-holding ability has always been Gordon's weakness, and he has not developed a strong ball-holding ability. The highest ball-holding ratio in his career is 43% of the 2016-17 season. He is an inside finisher who needs the help of his teammates' passing. His personal ball-holding ability is generally a limitation of his failure to become an All-Star player.

But around Jokic, it is absolutely fine to not be able to hold the ball, because Jokic is the best Commander Tower player in the league. He has epic passing skills and enjoys the most frequent double-team defense in the league. He averaged 105 catches per game this season, ranking first in the league, far higher than the second Halliburton 94 times, and ranked first in the league in 76 passes per game. It can be said that Jokic can completely lead the offense of the entire team by holding the ball alone.

So on the offensive end, Nuggets players only need to do two points of empty cut and fixed-point catch and shoot at Jokic. Let's see how he does these two offensive tasks.

First of all, in terms of cutting in the inside. Due to injuries in the regular season, Gordon scored 98 inwards with only 51 appearances, ranked 39th in the league. In the playoffs, he averaged 2.8 inwards and offenses per game, ranked 8th in the league. In the health of Gordon, he is definitely the first inwards player in the league.

In terms of the ending of the inside, this season, 256 hits in the box with 154 goals in the box within 10 feet of the basket, 60% of the shooting percentage is an excellent level. He completed 63 dunks in the regular season, ranked 55th in the league. In the previous two seasons, his regular season dunks exceeded 170 times. It can be seen that injuries still had a great impact on Gordon's athletic ability. In the playoffs stage, as of May 11, the shooting percentage of 39 goals in the box was reduced to 53%. In the playoff stage with greater defensive intensity, Gordon's small penalty area ending rate has declined, but it is still at the qualified level..

There is a world of difference between Gordon and the past season. The three-point shooting ability has improved by leaps and bounds. This season's three-point shooting percentage is as high as 43.6%, which is ranked 6th in the league, only lower than Curry 45%, Lavender 44.6%, Prince 43.9%, Jerome 43.9%, and Creggic 43.7%. In the previous 10 years, Gordon's average three-point shooting percentage was only 28%, which is completely unqualified. The highest shooting percentage in a single season is 34.7%. This season's three-point shooting percentage soars, just like Duan Yu suddenly mastered the use of the Six-Meridian Divine Sword, and suddenly changed from a nerve knife to the first-class expert in the world.

Among them, 119 three-pointers were hit by 54, and 45% of the shooting percentage was as high as 45%, and 50 three-pointers were hit by 19, and 38% of the shooting percentage was pointed out that because he played fewer games, the data was not objective and representative. In the first 10 games of the playoffs, he received 13 three-pointers and shot 29, and his shooting percentage was still maintained at 44.8%, including the final moments of the third game against the Thunder. He scored 9 shots and shots in 22%. If Gordon can keep the shooting percentage of the three-pointers at the current level, he will truly become an all-round fighter who can be inside and outside, offense and defense.

to a more specific chemical reaction with Jokic, Jokic assisted Gordon in a total of 74 assists, Gordon received Jokic's pass and hit a shooting percentage of 48.8% in the inside box. This hit percentage is a bit low. Jokic's pass from outside the three-point line made 60 passes and shots, 26 shots and 43.3% in the shooting percentage is very outstanding. Of course, Gordon's regular season appearance was limited due to injury. The playoffs are the best stage for him to show his full strength. As of May 11, Jokic assisted Gordon in the playoffs 19 assists, Gordon ranked first in the team. Gordon's shooting percentage of receiving Jokic's passes and hit a shooting percentage of 39.4% in the inside line. Jokic's pass from 8 of 17 shots outside the three-point line made a shooting percentage of 47%. He is still Jokic's most powerful helper, but now he has changed from the past internal support to the outside support with stronger firepower.

In addition to scoring contribution, Gordon's greatest help to the team is on the defensive end. He is Jokic's good inside partner and can effectively make up for Jokic's defensive shortcomings. He does many dirty and tiring work in the inside. This season, his opponents average 11.3 shots in front of him and his shooting percentage is 47.8%, which is the same as the league average.

The overall defensive efficiency of the Denver Nuggets has dropped significantly this season. The regular season lost 116 points per 100 rounds and has dropped to 22nd in the league. The opponent averaged 93 shots per game, ranking second from the bottom in the league, only higher than the Bulls' 95 times. The lack of defensive ability is the biggest problem for them to lose the competitiveness of the championship. Gordon has a moderate defensive efficiency in the team.

Entering the playoff stage, the Nuggets strengthened their defense. Currently, the average opponent's shooting has dropped to 88.4 times per game, but still ranks third from the bottom among the 16 playoff teams, only higher than the Grizzlies' 95.8 times and the Pacers' 91 times. Gordon's personal defensive efficiency has been greatly improved, with the average defending opponent's shooting average rising to 12.8 times, and the opponent's shooting percentage has reached 43.3%, reducing the opponent's shooting percentage by 5.5 percentage points on average. Among them, the opponent's shooting percentage is limited to 32% outside the three-point line, and reducing the opponent's shooting percentage by 5.7 percentage points on average. When Jokic needs to maintain an inside-line defense defense, Gordon's external defense ability and interference ability can effectively make up for Jokic's defense shortcomings.

The final comprehensive data shows that the 30-year-old Gordon is currently transforming his playing style. Perhaps due to illness and his athletic ability declines. He is gradually transforming from the end of the inside line to the main scoring method in the past to gradually transform into an outside shooter. From the current perspective, his transformation is very successful. In the fourth game of the playoffs that just ended against the Thunder, although the team lost, Gordon is still the most stable part of the team.

Gordon once said when talking about Westbrook's joining at the beginning of the season: "I have always encouraged myself and persevered in improving myself. Westbrook is the same. He will become a member of the Hall of Fame. I will do my best to help him win a championship ring." At that time, there were many sarcastic replies below this news, and everyone joked that Gordon's ability could not be helped, but now it seems that he is really doing his best. Once Gordon's game ends, Westbrook will be excited to be the first to step forward and embrace Gordon affectionately. That is the absolute recognition of the big brother, and the indescribable gratitude between brothers.

All all your efforts will eventually be recognized and stamped by the world. I hope Gordon, Westbrook and the Nuggets will have a perfect ending this season.