Ben Gordon

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Ben Gordon
Ben Gordon Bobcats cropped.jpg
Gordon with the Bobcats
No. 8 – Charlotte Bobcats
Shooting guard
Personal information
Born (1983-04-04) April 4, 1983 (age 30)
London, England
Nationality British / American
Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight 200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school Mount Vernon
(Mount Vernon, New York)
College Connecticut (2001–2004)
NBA Draft 2004 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3rd overall
Selected by the Chicago Bulls
Pro career 2004–present
Career history
2004–2009 Chicago Bulls
2009–2012 Detroit Pistons
2012–present Charlotte Bobcats
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Benjamin "Ben" Gordon (born April 4, 1983) is a British-American professional basketball shooting guard with the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college he played both shooting guard and point guard for the University of Connecticut.[1]

He is the only player to receive the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a rookie. Gordon is second in career three point field goals for the Chicago Bulls, behind Kirk Hinrich.[2]

Contents

Early life [edit]

Ben Gordon was born in London, England to Jamaican parents.[3] He moved to the United States shortly after his birth, and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.[1] Gordon played high school basketball for the Mount Vernon Knights, and helped lead the team to the 2000 New York State Public and Federation Championships. Gordon was an All-State player at Mount Vernon and a top 40 national recruit.[1] He was heavily recruited by Seton Hall, but decided to attend UConn. While playing college basketball with Connecticut, Gordon helped lead the Huskies to the 2004 NCAA championship along with second overall pick, Emeka Okafor.[4] Gordon was picked 3rd overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2004 NBA Draft[5] and in the 2007–08 season led the team in points scored per game.

In Gordon's hometown of Mount Vernon, there is an annual "Ben Gordon Day In The Park", which is sponsored by the city and the Mount Vernon Boys & Girls Club. Gordon hosts a basketball camp run by "Five Star Camp".[6] Throughout his college and NBA career, Gordon has been given nicknames including "Gentle Ben"[7] and "Madison Square Gordon".[7] Gordon also has an energy drink called "BG7", named after his initials and number on his jersey.[8]

College career [edit]

As a freshman at Connecticut, Gordon ranked second on the team in scoring (12.6 ppg), despite coming off the bench for most of the season. He hit the game winning 3-point field goal against Villanova in the Big East Tournament.[9] As a sophomore Gordon averaged a team-leading 19.5 points (which ranked 50th in the nation) and also led the Huskies with 156 total assists, which earned Gordon Second Team All-Big East honors.[9]

In Gordon's junior and final year at Connecticut, he averaged a team-leading 20.5 points (again ranked 50th in the nation), 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He also connected on 104 three-pointers, the second-highest single season total in Connecticut's history.[9] Gordon set a Big East Tournament record with 81 total points, earning the tournaments' Most Outstanding Performer honors. Gordon also earned the Most Outstanding Player award of the Phoenix Regional honors in the NCAA Tournament. He also led the tournament field with 127 total points, as he helped lead the Huskies to the NCAA Championship.[9] Following his junior year, Gordon declared himself eligible for the 2004 NBA Draft and was selected third overall by the Chicago Bulls, one pick after the Charlotte Bobcats drafted his teammate at Connecticut, Emeka Okafor.

NBA career [edit]

Chicago Bulls [edit]

Ben Gordon signing autographs before a Chicago Bulls game.

Before the 2004 NBA Draft, Gordon thought that he would be drafted anywhere from 7th to 12th, but as the draft got closer he claimed to have an inkling that the Bulls might draft him third as they did with Michael Jordan 20 years earlier in the 1984 NBA Draft. "I'm a guy who looks at the significance of numbers a lot. Before the draft, I had no idea I'd get drafted third. I thought I was going to go anywhere from 7th to 12th. As we started getting closer and I started to get an inkling that the Bulls could be a team that I could end up playing for, I started to look at the numbers. Michael Jordan was drafted by the Bulls and he was the third pick just like you."[10] Gordon wore the number 4 on his jersey in high school and college, but has to wear the number 7 with the Bulls due to the number 4 being retired. Gordon said, "I wore No. 4 my whole career but, of course, Jerry Sloan already had that number beforehand so there wasn't much I could do about it. So all I did was just [put together] being the third pick with my old No. 4. That's why I wear No. 7."[10]

In the 2004–05 season, his rookie year, Gordon averaged 15.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while playing 24.2 minutes per game. Gordon also finished with 21 double-digit fourth quarter point performances, second to only LeBron James' 22 in the NBA.[11] Gordon helped lead the Bulls to their first playoff appearance since the Jordan era ended in 1998. After the season, Gordon became the first rookie in NBA history to be awarded the NBA Sixth Man Award.[12] Gordon was also the NBA's Eastern Conference Rookie of The Month 3 times (January, February, and March),[13] and was also voted onto the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Gordon during a 2008–09 game at the Verizon Center

However, Gordon also had problems with turnovers (4.46 per 48 minutes; 6th in the league in 04–05) and an overall lack of stamina in his rookie season. He remarked, "More than anything, I just want to come back [in the fall] in better shape". "A lot of this game is about conditioning and how long you can give your best performance."[14] In his sophomore campaign (2005–06), Gordon alternated between the starting lineup and bench for the Bulls, starting 47 games (mostly in the later half of the season) while coming off of the bench for 35. The minutes Gordon played per game rose, as did his scoring and assist averages.[15] Gordon was selected to play for the Sophomores in the Rookie Challenge held during the NBA All-Star Weekend, in which he scored 17 points.[16]

On April 14, 2006, in a Bulls win over the Washington Wizards, Gordon tied the record for the most consecutive three-pointers made in a game with 9.[17] Gordon also revealed that he was in the process of designing an energy drink called BG7, an allusion to his initials and jersey number, towards the end of his second season. Gordon unveiled the drink at One Sixty Blue, a restaurant co-owned by Michael Jordan. The drink is made with white tea,[8] which has a very high amount of antioxidants, and the most polyphenols of any tea.

Gordon has scored 40 points or more in a game twice over a span of two weeks.[18] Later on March 4, 2007, he established a career high 48 points, leading a miraculous comeback effort to win 126–121 in overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks.[19] Gordon accepted the Bulls' one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million after being unable to secure the contract that he was hoping for. He was an unrestricted free agent after the 2008–09 season. On December 27, 2008, Gordon passed Scottie Pippen as the Chicago Bulls' career leader in three-pointers made.

Detroit Pistons [edit]

Gordon signed a five-year deal for $55 million with the Detroit Pistons starting with the 2009–10 season.[20] With the Pistons, Gordon continued his role as a sixth-man off the bench. On January 9, 2010, Gordon scored the 10-millionth point in NBA history.[21] On March 21, 2012, Gordon scored 45 points, making 9 out of 9 3-point field goal attempts, which tied an NBA record.

Charlotte Bobcats [edit]

On June 26, 2012, Gordon and a future first round pick were traded to the Charlotte Bobcats in a deal that sent Corey Maggette to the Pistons.[22]

On November 28, 2012, Gordon scored 20 points in the fourth quarter of an eventual 91-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The 20 points were the most in one quarter for any player in Bobcats history. He finished with 26 points on 7 of 11 shooting, making 7 of 10 from beyond the arc, to go with 5 free throw attempts and makes.

In February 2013, the Bobcats were rumored to be involved in serious trade negotiations after Gordon and coach Mike Dunlap had differences.[23]

International career [edit]

On April 1, 2008, Gordon was named to the shortlist for the British national basketball team. Gordon is eligible for the team by virtue of his British birth and dual citizenship.[24] In 2010, he said he hoped to represent Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics.[25] However, Gordon missed the beginning of Great Britain's June 2012 pre-Olympic training camp in Houston, Texas.[26] He later said he could not commit to the team after being traded from Detroit to Charlotte.[27]

Gordon had represented the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games.[28]

NBA career statistics [edit]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season [edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004–05 Chicago 82 3 24.4 .411 .405 .863 2.6 2.0 .6 .1 15.1
2005–06 Chicago 80 47 31.0 .422 .435 .787 2.7 3.0 .9 .1 16.9
2006–07 Chicago 82 51 33.0 .455 .413 .864 3.1 3.6 .8 .2 21.4
2007–08 Chicago 72 27 31.8 .434 .410 .908 3.1 3.0 .8 .1 18.6
2008–09 Chicago 82 76 36.6 .455 .410 .864 3.5 3.4 .9 .3 20.7
2009–10 Detroit 62 17 27.9 .416 .321 .861 1.9 2.7 .8 .1 13.8
2010–11 Detroit 82 27 26.0 .440 .402 .850 2.4 2.1 .6 .2 11.2
2011–12 Detroit 52 21 26.9 .442 .429 .860 2.3 2.4 .6 .2 12.5
2012–13 Charlotte 75 0 20.8 .408 .387 .843 1.7 1.9 .5 .2 11.2
Career 669 269 28.8 .433 .404 .858 2.6 2.7 .7 .2 15.9

Playoffs [edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2005 Chicago 6 1 25.5 .405 .318 .800 2.7 2.5 .8 .3 14.5
2006 Chicago 6 6 40.8 .406 .366 .676 3.3 3.0 1.0 .0 21.0
2007 Chicago 10 10 39.5 .415 .436 .921 3.8 3.8 .9 .1 20.4
2009 Chicago 7 7 43.4 .388 .370 .875 2.9 3.0 .4 .1 24.3
Career 29 24 37.9 .403 .384 .840 3.2 3.1 .8 .1 20.2

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c UCONN player profile URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  2. ^ Chicago Bulls Career Leaders URL last accessed April 27, 2009
  3. ^ ESPN Player Profile URL last accessed August 1, 2006
  4. ^ Gordon scores 21 as UCONN beats Georgia Tech to become national champs URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  5. ^ Bulls take Gordon third overall URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  6. ^ Ben Gordon Day Chat URL last accessed August 26, 2006
  7. ^ a b Bulls.com discusses Ben Gordon's nickname "Madison Square Gordon" and "Gentle Ben" URL last accessed on July 31, 2006
  8. ^ a b Gordon still sippin' pretty: He has his own drink URL last accessed December 10, 2006
  9. ^ a b c d Ben Gordon prospect profile and college stats URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  10. ^ a b Q&A: Ben Gordon URL last accessed November 17, 2006
  11. ^ Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, Andres Nocioni and Luol Deng Bulls Fource URL last accessed August 1, 2006
  12. ^ Gordon named NBA's 6th man URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  13. ^ Gordon named rookie of the month for January, February, and March URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  14. ^ Bulls.com interview with Ben Gordon URL last accessed on July 31, 2006
  15. ^ Stats and Bio URL last accessed August 1, 2006
  16. ^ Recap for 2006 Rookie Challenge game URL last accessed July 31, 2006
  17. ^ Gordon Ties Record; Bulls Get Key Win URL last accessed December 24, 2006
  18. ^ Elias Says... A daily glance inside the numbers from the world of sports URL last accessed January 3, 2006
  19. ^ Yahoo! Sports, Chicago 126, Milwaukee 121, OT URL last accessed March 27, 2006
  20. ^ "Sources: Gordon, Villanueva to Pistons". ESPN. Retrieved 2009-07-02. 
  21. ^ "Pistons' Gordon scores 10 millionth point in NBA history". NBA. Retrieved 2011-06-23. 
  22. ^ "Bobcats Acquire Ben Gordon, Future First-Round Pick From Pistons". NBA.com. June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2012. 
  23. ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--sources--bobcats-more-determined-to-trade-ben-gordon-after-incident-with-coach-165657267.html
  24. ^ Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon called up to British basketball squad. AP Sports. April 1, 2008. Retrieved on April 5, 2008.
  25. ^ Ben Gordon Looking to Suit Up for GB Next Summer. hoopsfix.com. August 28, 2010. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.
  26. ^ Gordon a no-show
  27. ^ Ben Gordon decommits for Britain. ESPN. July 1, 2012. Retrieved on July 2, 2012.
  28. ^ USA Men Lose Bronze Medal Game. insidehoops.com. August 7, 2003. Retrieved on June 18, 2008.

External links [edit]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ben_Gordon&oldid=551091656"