Of Swedish Ponytail Man Skiles offered this:

"Its hard to imagine him not being in the rotation. He's
an NBA player, I think people are going to be pleasantly
surprised."

Which is great but... If the guy can really play then the ramifications
are either that one of the Deng-Noce-SPM trinity will become
redundant OR Gordon is going to see his minutes greatly
reduced as the team goes big with a three guard lineup. Early
reports are that SPM is a good ballhandler so maybe he takes
pressure off Kirk but there is a serious logjam at 2-3 tweener
and realistically 5 of the first 8 in the rotation are essentially
swingmen unless Griffin or TT literally almost never play which
could well be Griff's lot this year. Needed him *last* year.

We'll probably get another dose of Gordon starting early on
and Skiles will play with the rotation after that but if it doesn't
work this time around then I really think Gordon will have to
regarded as trade bait particularly if Noce continues to score
like he did at the end of last season.

td

In article <rUsVg.10644$UG4.9251@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink. net>,
"td" <decklap@earthlink.net> wrote:



The designated guy to get his minutes cut every year seems to be Duhon.
I think he's going to be more of a classic back-up point and the main 3
point shooter off the bench -- maybe think of a combination of Eric Snow
and Damon Jones, with both of them at the top of their game.

The question of how much Gordon's lack of size hurts us is a valid one.
I think it is, in a way, a little simpler now. The frontcourt might be
manned by three or four guys that can play multiple positions but the
backcourt has been refined, simplified: Kirk -> Duhon, Gordon -> Thabo.
Last season, when Gordon slumped, it meant Kirk had to shift out of
position, which effectively displaced two players rather than one and
certainly had implications elsewhere on the court. If it gets sketchy
with a rookie at SG, Griff is there to lend a steady hand.

Skiles might be able to weather Gordon's lapses with a longer
and more athletic backcourt but I think the Gordon issue
is not dissimiliar from Kukoc's which we'd discussed recently.

Gordon has a role on this team but its not one he wants to
fill and the one he wants to fill isn't the one best suited for
the team which is why I think he is trade bait. If Im wrong
then this team is going to be good in a big big way.


td