Pelicans.com continues its look back at the 2015-16 season with player-by-player analysis of the team:
2015-16 OVERVIEW
Perhaps no player symbolized the Pelicans’ incredibly bad luck in the health department more than Eric Gordon, whose season was sidetracked twice by a fracture of the same right ring finger. As a result, the shooting guard could not make as big of an impact compared to 2014-15, when he enjoyed arguably his best season with New Orleans and debuted as in the NBA playoffs vs. Golden State.
Gordon actually appeared in each of the team’s first 41 games with no issues, before first fracturing the finger on his shooting hand Jan. 19 vs. Minnesota. He sat out the next 16 games, then returned for four, but sustained the same injury March 5 against Utah, while reaching to knock the ball away from the Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
While playing a total of 1,481 minutes before and between the identical injuries, Gordon’s three-point percentage was still very good at 38.4, though it dipped from a career-best 44.8 in ’14-15. Still, he was a slightly better offensive player by many measurements, including increasing his field-goal percentage to 41.8 from 41.1. His effective field-goal percentage similarly jumped from 51.2 to 52.1.
Without question, Gordon’s best stretch of 2015-16 came in the early portion of the schedule – he scored 20-plus points in six of the team’s first nine games, compared to achieving that 20-point mark a total of seven times in his remaining 36 appearances. Some of that can be attributed to the early-season injury absence of Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday’s minute restriction, which meant relying more heavily on Gordon offensively.
Gordon enters the 2016 offseason as a free agent for the first time in four years, when he was brought back by New Orleans in restricted free agency.
TOP THREE ERIC GORDON GAMES OF 2015-16
#3, Dec. 4: New Orleans 114, Cleveland 108 (OT)
An exceptionally efficient game for Gordon featured 19 points on only nine attempts from the field. He went 7/9 overall and 4/5 from beyond the arc, helping the Pelicans post one of their most memorable wins of the season.
#2, Jan. 13: New Orleans 109, Sacramento 97
Gordon’s best all-around performance was highlighted by 24 points (including 6/12 on treys), five rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block. New Orleans salvaged a California road trip that began with losses at Staples Center to the Clippers and Lakers.
#1, Dec. 26: New Orleans 110, Houston 108
His 26 points marked his highest scoring output in a New Orleans win this season. He also handed out five assists, statistically Gordon’s fourth-best passing game of 2015-16 (he had three six-assist games). He was an outstanding 10/12 from the field and 6/8 from beyond the arc.
BEHIND THE NUMBERS
35: Gordon’s rank among qualified NBA players in three-point percentage (38.4). He finished second in the league in 2014-15 (44.8 percent), behind only Atlanta’s Kyle Korver.
4: Times Gordon sank at least five three-pointers in a game this season. New Orleans went 3-1 in those instances, beating Houston, Sacramento and Phoenix.
6: Gordon’s rank on New Orleans’ roster in total minutes played (1,481). That means that even though Gordon missed almost half of the season, only five Pelicans were on the floor more than him, headed by Anthony Davis’ 2,164 minutes and Ryan Anderson’s 2008.