The Denver Nuggets NEED Aaron Gordon | Player Profile

The Denver Nuggets are poised to defend their NBA title. Amidst career years for Nikola Jokic, MPJ, and Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon is working behind the scenes. Today we look at why the Denver Nuggets need Aaron Gordon.
Introduction 0:00
Off ball Movement 0:39
Playmaking 5:51
Defense 7:36
Conclusion 10:35

The Denver Nuggets run one of the most beautiful offenses in recent NBA history you have nicoa yic one of the greatest centers of all time with one of the most revolutionary skill sets the game has ever seen you have an elite scorer and bucket getter in Jamal Murray you have

One of the best slashers and one of the best catch and shoot players in the whole game in Michael The Possession endere Porter Jr as y get just close to winning his third MVP I want to talk about the mvrp the most valuable role player while his highlights might give

Him Fame it’s the little things he does for Denver that has them poised to repeat let’s start off with Gordon’s surprising dominance on the inside in this match up against the Timberwolves they’re missing both Carl Anthony towns and Rudy goer but it wasn’t Nicola yic the one punishing on the inside as that

Was handled by the small ball Center Aaron Gordon this year shows what is to come Gordon is matched up against Anthony Edwards who’s been a great perimeter Defender this season but the 4-in height difference is too much as Gordon puts back his own to miss here nobody picks up Gordon in transition he

Slips away and gets free throws plays like these show why Gordon is a top 30 rebounder for the entire NBA probably top five in offensive rebounding amongst non big men pack would Define this game for Gordon where he either had four times where he would tip it in or that

Would lead to free throws this here is just a lack of a box out and Gordon showing off of his vertical this is just one of Denver’s Elite actions Gordon dumps the ball off to yic and setss a screen for Murray to receive a handoff three Defenders are now focusing on

Jamal Murray as Gordon rolls to the basket even here Murray could have just dumped the ball off to Gordan a 75% shooter from the restricted Arc instead he passes it out to mpj who drives in for the runner but guess who is there for a rebound in free throws against the

Knicks without Mitchell Robinson he’s basically taunting them by getting his own rebound just to put it back up here against a slightly smaller Roy hachimura it takes just one crossover and he’s under the hoop his strength is just too much much when he gets this close and I

Love the way he positions himself against Jeremy Grant here jic then tries to float the ball over albeit it could have been done a little bit better but still Aaron Gordon is able to get to a spot and dare I say barbecue chicken I was just as surprised as Josh har when

He pulls out this sort of spin in transition again we see Gordon moving around and instead of hunting for a spot on the perimeter he’s ready for Murray to dump off the pass and seals the game with the dunk but Gordon has never been just a pure Power Player sure he hust

For rebounds and is by no means weak but he does a great job in finding and exploiting mismatches in this play against the Wolves Mike Conley is forc to pick up Aaron Gordon in transition with the postup suddenly three players are focused on Gordon who kicks the ball

Out to Payton Watson in the corner this is just good ball movement that doesn’t result in a maid shot this time he has no issue attacking the smaller Damen Lillard who has to foul him while reaching against the Mavericks Kyrie Irving is tked up with picking up Aaron

Gordon he gets to a spot on the low block and no one that size can defend this sort of move we even see a similar play against Luca donic Aaron Gordon drop steps on him forcing a defensive collapse and a foul even against somewhat his own size Gordon shows off

That gold post spin badge against Kyle Anderson while Gordon isn’t the biggest post threat in the Denver offense he knows how to get the defense into a bad spot and how to generate that into offense Denver loves to find their mismatches with a lineup of their size

It’s easy to see why but they generate this through with their off ball movement something Gordon is Elite at Gordon is one of if not the best player in the league when it comes to off ball movement within the arc first it’s just simple positioning instead of just being

Like Ben Simmons sitting at the dunker spot Gordon is constantly moving constantly adjusting trying to find a better angle for his teammate to drop the ball off to him this play against the Lakers demonstrates it perfectly while he is just sitting on the Baseline which is basically unheard of by

Modern-day spacing standards the second his man is looking away from him he puts himself right in yok’s line of sight and remember what I said about the restricted Arc against Milwaukee he does the same thing Yannis is caught ball watching on Jamal Murray and despite the call out from Chris Middleton Gordon is

Already in too good of a spot Clips like these are something that happens nearly every possession while it doesn’t always result in a maid basket for Gordon makes defenses have to respect him putting him in position for an offensive rebound or giving Nicola yic just a few extra

Inches of space on a floater but if you’ve watched Nuggets game or even just nuggets highlights you know there’s more than just subtle Aaron Gordon movement this sort of play just shows off Denver’s offense Christian Bron sets a pick on Roy haimura Roy fights over the

Screen but this gives Nicol yic a few steps on him at the free throw line LeBron is far too low forcing Anthony Davis to rotate over Gordon not being a great three-point shooter and sharing the exact same brain wave as yic is already cutting to the basket and that’s

Too easy this right here is just a beautiful play altogether Gordon is the play initiator Passing the ball to yogic on the perimeter Murray sets a back screen on Ant before immediately cutting to the hoop ant being a second slow is out of the play and this creates a 2V1

For Denver Jamal Murray hits the bounce pass and ant is way too late to recover and that’s two easy points for Gordon this play against the Blazers already starts with the mismatch Gordon gets the ball to yogic matched up against the smaller man in the post DeAndre eaten

Focuses too much on the Joker and the lob chemistry that these two have is just Immaculate this play here shows how constant movement and manipulation can lead to open shots for others yogic sets a screen on Kyrie taking him out of the play and as soon as Murray starts to

Penetrate the defense Gordon is standing right behind LCA donic setting a sort of pick giving one of the best Shooters in the league a wide openen shot but Aaron Gordon is not all about the take either as his playmaking has become a sneaky part of his game that gets overlooked

Some of his best passes have come in transition such as this Euro Step into a corner three or here when yic gives him the ball and Gordon knowing he has a trailer immediately dumps it off for some birdes forward passing Denver loves their handoffs and it’s something that

They’re Elite at here yic hands the ball into a pick and roll and Eon is forced to step up giving the Joker a layup this whole Denver team is just amazing when it comes to cutting as what can be seen right here this double screen is a play

We often seen run from Denver mpj runs around Murray but then rejects the yogic screen before slipping inside porzingis doesn’t want to switch off of the Joker and Derek white fails to switch as what Drew holiday called out for and that’s just too easy to find for Aaron Gordon

We see the same action again against the Knicks except Porter Jr rejects the first screen and it’s the exact same results I love this play in transition where he threatens to pull up making Brook Lopez hesitate just enough for a sprinting Nicola yic to slip past him

Plays like these show just how Aaron Gordon has been learning from Nicol yic he’d end up doing this three times against the Knicks and while it doesn’t always result in a make it keeps the defense on their toes now I wouldn’t call Aaron Gordon an elite passer like

Anyone he is prone to missing the open man but that can happen a lot in a movement heavy offense here he settled for the jumper with an open man in the corner and right here Jamal Murray dumps the ball off to him and Austin Reeves overcommits taking himself out of the

Play either yic or Murray would have been open here but instead Gordon takes the contested mid-range shot ultimately Aaron Gordon is a great passer within the offense and while he may have his tunnel vision moments at times he generally doesn’t a great job in both finding his teammates and taking care of

The ball and there is one more major aspect of his game and that’s his defensive ability Gordon has the size that allows him to match up with just about anybody in the league right here he is just a ston wall against a driving Zion Williamson Jeremy Grant here tries

To drive his shoulder and go Baseline but Gordon holds his ground forcing him into an awkward layup attempt Josh giddy quickly tries to get a floater over Aaron Gordon but despite rising up late look how quickly Gord ORD is able to extend out and contest that shot this

Play here demonstrates his speed with his size he pressures Luca too much in the half court and despite Luca keeping him on his hip Gordon still gets himself back in good position and he is all over that floater again in the same game he goes over instead of the Nuggets usually

Switching on Luca Luca stops on a dime but Gordon is able to recover just enough to alter the shot and here we see Luca in the clutch donic tries his patented side step three but Gordon doesn’t even allow that to hit the rim right here we see Demar D rozan try to

Lay it in with the Euro Step but Gordon is too good he is too quick as he backpedals quickly enough to alter the shot here Gordon loses his man Jonas valunas and Zion thinks that it’s going to be an easy assist but Aaron Gordon is quickly able to turn around and stuff

What should be an easy dunk this play right here should scare any perimeter player Gordon moves down low to cover the rolling man but then quickly Sprints out to contest KJ Martin he overcommits which should have given the 76ers the advantage but in instead Gordon meets

Him at the Baseline and forces a bad shot here cakam kicks the ball out to Miles Turner and again Gordon is there way quicker than what he should be forcing a big Miss with just a minute and a half remaining right here Curry does what Steph Curry does he loses his

Man on an off ball cut but that’s right before he’s met at the rim by a rotating Aaron Gordon right here Kelly UB sinks down allowing Gordon to guard two people at once and this along with this steal right here is Gordon just showing off his 7t wingspan with his height strength

And athleticism it’s no wonder why players on average shoot just 44% against Aaron Gordon with it being near impossible to score on him from mid-range or from the three-point area in last year’s playoffs he held Kevin Durant to shooting just 38% from the field and 23% from three this year in

Matchups against Carl Anthony towns he’s held him to just 37% Jaylen Brown and Palo benero just 25% against Steph Curry this year he held him to 36% in including two of 10 from three from 2018 to 2023 Aaron Gordon held Luca donic to 22 of 74 or

29% from the field even though he doesn’t put up the stock numbers to show it Gordon is an elite defensive player this is proven by the fact that Denver’s defense gets three points better when he is on the court and that Denver is actually improved from last year’s championship team combine him with

Michael Porter Jr and a much improved Nicola yogic on defense it’s no wonder why Denver has one of the elite defenses of the NBA one of the only real weaknesses we see in Aaron Gordon’s game is his outside shooting ability but as we’ve seen with Denver’s high low

Actions it seems to be mitigated pretty well and he’s still a 35% shooter in the corner should the situation call for it but I almost see Aaron Gordon as a team oriented role player or baby version of Zion Williamson he is an elite Defender who can match up against any Wing in the

League but he possesses the vertical explosiveness and the strength to meet bigs at The Rim offensively he’s one of the best Cutters in all of basketball who seems to just have magical chemistry with Nico yic even without being fed from The Joker he subtly puts himself in

Position to make plays for his teammates even when it doesn’t show up on the scoreboard the nuggets are the team to beat in the west and I assume that we will be seeing them in the finals again of course yic might just win his third MVP and Jamal Murray especially in the

Playoffs is a proven Superstar player but assuming that we see them in the finals again it will be Aaron Gordon slowing down and frustrating in the forwards of the Eastern Conference guys if you like the video you know what to do if there are any other players and

Teams you want to see covered as we head into the playoffs let me know down below but that is it for this one and I will catch you guys later