Shaky Ankles

It’s now June. The NBA Finals are upon us much like the now neighborly sun; the game’s greatest participants are on center stage for the entire world to view. If you enjoy watching basketball, these next three or four or five or six games (I’m hoping/leaning towards the final option) are all that’s left. As we all focus in on LeBron, Wade, Dirk, Kidd, Bosh, Barea, and all the other physical marvels who still offer us an utmost form of entertainment, let us not forget the rest of the league. Specifically those players who were allotted the bare 82 game minimum.

Ben Gordon exemplifies the forgotten player to perfection. Two years ago he left Chicago on the heels of a masterful seven game brawl against Boston. It was Gordon who seemed to swish every shot he took. Gordon who defied probability over and over again with step back daggers and contested buzzer beaters. He was Chicago’s star before Derrick Rose evolved into what he’s so quickly become. Now, days after those same Bulls fell flat in five games against Miami—with no secondary scoring option to support the overmatched Rose—we’re reminded of how good a player Ben Gordon is. Not was, is. This certainly isn’t an argument I can prop up with statistics; he’s now associated more for a maligned contract than an unbelievable ability to shoot a basketball. And in that, a dose of sadness exists. So here’s to Ben Gordon: A player who followed a trail of money until it lead him from the spotlight. A player who now competes in the shadows of a once proud organization. A player who should not be forgotten.