Ben Gordon

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Ben Gordon
Position Shooting guard
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg)
Team Chicago Bulls
Nationality Flag of United States United States
Born April 4, 1983
London, England
College Connecticut
Draft 3rd overall, 2004
Chicago Bulls
Pro career 2004 – present
Awards 2005 NBA Sixth Man Award

Benjamin Gordon (born April 4, 1983 in London, England)[1] is an NBA basketball player for the Chicago Bulls. He played shooting guard for the University of Connecticut[2] in college and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.[2]

Gordon played high school basketball for the Mount Vernon Knights, where he helped lead them 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.[2] While playing college basketball with Connecticut Gordon helped lead the Huskies to the 2004 NCAA championship along with the second overall pick Emeka Okafor.[3] Gordon was picked 3rd overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2004 NBA Draft[4] and is currently their starting shooting guard.

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".[5] Throughout his college and NBA career, Gordon has been given many nicknames including "Gentle Ben"[6] "Madison Square Gordon"[6] and "Air Gordon".[7] Gordon also has an energy drink called "BG7", so named after his initials and number on his jersey.[8]

Contents

[edit] College career

As a freshman (first year in college) 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 (second year in college) 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 (third year in college) and final year at Connecticut, he averaged a team-leading 18.5 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 Most Outstanding Player 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.

[edit] NBA career

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 Michael Jordan 20 years eariler 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 seventh 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. On draft night, people were saying 20 years ago this day, 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. "I wore No. 4 my whole career but, of course, Jerry Sloan already had that number beforehand (it has been since retired by the organization) 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 his first season in the league Gordon showed a knack for coming through in the clutch, as he finished with the second most double-digit fourth quarter point performances in the NBA with 21 behind LeBron James' 22.[11] In the 2004-05 season (Gordon's rookie year), he averaged 15.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while only playing 24.2 minutes per game. Gordon helped lead the Bulls to their first playoff appearance since the Jordan era ended in 1998, he is sometimes called Mr. 4th Quarter due to his performances in the final period of play. After the 2004-05 NBA season he 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] Gordon was also voted onto the NBA "Got Milk All-Rookie First Team".

Gordon has had turnover problems (4.46 per 48 minutes; 6th in the league in 04-05) and a lack of stamina: "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 second season Gordon alternated between starting and coming off the bench for the bulls starting 47 games while coming off the bench for 35. It should be noted, that it was during the middle, and latter parts of the season that he earned his spot in the starting lineup. Gordon increased his minutes played per game and his scoring and assist averages.[15] Gordon was selected to play for the Sophomore team in the Rookie Challenge held during the NBA All-Star Weekend, in which he scored 17 points in the game.[16]

On April 14, 2006 in a Bulls win versus the Washington Wizards, Gordon tied the record for the most consecutive three-pointers made in a game without a miss with 9.[17]

Near the end of his second season in the NBA, Gordon revealed that he is in the process of making an energy drink called "BG7", named after his initials and jersey number. 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.[18]

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ - ESPN Player Profile URL last accessed 2006-08-01
  2. ^ a b c - UCONN player profile URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  3. ^ - Gordon scores 21 as UCONN beats Georgia Tech to become national champs URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  4. ^ Bulls take Gordon third overall URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  5. ^ - Ben Gordon Day Chat URL last accessed 2006-08-26
  6. ^ a b - Bulls.com discusses Ben Gordon‘s nickname "Madison Square Gordon" and "Gentle Ben" URL last accessed on 2006-07-31
  7. ^ - Sun Times article calls Ben Gordon "Air Gordon" URL last accessed on 2006-07-31
  8. ^ a b - Gordon still sippin' pretty: He has his own drink URL last accessed 2006-12-10
  9. ^ a b c d - Ben Gordon prospect profile and college stats URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  10. ^ a b - Q&A: Ben Gordon URL last accessed 2006-11-17
  11. ^ - Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, Andres Nocioni and Luol Deng Bulls Fource URL last accessed 2006-08-01
  12. ^ - Gordon named NBA's 6th man URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  13. ^ - Gordon named rookie of the month for January, February, and March URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  14. ^ - Bulls.com interview with Ben Gordon URL last accessed on 2006-07-31
  15. ^ - Stats and Bio URL last accessed 2006-08-01
  16. ^ - Recap for 2006 Rookie Challenge game URL last accessed 2006-07-31
  17. ^ Gordon ties record for most 3 point FGs made without a miss URL last accessed on 2006-07-31
  18. ^ - White Tea : Health Effects URL last accessed 2006-12-10

[edit] External links

2004 NBA Draft
First Round
Dwight Howard | Emeka Okafor | Ben Gordon | Shaun Livingston | Devin Harris | Josh Childress | Luol Deng | Rafael Araújo | Andre Iguodala | Luke Jackson | Andris Biedriņš | Robert Swift | Sebastian Telfair | Kris Humphries | Al Jefferson | Kirk Snyder | Josh Smith | J.R. Smith | Dorell Wright | Jameer Nelson | Pavel Podkolzine | Viktor Khryapa | Sergei Monia | Delonte West | Tony Allen | Kevin Martin | Sasha Vujačić | Beno Udrih | David Harrison
Second Round

Anderson Varejão | Jackson Vroman | Peter John Ramos | Lionel Chalmers | Donta Smith | Andre Emmett | Antonio Burks | Royal Ivey | Chris Duhon | Albert Miralles | Justin Reed | David Young | Viktor Sanikidze | Trevor Ariza | Tim Pickett | Bernard Robinson | Ha Seung-Jin | Pape Sow | Ricky Minard | Sergei Lishouk | Vassilis Spanoulis | Christian Drejer | Romain Sato | Matt Freije | Rickey Paulding | Luis Flores | Marcus Douthit | Sergei Karaulov | Blake Stepp | Rashad Wright




Preceded by
Antawn Jamison		 NBA Sixth Man of the Year
2005		 Succeeded by
Mike Miller
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