BEST: Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets
Contract: 4 years, $53 million
After injury-riddled seasons in New Orleans, where he missed almost as many games as he played in, Gordon has experienced a career resurgence in Mike D’Antoni’s offense. Playing primarily in a reserve role, Gordon is averaging 17.0 points his highest mark since the 2011-12 season while sinking 3.4 three-pointers per game, which is second to only Stephen Curry on the league leaderboard. He is also attacking and finishing at the rim at a higher rate than he did as a Pelican. Perhaps most surprisingly, Gordon’s 2016-17 offensive rating is better than even his best seasons with the Clippers, per Basketball Reference.
Worst: Joakim Noah, New York Knicks
Contract: 4 years, $72 million
Coming into the season, Noah’s huge contract made pretty much every “worst list” for reasons ranging from his age (31) to injury history (knee and shoulder surgeries) to fit (Kristaps Porzingis moving to PF, Carmelo Anthony to SF).
So far, all of those concerns have been justified. In 19 starts Noah missed four games with a sprained ankle. The corpse of the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year is doing little else besides rebound the ball at a respectable clip, averaging 8.0 boards along with 4.3 points and 2.7 assists. The Knicks’ defense, which the veteran center was brought in to anchor, ranks in the bottom third of the league, with Noah no longer an elite stopper on that end of the floor.
