With the NBA playoffs approaching and the College Basketball season nearing its climax, as an Indiana Pacers fan I find myself in unfamiliar territory. Usually at this time I'm getting pumped for the year the Pacers are finally going to finish the job and win the title. Instead, my Pacers are 23-36 with not a lot of hope for the future so my focus turns to the draft.
Before this College Basketball season started, the consensus would be that OJ Mayo was going to be the first shooting guard taken. As the season has gone on, Eric Gordon has continued to rise on draft boards while OJ Mayo has declined to late lottery territory.
Both of these freshman are leading their teams in scoring, and the similarities in their numbers cannot be ignored.
Eric Gordon is putting up 21.4 points on 45% shooting with 38 percent from beyond the arc. He's grabbing 3.3 rebounds per contest and dishing out 2.5 assists.
Mayo is scoring 20.1 a game, with a 44% field goal percentage and 39% from the three-point line. Mayo is at 4.4 rebounds and an even three assists per game.
Don't try and figure out which has the better NBA body either, because they both measure up to 6'4" and weigh in within 10 pounds of each other with Mayo at 210 and Gordon at 220.
It is impossible to look at their stat sheets and give a clear-cut answer to which player will be the better pro so I'll break it down in to a few important categories to try and figure out which one will make a better pro.
Defense
Most guys in the position of these two get picked because of their offensive games with the idea of trying to mold them in to good defenders over time. This is not the case with these guys. Both are freakishly athletic and use their brains well defending on ball. Both have the ability to play the passing lanes, but neither has shown a trend of going for steals too often. Neither one saves their legs for offense as most young players as gifted as they are offensively do.
This one extremely close, but Eric Gordon has more relevant NBA experience because at Indiana he has had a chance to play a lot more man to man then OJ has because USC plays more of a gimmicky defense. This may be somewhat canceled out because OJ has had to guard more talented perimeter scorers playing in the Pac-10, but I have been slightly more impressed with Gordon's lateral quickness. Edge: Gordon.
Outside Shooting
Both of these guys can fall in love with the three-point shot a little bit too often, but with the close three-point line in College Hoops, I can't really blame them. Both of these guys utilize the midrange jumper well and it will translate to their NBA careers nicely if they don't get enamored with becoming outside shooters in the NBA.
Eric Gordon takes a lot of shots from way beyond the arc in college which makes me question his shot selection a little bit and I think with the physical nature of the NBA around the rim Gordon is more likely then Mayo to be a guy that falls in love with the three at the next level. Mayo is a smooth high IQ basketball player that just continues to improve his shot and has better overall mechanics then Gordon does. Edge: OJ.
Attacking the Rim
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