Aaron Gordon is letting it be known he wants to play full-time on the wing next season for Arizona (YouTube)
Freshman sensation Aaron Gordon wants to play on the wing on a full-time basis in the 2013-14 season, which is a comment that will not fall on deaf ears in the coaches offices at McKale Center.
“As of right now I plan on playing on the wing full time,” Gordon told WildcatAuthority.com.
Although the five-star recruit does not call the shots, Arizona coach Sean Miller and his staff must put together a plan to make the 6-foot-8-inch, 205-pound forward happy by facing the basket when the Wildcats have the ball next season. Gordon can assume the role Derrick Williams played in Arizona’s Elite Eight season in 2011 — an interior player in a small forward’s body who can extend the defense to the perimeter because of his versatility.
Williams actually played most of his minutes at the post with Jamelle Horne at the power forward spot in 2010-11.
Gordon admitted to Jason Scheer of WildcatAuthority.com recently that he must “obviously be some times where I’ve got to go down in the post and go to work” but he would rather force the action from the perimeter.
“The plan is for me to play on the perimeter, which makes sense when you have players like Brandon (Ashley) and Kaleb (Tarczewski) in the low post,” Gordon told Scheer. “A lot of my training has been done with that in mind. I’ve always been able to dribble pretty well, so I’ve continued to work on that along with becoming a more consistent shooter.”
Rob Dauster of NBCSports.com wrote Tuesday that Arizona will be better off with Gordon primarily playing the power forward position.
Read my argument at ZonaZealots.com for why Gordon playing mostly on the perimeter would benefit the Wildcats the most in 2013-14.
