Gordon vs. Mayo: Tale of the tape

Although Eric Gordon had his heart set on playing in purple and orange, the Hornets had other ideas, matching the Phoenix Suns’ 4-year, $58 million contract offer to the (formerly) restricted free agent and keeping him in New Orleans.

Still in need of a pure scorer, Phoenix turned to Memphis Grizzlies free agent O.J. Mayo, but as Arizona Sports 620’s John Gambadoro tweeted on Sunday, the Suns and Mayo will not be joining forces yet because the shooting guard’s initial price tag of $8 million a year is too steep for the organization.

With future negotiations between Mayo and Phoenix, this number could go down, but how can that price tag be “too steep” when Phoenix was ready to give Gordon $14.5 million a year?

While the argument can be made that Gordon is simply the better player and thus deserves more money, let’s dig a little deeper into the playing career of these two shooting guards to make a more informative decision.

Both were top-10 picks in the 2008 NBA Draft (Mayo third, Gordon seventh), but Mayo had the better first year. Playing in all 82 games for the Memphis Grizzlies, he averaged 18.5 points per game and finished as a runner-up for the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Gordon wasn’t far behind, finishing fifth in the voting after posting 16.1 points per game for the Los Angeles Clippers, including a career-high 41 points against Oklahoma City.

Mayo continued his exceptional play into 2009-10 season, scoring 20 or more points 31 times. He started every game for the Grizzlies, averaging 17.5 points per game while shooting .458 from the field. Again, Gordon wasn’t far behind with his numbers, netting 16.9 points per game with a .449 field-goal percentage.

Gordon had his breakout year in the 2010-11 campaign. As a starter for the Clippers, he grabbed 22.3 points per game, highlighted by a 12-game streak where he scored 20 or more points. His impressive season was cut short, missing 24 games due to recurring wrist injuries.

Mayo had, to put it mildly, a less than stellar campaign in 2010-11. He was benched 14 games into the season after arriving late at a game-day practice session and never returned to the starting lineup. He was also suspended for ten games following a positive drug test for steroids, a controversy that hasn’t necessarily been answered. He posted his lowest career numbers in points per game (11.3), field-goal percentage (.407) and free-throw percentage (.756) during this season. Mayo would continue to come off the bench into the next season, posting marginal numbers for a featured sixth man.

So after all this analysis, what can we conclude?

Well, Mayo’s best years may be behind him, but he still hasn’t started a game since November of 2010. Consider when Mayo was a starter for Memphis, he put up great numbers, but when his role was reduced to the bench, he regressed. If Mayo and the Suns agreed to a deal, Phoenix would more than likely put him in the starting lineup, where he would hopefully produce like he did in his rookie year.

This could all be wishful thinking. Mayo may continue his descent and be even worse next year, wherever he decides to sign.

Meanwhile, Gordon has shown that he’s a reliable starter, when he’s healthy. Although he suffered a knee injury that resulted in him only starting nine games last season, he has shown that he can be a team’s go-to scorer when called upon. But if injuries continue to plague Gordon and usurp his career, the Suns organization might have to consider itself lucky for not grabbing him with a max-value contract.

Free agency is still young and the Phoenix Suns can still make up their mind about O.J. Mayo or other additional moves before the season starts. With the sudden addition of Luis Scola and the trading of Steve Nash to a divisional rival, one thing is for sure: you can’t predict what the Suns will do next.

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