Here’s where I am on Eric Gordon:

1. He was one of the worst players in basketball this year, by most metrics. That’s irrefutable.

2. Rockets always looked their best this year without him. Early on when House replaced him, then in the seeding games.

3. When he’s not out there, better shooters take his shots.

4. I said before that the Rockets couldn’t win the title without Eric Gordon at his best (the Gordon we’ve seen in the playoffs against GSW). I haven’t backed off that. Need a 3rd ball handler against the elite teams.

5. I maintain that currently, Gordon’s greatest value is as a perimeter defender.

6. Gordon is absolutely killing Houston on offense right now. 2-20 on 3s the last two games.

7. I don’t agree that you can tell him to just stop shooting. This is who he is - he’s a shooter.

8. You also have zero hope of him ever breaking through it if you introduce hesitation and get him thinking about it.

9. There’s enough of a sample size over the course of the year to suggest that this isn’t just a slump and he won’t break through it. 32% this year.

10. And it’s clearly not just health. He’s healthy as evidenced by how spry he’s looked on these drives.

11. There’s just something else that’s off. Maybe dealing with the injuries all year messed up his rhythm and mechanics on the shot. I don’t know.

12. So the only two outcomes I see are to bench him or just ride with him.

13. I have zero doubt that Mike is going to take the latter route. He’s going to go down with the ship. Let’s hope it works out.