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Ben Gordon
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Benjamin "Ben" Gordon (born April 4, 1983) is a British-American professional basketball player for the NBA's Chicago Bulls. In college he played both shooting guard and point guard for the University of Connecticut.
He is the only player to receive the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a rookie. Gordon is the Bulls' all-time leader in three point goals.
Gordon was born in London, England, UK to Jamaican parents. He moved to the United States shortly after his birth, and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.
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Encyclopedia
Benjamin "Ben" Gordon (born April 4, 1983) is a British-American professional basketball player for the NBA's Chicago Bulls. In college he played both shooting guard and point guard for the University of Connecticut.
He is the only player to receive the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a rookie. Gordon is the Bulls' all-time leader in three point goals.
Early life
Ben Gordon was born in London, England, UK to Jamaican parents. He moved to the United States shortly after his birth, and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. Gordon played high school basketball for the Mount Vernon Knights, where he helped lead them to the 2000 New York State Public and Federation Championships. Gordon was an All-State player at Mount Vernon and a top 40 national recruit. He was heavily recruited by Seton Hall, but decided to attend UCONN. While playing college basketball with Connecticut, Gordon helped lead the Huskies to the 2004 NCAA championship along with second overall pick, Emeka Okafor. Gordon was picked 3rd overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2004 NBA Draft and in the 2007-08 season led the team in points scored per game.
In Gordon's hometown of Mount Vernon, there is an annual "Ben Gordon Day In The Park", which is sponsored by the city and the Mount Vernon Boys & Girls Club. Gordon hosts a basketball camp run by "Five Star Camp". Throughout his college and NBA career, Gordon has been given nicknames including "Gentle Ben" and "Madison Square Gordon" Gordon also has an energy drink called "BG7", named after his initials and number on his jersey.
College career
As a freshman at Connecticut, Gordon ranked second on the team in scoring (12.6 ppg), despite coming off the bench for most of the season. He hit the game winning 3-point field goal against Villanova in the Big East Tournament. As a sophomore Gordon averaged a team-leading 19.5 points (which ranked 50th in the nation) and also led the Huskies with 156 total assists, which earned Gordon Second Team All-Big East honors.
In Gordon's junior and final year at Connecticut, he averaged a team-leading 20.5 points (again ranked 50th in the nation), 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He also connected on 104 three-pointers, the second-highest single season total in Connecticut's history. Gordon set a Big East Tournament record with 81 total points, earning the tournaments' Most Outstanding Performer honors. Gordon also earned Most Outstanding Player of the Phoenix Regional honors in the NCAA Tournament. He also led the tournament field with 127 total points, as he helped lead the Huskies to the NCAA Championship. Following his junior year, Gordon declared himself eligible for the 2004 NBA Draft and was selected third overall by the Chicago Bulls.
NBA career
Before the 2004 NBA Draft, Gordon thought that he would be drafted anywhere from 7th to 12th, but as the draft got closer he claimed to have an inkling that the Bulls might draft him third as they did Michael Jordan 20 years earlier in the 1984 NBA Draft. "I'm a guy who looks at the significance of numbers a lot. Before the draft, I had no idea I'd get drafted third. I thought I was going to go anywhere from 7th to 12th. As we started getting closer and I started to get an inkling that the Bulls could be a team that I could end up playing for, I started to look at the numbers. Michael Jordan was drafted by the Bulls and he was the third pick just like you." Gordon wore the number 4 on his jersey in high school and college, but has to wear the number 7 with the Bulls due to the number 4 being retired. Gordon said, "I wore No. 4 my whole career but, of course, Jerry Sloan already had that number beforehand (it has been since retired by the organization) so there wasn't much I could do about it. So all I did was just [put together] being the third pick with my old No. 4. That's why I wear No. 7."
In the 2004–05 season, Gordon's rookie year, he averaged 15.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while playing 24.2 minutes per game. Gordon finished with the second most double-digit fourth quarter point performances in the NBA with 21 behind LeBron James' 22. Gordon helped lead the Bulls to their first playoff appearance since the Jordan era ended in 1998. After the season, Gordon became the first rookie in NBA history to be awarded the NBA Sixth Man Award. Gordon was also the NBA's Eastern Conference Rookie of The Month 3 times (January, February, and March), and was also voted onto the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
Gordon had turnover problems (4.46 per 48 minutes; 6th in the league in 04–05) and a lack of stamina: "More than anything, I just want to come back [in the fall] in better shape". "A lot of this game is about conditioning and how long you can give your best performance." In his second season Gordon alternated between starting and coming off the bench for the bulls starting 47 games while coming off the bench for 35. It should be noted, that it was during the middle, and latter parts of the season that he earned his spot in the starting lineup. Gordon increased his minutes played per game and his scoring and assist averages. Gordon was selected to play for the Sophomore team in the Rookie Challenge held during the NBA All-Star Weekend, in which he scored 17 points.
On April 14, 2006 in a Bulls win over the Washington Wizards, Gordon tied the record for the most consecutive three-pointers made in a game without a miss with 9. Near the end of his second season in the NBA, Gordon revealed that he is in the process of making an energy drink called "BG7", named after his initials and jersey number. Gordon unveiled the drink at One Sixty Blue, a restaurant co-owned by Michael Jordan. The drink is made with white tea, which has a very high amount of antioxidants, and the most polyphenols of any tea.
Over the span of two weeks, Gordon scored at least 40 points in a game on two occasions. Later on March 4, 2007, he established a career high 48 points, leading a miraculous comeback effort to win 126-121 in overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Gordon said that he would not accept the Bulls' $6.4 million qualifying offer, and even said that he played his last game in a Bulls uniform. But on October 2nd, Gordon accepted the qualifying offer after being unable to get a contract he wanted. He will be an unrestricted free agent next year.
On December 27, 2008 Gordon passed Scottie Pippen as the Chicago Bulls career leader in Three-Pointers made.
International career
On April 1, 2008, Ben Gordon was named to the shortlist for the British national basketball team. Gordon was eligible for the team by virtue of his British birth. He joined Bulls teammate Luol Deng, who is a British citizen.
Gordon had represented the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games.
NBA career statistics
Correct as of 25 February 2009
Regular season
|-
| align="left" | 2004–05
| align="left" | Chicago
| 82 || 3 || 24.4 || .411 || .405 || .863 || 2.6 || 2.0 || .6 || .1 || 15.1
|-
| align="left" | 2005–06
| align="left" | Chicago
| 80 || 47 || 31.0 || .422 || .435 || .787 || 2.7 || 3.0 || .9 || .1 || 16.9
|-
| align="left" | 2006–07
| align="left" | Chicago
| 82 || 51 || 33.0 || .455 || .413 || .864 || 3.1 || 3.6 || .8 || .2 || 21.4
|-
| align="left" | 2007–08
| align="left" | Chicago
| 72 || 27 || 31.8 || .434 || .410 || .908 || 3.1 || 3.0 || .8 || .1 || 18.6
|-
| align="left" | 2008–09
| align="left" | Chicago
| 57 || 51 || 36.2 || .458 || .413 || .863 || 3.4 || 3.6 || .7 || .3 || 20.8
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" |
| 346 || 152 || 30.6 || .434 || .417 || .857 || 2.9 || 3.0 || .8 || .1 || 18.2
Playoffs
|-
| align="left" | 2004–05
| align="left" | Chicago
| 6 || 1 || 25.5 || .405 || .318 || .800 || 2.7 || 2.5 || .8 || .3 || 14.5
|-
| align="left" | 2005–06
| align="left" | Chicago
| 6 || 6 || 40.8 || .406 || .366 || .676 || 3.3 || 3.0 || 1.0 || .0 || 21.0
|-
| align="left" | 2006–07
| align="left" | Chicago
| 10 || 10 || 39.5 || .415 || .436 || .921 || 3.8 || 3.8 || .9 || .1 || 20.4
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" |
| 22 || 17 || 36.0 || .410 || .390 || .824 || 3.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .1 || 18.5
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