A new year, a new jersey

In three seasons, Eric Gordon has gone from a man among boys to a boy among men.

“Look how fresh he is!” screamed one of Gordon’s NBA teammates. “He got his draft suit on!”

The former Hoosier wasn’t wearing the cream blazer he donned on draft night when he was selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers, but he was unusually dressed up.

A herd of local reporters waited to interview Gordon as he changed meticulously following his hometown pro debut. If “E.J.” had his choice, he’d likely prefer to keep to himself by his locker. Instead, he was moments away from answering questions about the game-winning shot he made in double-overtime to lift the Clippers over the Indiana Pacers.

He checked the mirror to make sure his tie was knotted just right and buttoned his vest carefully to the dismay of the gathering herd on deadline.

His teammates curiously watched the spectacle, as every person and camera entering the locker room ignored the veteran players in favor of waiting for a word with the rookie. To his chagrin, the former Indiana Mr. Basketball was the center of attention once again.

Gordon continued to dress slowly. He looked back from his locker to see how large the mob had grown. He re-checked his tie. Maybe he thought they’d leave. You’ll never see Eric Gordon this afraid on a basketball court.

***

A little more than two years ago, Gordon had just finished carrying a different team to victory in a different Indianapolis gym.

Then a senior at North Central High School, Gordon torched rival Carmel for 30 points in the Panthers’ victory. The sold-out crowd watched the future Hoosier hit shots from every corner of Marion County and throw down a one-handed dunk during a dead ball that nearly caused a riot.

But Gordon kept his head down as he trotted off the floor. One of the top recruits in the nation at the time, Gordon’s well-documented recruitment almost rivaled the attention his basketball ability received. He was a star among his peers and in the hallways of his school. Everyone in the gym that Friday seemed to claim some connection to the local prodigy.

He’d committed to playing for Kelvin Sampson the next season, but on that night he honed his focus on Carmel.

He overpowered the Greyhounds, often juking out their entire team before gently laying it in off the glass. After the game he called Carmel’s defense “pretty physical” ­– long before he’d played in the Big Ten, exchanged jersey paint with Chester Frazier or played in a single NBA game. The most talented high school player in the state appeared nervous as he answered questions from a newspaper intern.

Rarely making eye contact or raising his voice loud enough for a person within arm’s reach to hear, Gordon only conceded that he “started to make a difference” in the second half after he admitted to getting frustrated and maybe forcing too many shots.
Unlike 3-pointers, Gordon has always been reluctant to pull the trigger on speaking up.

Tommy Pribbeno, a “good acquaintance” of Gordon’s since Fox Hill Elementary School, grew up with the basketball star.

As you could expect, Gordon was a “shy kid” and a “phenomenal athlete.”

Pribbeno sat in the Conseco Fieldhouse stands during the Clippers’ 117-109 victory against the Pacers. Along with several friends, Pribbeno had secured the tickets weeks before in anticipation. In honor of Gordon’s return, Pribbeno held a blow-up picture of little Eric Gordon’s fifth-grade yearbook, with the 20-year-old Gordon’s face superimposed.

“We’d play soccer in elementary school, and he was always the best,” Pribbeno said. “One time, Eric was playing goalie, and I laid out and blocked his goalie kick, got up and scored. It was probably the proudest athletic moment of my life.”

Gordon estimated nearly 500 friends and family members were in attendance to watch him make his pro hometown debut that December night.

“It was good to see so many familiar faces when I was out there on the court,” he said.

***

Like most veterans, Marcus Camby likes to tease the team’s stud newbie.

Making sure the former Hoosier was in earshot, Camby asked a reporter, “I thought he went to IUPUI? You sure he ain’t go there?”

Camby and a few teammates cracked up at the ribbing. It’s all good-hearted. Gordon’s teammates often go to great lengths to get a reaction out of the quiet rookie.

“If only we could get him to talk,” Camby said. “He’s a real quiet dude.”

Like Gordon, Camby is new to the Clippers this season. The two arrived this summer with equally lofty expectations. A 12-year veteran and former Defensive Player of the Year, Camby pulled rank on the rook and claimed the No. 23 jersey when he arrived, the same number Gordon wore at IU and North Central.

But the center has given the 20-year-old shooting guard something in return: respect – something Gordon has earned by showing up sometimes three hours before his teammates to work on his game.

“I used to watch him. I’ve seen the games he used to play on ESPN,” Camby said. “I always thought he was talented, and I think he has a real good chance to be a superstar in this league.”

Camby would know. After dominating at Massachusetts for three years, the center was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the No. 2 overall pick. He found himself in a similar transition to Gordon: young, living in a new city far away from home and battling “against grown men” every night.

“When I came into the league, we had (Charles) Barkley and all those big, tough, mean guys,” he said. “I can’t even imagine coming in at 19, especially coming into a big city like L.A. It can be overwhelming at times.”

With an 82-game schedule, 42 of them on the road, Gordon has found himself constantly traveling and away from familiar faces. His Facebook statuses read like a circus schedule: one night in Milwaukee, then on to Memphis and San Antonio. An east coast road trip here, a few games in California there.

But Gordon seems to be handling the adjustment well. Camby said he thinks his teammate has taken most things in stride.

“The NBA is a whole different level,” Gordon said. “It’s all about keeping pace. You don’t want to have too many highs or lows. You just got to stay even keeled throughout the whole season.”

***

Much like he did at the end of his career at IU, Gordon began this season in a shooting funk. He struggled to recover from a hamstring injury he sustained in summer league.

But the first-year guard has continued to make his way into Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy’s rotation. The first few weeks, he was barely getting off the bench. Earlier this month, he posted back-to-back 30-point efforts.

In the month of January, he’s become one of the team’s most potent offensive threats, averaging 22.3 points in 41.2 minutes per game.

“When he starts knocking down those shots ... everyone in Indiana has seen that before,” Dunleavy said.

***

His 15-point effort (5-of-13 shooting) wasn’t glorious, but Gordon’s return to Indianapolis as a Clipper brought his Hoosier hoops career full circle.

He emerged on the scene three seasons ago as a high school prodigy, took his game to the next level as a Hoosier, receiving Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and returned to play as a professional in the town in which he grew up. With the exception of a hint of a beard and a different jersey for the third consecutive year, not much had changed about the baby-faced Clipper.

He’d put last season behind him.

This past summer, while participating in the NBA Rookie Photo Shoot in New York, Gordon said it’d been “crazy just to see everyone I played with gone. Seems like every week there is something new.”

Days before the Pacers’ game, Gordon made national headlines when he told the Indianapolis Star that drug abuse was behind some of IU’s problems last season. But he declined to elaborate the following day, adding, “Whatever happened in the past, I’ll just leave at that.”

Finally dressed and looking sharp for the nightly news, Gordon engaged the reporters. He was still a reluctant interview, but he’d made significant strides in terms of shyness. He blushed crimson when he made a joke about hopefully beating Kobe Bryant in his own gym and said he enjoyed playing in Los Angeles.

But he went out of his way to downplay his performance on the court that night. He said he felt “a little more nerves” than usual and said he didn’t shoot the ball as well as he expected.

When Gordon hit his game-clinching 3-pointer in double-overtime, his father, Eric Gordon Sr., jumped out of his seat in celebration. After the game, a reporter asked E.J. what he thought was going through his father’s mind.

“I don’t know,” Gordon said. “He’s probably just happy I finally hit a shot.”

Humility is an eight-letter word Gordon is likely too shy to spell.