By John DentonOct. 23, 2015
ORLANDO – Promising second-year forward Aaron Gordon missed yet another game on Friday night – this time for an all-together different injury.
Gordon, 20, missed Friday’s preseason finale against the Memphis Grizzlies because of a bruised right foot. He suffered the injury during his jaw-dropping attempt at dunking a rebound from some 8 feet away from the rim. Gordon, who was fouled on the play, landed awkwardly on his foot. Photos of the play showed the 6-foot-9, 220-pound Gordon soaring up to eye level of the rim.
The foot injury is different than the one that cost Gordon a six-week stretch of his rookie season. He fractured a bone in the outside of his left foot last November and the subsequent surgery knocked him out of the next 31 games.
This week’s bruise to the right foot and last year’s fracture in the left foot are totally unrelated injuries.
Gordon, the No. 4 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, also missed all of training camp and the first four preseason games as he was healing from a fractured jaw suffered in mid-July. After playing one game, Gordon missed last weekend’s exhibition game in Brazil because of lingering pain in his surgically repaired left foot.
JACQUE IS BACK: Former Magic coach Jacque Vaughn, who was fired by Orlando last February when the team failed to show marked improvement, returned to the Amway Center on Friday night for the first time.
Vaughn, the Magic’s head coach for 2 1/2 seasons, was hired in September by the San Antonio Spurs to be a pro scout. Vaughn coached and played for the Spurs prior to becoming the Magic’s head coach.
Vaughn took over the Magic in 2012 as the franchise was transitioning out of the Dwight Howard/Stan Van Gundy era. With a roster loaded with young players, Vaughn won just 20 games in 2012-13 and 23 games in 2013-14. Orlando was 15-37 last season when Vaughn was fired and replaced by interim coach James Borrego. In 2 1/2 seasons as head coach, Vaughn was 58-158.
Vaughn, who still lives in Orlando, chatted with several Magic players and staffers prior to Friday night’s game.
C.J. ON POINT: Fully aware that they could be forced to start the regular season on Wednesday without a healthy Elfrid Payton, the Magic are completely comfortable with veteran C.J. Watson manning the point guard position.
Watson, who signed a free-agent deal with the Magic in July, is headed into his ninth NBA season after playing with the Warriors, Bulls, Nets and Pacers.
Payton was the only Magic player to appear in all 82 games last season, but he’s been bothered all preseason by a nagging hamstring injury. He hurt the leg in a practice on Oct. 10, made it through just 11/2 practices before the pain returned and he missed the final five games of the preseason.
Watson hasn’t shot the ball well this preseason, but he’s handled other aspects of playing the point well. In five games prior to Friday, Watson has averaged 5.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 26.6 minutes per game. Watson entered Friday having made just nine of 33 shots and two of 13 3-point shots.
“We’re not too worried about C.J.’s shooting because he’s shot the ball well in the NBA. We understand sometimes the exhibition season – which I think is too long anyways – for veteran players there’s some boredom that sets in. We’re confident when we start for real he’ll make shots. And he’s run the team well. His assist-to-turnover ratio and steals are good.”
