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Remember those Nike commercials that had all the different little kids proclaiming, "I am Tiger Woods?" Well, NBA GM's would be intelligent to understand that Ben Gordon is quite similar to the guard that recently tore up the Lakers in the NBA finals. Ben Gordon is Chauncey Billups, with potentially more game than the NBA Finals MVP.

And lets not get into whether Gordon will play the one or two at the next level. Lets just agree that he'll play well wherever his next coach puts him on the floor. The reason? Because Ben Gordon, like Billups now, and Joe Dumars before him, is a classic combo guard. He has the ability to slide between the point and off guard positions.

UCONN assistant George Blaney calls Gordon, "an Olympic world-class type athlete, who would surely be doing something in the athletic world if it wasn't basketball, he's that much of a stud." It was Blaney who first brought up the Dumars comparison to me and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made (although Gordon possesses greater athleticism than Joe D).

Gordon is a solid 6-3 and 200 pounds, yet extremely quick with both his hands and feet, which will allow him to guard bigger players without giving away too much (did anyone ever do a better job guarding and stripping Jordan than Dumars). But Gordon's greatest strength next season will undoubtedly be putting the ball in the hole.

His mixture of strength and quickness will allow him to dictate on the offensive end. Like any good scorer, Gordon will excel at getting to his spot, stopping on a dime, and elevating for his jumper. He also has a tight enough handle to get him to the basket, and the explosiveness once he gets there to finish in a violent fashion at the rim.

But perhaps the most important trait he has that will transfer to the pro game is the ability to get his shot at the end of the shot clock. A player with the ability to do this is at a premium in the NBA because it turns potential violations into baskets. Nothing is more crushing to a team than to play great "D" for 21 seconds and then watch as a player like Gordon pulls up and drains a three.

Chicago was smart to take next season's rookie of the year, Ben Gordon.

Ray Mernagh lives in Pittsburgh and writes for both Basketball Times and Eastern Basketball. He also is the publisher of the website hoopfactor.com. He can be reached at MernaghR@aol.com.