Church of Kyle Anderson

[Chinook]

Someone said like a month ago that Kyle was the key to the season. I said two years ago that getting Kyle to play up to his potential was the most important thing Pop could do as a coach that season. This was pretty much why. No one on GS could check him, not Durant, not Klay, not Draymond. Anderson had this stretch in the game where his confidence was through the roof, and he was running the offense like he did in the summer league in 2015. Just going up and down the court on them. You can blame the lack of confidence on Kyle himself and be mostly right. But if it can be fixed, it needs to be.

[SAGirl]

Kyle currently is the second leading regular season minutes eater for the Spurs, that has bumped up the value of his performance.
A fanpost in Pounding the Rock someone made to highlight the fact that GAsol is not overpaid, actually opened my eyes to the fact that Kyle is due for a payday.
https://www.poundingtherock.com/2017...sol-s-contract

At the current moment, he's third in the Spurs in winshares and box plus minus.
He's ranked 25 in RPM in ESPN for SF while playing starter level minutes. He's become a reliable roleplayer at his current level of performance. I have hope the Spurs can keep him though I used to think he would be gone this summer for sure. He'd grow tired of being on Pop's doghouse while clearly being a rotation caliber player... but after his start to the season, if he continues playing well or better, I can see the Spurs show interest in keeping him.
Advanced

Rk		Age	G	MP	PER	TS%	3PAr	FTr	ORB%	DRB%	TRB%	AST%	STL%	BLK%	TOV%	USG%		OWS	DWS	WS ▼	WS/48		OBPM	DBPM	BPM	VORP
1	LaMarcus Aldridge	32	14	462	26.2	.571	.100	.328	9.9	17.6	13.6	13.1	1.2	3.7	7.4	28.3		1.5	0.7	2.2	.232		3.4	0.8	4.2	0.7
2	Pau Gasol	37	14	348	20.5	.575	.241	.268	7.4	29.5	18.1	23.3	0.6	4.6	16.1	18.8		0.7	0.6	1.3	.182		1.0	3.6	4.6	0.6
3	Kyle Anderson	24	14	379	16.3	.547	.065	.326	7.0	19.9	13.3	13.7	1.6	3.1	11.0	13.7		0.7	0.6	1.3	.163		-0.3	3.2	2.9	0.5

(As a sidenote, at current levels of production Danny and Patty are overpaid, Patty by a huge deal). Maybe Danny doesn't opt out for more money, but simply more years, though market demands drive salaries up and down and Danny with his shooting/defense could be a hotter commodity this summer than Anderson who is restricted and is kind of a niche player. Still, food for thought. Sometimes I do think Spurs won't be able to afford him, others I think that a coach who values BBIQ and defense won't let him get away.

[Chinook]

I think with the market, Kyle is due for a solid, but not great pay day. A team could try to gamble on his for something like the full MLE with the last two years non-guaranteed, hoping that he continues to grow and gives them a solid bench player for the foreseeable future. The team should be in position to match such a deal, if Kawhi's DPE extension doesn't include his salary for next year increasing (this is something I'm not sure about). I will say that he doesn't compare as well with Pau as your post implies. Gasol would be in another tier (if not two higher) based on those numbers. But the stats do suggest Kyle is playing well above average this season, which anyone with eyes could tell.

[SAGirl]

I think with the market, Kyle is due for a solid, but not great pay day. A team could try to gamble on his for something like the full MLE with the last two years non-guaranteed, hoping that he continues to grow and gives them a solid bench player for the foreseeable future. The team should be in position to match such a deal, if Kawhi's DPE extension doesn't include his salary for next year increasing (this is something I'm not sure about). I will say that he doesn't compare as well with Pau as your post implies. Gasol would be in another tier (if not two higher) based on those numbers. But the stats do suggest Kyle is playing well above average this season, which anyone with eyes could tell.

I don't disagree with the comment on Pau Gasol at all, however, Kyle is 24 and Gasol 37. In the coming seasons, Kyle should trend up while Gasol keeping his production is probably the hope, and he will need the rest games, minutes micromanaging etc. I hope Spurs can afford him but that they are fair to him too.

I seriously dislike that Patty deal tbh.

[Mr. Body]

This is the Anderson I expected. He eats up minutes, his length bothers teams, he's a good defensive rebounder, and he keeps the offense clicking. At this point I expected him to stay scoring better, which he has. He's just a good role-player at this level, even if he'll never be spectacular or a star.

[r0drig0lac]

This is the Anderson I expected. He eats up minutes, his length bothers teams, he's a good defensive rebounder, and he keeps the offense clicking. At this point I expected him to stay scoring better, which he has. He's just a good role-player at this level, even if he'll never be spectacular or a star.

unfortunately its lack of explosion limits its ceiling.
I hoped he was a poors man Ben Simmons, but I think his limit is more like a poors man Hedo;

[Mr. Body]

unfortunately its lack of explosion limits its ceiling.
I hoped he was a poors man Ben Simmons, but I think his limit is more like a poors man Hedo;

That's more than fine with me.

[boutons_deux]

IIRC, Hedo didn't rebound

[rastaspur]

Someone said like a month ago that Kyle was the key to the season. I said two years ago that getting Kyle to play up to his potential was the most important thing Pop could do as a coach that season. This was pretty much why. No one on GS could check him, not Durant, not Klay, not Draymond. Anderson had this stretch in the game where his confidence was through the roof, and he was running the offense like he did in the summer league in 2015. Just going up and down the court on them. You can blame the lack of confidence on Kyle himself and be mostly right. But if it can be fixed, it needs to be.

I said it. Created a thread and people acted like I was stupid. Very few responded other than to criticize

[Slippy]

This is the Anderson I expected. He eats up minutes, his length bothers teams, he's a good defensive rebounder, and he keeps the offense clicking. At this point I expected him to stay scoring better, which he has. He's just a good role-player at this level, even if he'll never be spectacular or a star.

The block on Smith jn's drive was special. The length making up for his lack of speed on display there. He looking the most comfortable making plays on the pnr with La & paul too. Covering for Kawai surprisingly good.

[TheGreatYacht]

We bumping undeserved threads now?

[SAGirl]

They played him for the pass, and made him go one on one with a defender like Jimmy Butler he had a rough night. A star he is not. He did compete really hard. Of course TGY only shows up after a team loss.

[TheGreatYacht]

Someone's keeping some space for me in her head

Sorry I didn't bother wasting time watching the can't miss Spurs v Mavs matchup

[Play Boban]

Someone needs to burn this church down.

[Mikeanaro]

IS HURTING MY TEAM!

[UZER]

I'm in Kyle's corner, but his passiveness is infuriating.

[Keepin' it real]

Someone needs to burn this church down.

[Play Boban]

[r0drig0lac]

I'm in Kyle's corner, but his passiveness is infuriating.

this, It's like he's scared to shine.

[spursistan]

4. The Tao of Slow-Mo

It is always fun when players turn an ingrained physical weakness into a tool. Kyle Anderson is so much slower than typical NBA players, his slowness almost works to his advantage. It throws off the timing of NBA defenders used to mirroring the movements of much faster humans. They arrive to a spot expecting Anderson to be there already, only he's still on the way. Anderson can then hit them with countermoves when they are off balance and out of position.


Defenders rise to contest his shots before Anderson has gotten off the ground; they are falling by the time he reaches peak height. And when unleashes a real NBA juke -- like this in-and-out dribble -- they don't really know how to react:




The only funny subplot of Golden State's blowout win in San Antonio two weeks ago was Kevin Durant. Have you ever played hearts with someone who doesn't understand basic strategy, passes all the wrong cards, and does well for a few hands just by screwing up the game? That's probably how Durant felt guarding Slow-Mo. Anderson doesn't obey basic NBA wing player physics, and Durant couldn't adjust.


Anderson is a clever passer, too. On that play above, he goads the weakside help defender -- Matthew Dellavedova -- toward the shooter in the corner, only to skip right over that pass and sling a backward diagonal to Patty Mills.


Anderson is playing more minutes than ever in Kawhi Leonard's absence, and shooting at a career-best rate. He may finally be solidifying himself as a rotation guy Gregg Popovich will trust across every playoff matchup.

[SAGirl]

He's a good person too.

[jermaine]

Like this fool or not, you can't deny is bbiq!! He's just a smart player all around.

[tholdren]

Like this fool or not, you can't deny is bbiq!! He's just a smart player all around.

Minus his last 2 plays

[DAF86]

He was in control tonight. Just creating and dealing for everybody.

[FkLA]

Love me some Fathead. I was dead wrong about him. Dude is a solid ass two-way player. Pop better resign him.