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Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!!! Next stop....the NFL baby!
Look at that elite athleticism tbh
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!!! Next stop....the NFL baby!
If he just works hard enough.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!!! Next stop....the NFL baby!
Wow, so those gold patches are real? I read the other day that the NBA was going to have gold patches on the uniforms of teams that have won Championships. I wonder if it's only going to be on the player's uniforms? Not sure if the ones for sale to the public will have them?
Teams that have won one Championship will get a patch with a picture of the Trophy and teams with more than one will get one with the number of Championships like the one Anderson is wearing.
With Rudy, working hard enough was never a question.
Then I guess all there is left to do now, is reflect on his NFL career.
Exactly my point. Thanks for spelling it out for those stragglers, though!
No problem. I was, unfortunately, smack dab in the middle of that conversation that spawned these inside jokes. At least something good came of it.
I agree with every bit of that. Even if he were ultra-athletic, I'd say that it's critical that he develop a good three pointer to be on the Spurs. I agree that he's not going to be running point for the Spurs unless he just turns out to be ridiculously good at it and they have no choice, which is extremely unlikely. It'll be on him to adapt his skills into the established system. The good news for him is that the Spurs are the one team in the entire NBA where Anderson doesn't have to run the point to really make an impact with his passing. And if he catches on to team defense quickly enough, he won't have to kill himself trying to try to shut down an opposing wing. , even if he looks good to us, it's about 50/50 that we're having discussions about why he's not getting minutes over Marco because Pop refuses to play him.
I'm ready for training camp already.
I am anxious to see how Kyle does with the big boys besides provide donuts.
Meant to be: 'Slo-Mo' and the Spurs
http://www.si.com/nba/2014/08/05/kyl...urs-slo-mo-nba
by Chris Johnson
Posted: Tue Aug. 5, 2014
Kyle Anderson watched the Spurs throughout their 2014 championship run and knew they were the team he wanted to play for. He watched them outlast the Mavericks in seven games in the first round, roll over the Blazers in five in the second, put away the Thunder in six in the West finals and breeze past the Heat in five to win the the le. The Spurs’ sheer dominance was alluring, but what really grabbed Anderson’s attention was the team’s style of play. The crisp passing, the precise off-ball movement, the superb floor spacing -- the harmony of it all. Anderson wanted to be a part of it.
He said as much a couple of months before the draft, while sitting before a group of kids on a basketball court in New Jersey. “I would love to go … this team has too late of a draft pick, I want to go much higher. But I would love to play for the Spurs.” Anderson said. He added, “You guys gotta watch them, ‘cause the way they play the game is, it’s beautiful to watch.” It is easy to see why Anderson, with his diverse range of skills, wanted to play for San Antonio and why jealous NBA fans let out an exasperated groan when the Spurs drafted him. Yet if Anderson is so talented, it is worth considering why he fell to the last pick in the first round.
For one, Anderson is not an elite athlete. He had the third-highest body fat percentage of players measured at the draft combine and did not partake in any of the physical tests because he sprained his ankle a week prior. Still, one does not need a set of cones and a stopwatch to come to the conclusion that Anderson is not extraordinarily quick or agile. At UCLA, where Anderson played for two seasons after being rated a top-five recruit out of legendary St. Anthony (N.J.) High School, his poor lateral quickness hurt him defensively. Though Anderson has good anticipation skills, proved a capable defensive rebounder and was adept at creating steals, ball handlers were able to glide past him without meeting much resistance.
Offensively, there is concern, as skilled as Anderson is, that his style may not translate to the NBA. His nickname, Slo-Mo, should not be shrugged off as completely inconsequential. Anderson sometimes appears to move at a leisurely pace and lacks explosiveness or a quick first step. His size allows him to see over the top of defenses, and a high release point on his jump shot makes it tough to block. But creating space on the floor can be a struggle. Anderson relies on hesitations, body feints and deft dribbles to rock defenders off balance. What will happen when Anderson is forced to go up against a savvy defender who possesses superior athleticism? Will Anderson’s skills get him by, or will the disparity in speed and quickness wear on him, to the point his passing and scoring ability is marginalized?
In Anderson’s freshman season with the Bruins, then-coach Ben Howland moved Anderson off the ball even though he had played point guard most of his life, including in high school. "He defies what somebody his size should do," Bobby Hurley, Anderson’s coach at St. Anthony, told NJ.com in January. It wasn’t until new coach Steve Alford moved Anderson to his natural position the next year that his creative intuition truly shined through. Anderson’s assist rate – the percentage of a team’s field goals a player assists on while he’s on the floor – increased from 20.8 to 34.3 percent, one of the top-25 marks in the country, according to Kenpom.com. His scoring numbers also increased and UCLA’s offense jumped from sixth to first in efficiency among Pac 12 teams.
The statistical leap, however, does little to suggest how he’ll fare at the next level. What position will Anderson play with the Spurs? Anderson didn’t provide specifics in an interview with SI.com. He did, however, seem to intimate that he doesn’t anticipate playing as much (if any) point guard. “I think I’m most comfortable with the ball in my hands, but I understand I may not always have the ball in my hands at this level that I’m approaching,” Anderson said. “I’m really just getting used to playing without the ball in my hands.” Anderson also welcomes popular comparisons to power forward Boris Diaw, highlighting their shared combination of height and passing ability. Yet as Anderson’s two seasons at UCLA attest, the frontcourt may not be the optimal place to use him.
Unlike the sluggish pace his freshman UCLA team frequently played at, Anderson will be operating in one of the most efficient offenses in the league, conducted by a coach, Gregg Popovich, who has long excelled at extracting maximum value from players with unique skill sets. Look no further than Diaw, who went from being waived by the lowly Bobcats in 2012 to emerging as a key playoff contributor with the Spurs in 2014, scoring 26 points in Game 6 to close out the Thunder in the West finals.
While many other draftees clearly fit a specific role, Anderson will enter his rookie season as a wild card of sorts. Where will he play? Can he succeed without the ball in his hands? What position will he guard?
All of those questions – and the other doubts surrounding his transition to the pro game – feel less important than the reality that the Spurs drafted a really good basketball player. Throw Anderson on a good team, in other words, and he’ll figure it out. “He knows how to play the game,” Alford said. “That sounds simple, but very few players get that. And Kyle knows how to play. That ineffable know-how – that sense you get watching Anderson that he understands the game on a different level than those around him – largely explains why so many rolled their eyes when the Spurs nabbed Anderson at No. 30. Wrote one Reddit poster, “THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT.” The reaction could be effectively boiled down to two words. “Of course.” As in: Of course Kyle Anderson fell to the Spurs.
Indeed, the Spurs selecting Anderson feels very much like a case of the rich getting richer. Though Anderson had slipped to the late 20s in many mock drafts, there was a sense he could thrive in the right system with the right coach. San Antonio, with its floor-spacing offense, was cast as an excellent landing spot. “You don’t expect guys that look like him, picking in the last pick of the first round” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said on draft night. But the selection of Anderson in and of itself is only part of the reason the Spurs came out of the draft looking so good. Sure, the match of player and team seemed perfect, but what really resonated was the timing: This happened less than a month after the Spurs completed one of the most dominant playoff performances in recent memory.
Adding Anderson to that team, at the bottom of the first round, almost feels unfair.
The one thing that sticks out is something that Pop said even before they drafted Anderson. When asked what he does differently now as a coach then in years past he replied. paraphrase - "I'm better at asking players to do what they do best. I try to play them where they will best succeed." That alone means a bright future for Mr. Anderson.
I thought he opted of of the agility tests on purpose due to him knowing they could do nothing but hurt him. I think I read that somewhere. Now, this says due to injury. Wonder how legit, but it doesn't really matter. We got him.
Good read. Makes me lament that preseason is so far away.
Spurs draft pick Kyle Anderson visits kids at Franklin Lakes camp
July 30, 2014 Last updated: Wednesday, July 30, 2014, 1:21 AM
By STEVE POPPER
STAFF WRITER
The Record
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/ba...oots-1.1059189
Kyle Anderson readied to speak to a group of campers Tuesday afternoon at the IYB Basketball Camp at the Most Blessed Sacrament School in Franklin Lakes, his first time getting to sit in front of a group of kids, adorned in a San Antonio Spurs shirt, the team that selected him in the first round of the NBA Draft last month. And as he signed a few basketballs and shirts, the campers started chanting his name loudly, a few pulling out smartphones to film the event.
Anderson, once a camper here and just 20 years old now, put down the marker and pulled out his own phone laughing and filmed the kids chanting for him. "He’s still a big kid," his father, Kyle, joked.
But Anderson is growing quickly. The 6-foot-9 point guard is moving on again - a path that may have started for this longtime Fairview resident in these camps, but has accelerated through Paterson Catholic High School, St. Anthony and UCLA. He was chosen by the Spurs with the 30th and last pick of the first round.
"This is just really my first chance of getting to give back to the kids, just giving them a standpoint of where I came from and how I came up to get to where I am today," Anderson said. "So this is my first time doing this and I really enjoyed it.
"It actually brings me a lot of joy. I was in that position of one of those kids, watching Jason Kidd, Tim Thomas, guys like that, who have been in the NBA. I just learned everything they said, and even as a young kid, I listened to everything they had to say and it’s paid off."
The lessons imparted on this day weren’t of developing a killer crossover dribble or a 360-dunk. He told the kids to go home and thank their parents for giving them the opportunity to attend a camp and play the game he loved and he hoped they did, too. On the wall of the gym was a poster with photos of players who’d worked under camp owner Kent Culuko, and the first picture is of Anderson, then an eighth-grader — when he was the top-ranked player of that age in the United States.
Anderson was back from the Las Vegas Summer League where he played six games, showing flashes that earned him the selection by the Spurs — six assists in his first game, 14 points in another. While he always had to prove himself, whether it was at the start of high school or his freshman year at UCLA, he knows he must find a fit in San Antonio. He rarely played point guard in Vegas, mostly spending time as a wing player and getting some minutes at power forward.
But he is willing to wait and learn from the defending champions and head coach Gregg Popovich.
"Yeah, I wasn’t the least bit upset [about dropping through most of the first round] once I realized I’m going to a great organization," he said. "I’d rather go to the Spurs than be the first overall pick. I’m really happy with where I landed. Proving myself, that’s what it’s going to be like. This time I’m totally prepared for it, ready to take on any obstacles of where I need to be to get the spot that I want. It’s going to come with hard work and time."
Which rookie will have the best career?
1: Jabari Parker, Milwaukee -- 45.9 percent
2: Doug McDermott, Chicago -- 13.5 percent
3: T.J. Warren, Phoenix -- 8.1 percent
T-4: Zach LaVine, Minnesota -- 5.4 percent
Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland -- 5.4 percent
Others receiving votes: Kyle Anderson, San Antonio; Cleanthony Early, New York; Joel Embiid, Philadelphia; Gary Harris, Denver; Rodney Hood, Utah; Mitch McGary, Oklahoma City; Johnny O'Bryant, Milwaukee; Noah Vonleh, Charlotte
Last year: Victor Oladipo & Kelly Olynyk -- 18.2 percent
Worth noting: The Suns' T.J. Warren gets the "Jack of all trades, master of none" award for this Rookie Survey. He got eight total votes, but in six different categories, with this being the only question he got multiple votes on. Only No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins also got votes on six different questions.
Which rookie is being most overlooked?
1: Kyle Anderson, San Antonio -- 11.1 percent
T-2: Mitch McGary, Oklahoma City -- 8.3 percent
Glen Robinson III, Minnesota -- 8.3 percent
C.J. Wilcox, L.A. Clippers -- 8.3 percent
T-5: Gary Harris, Denver -- 5.6 percent
K.J. McDaniels, Philadelphia -- 5.6 percent
Doug McDermott, Chicago -- 5.6 percent
Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland -- 5.6 percent
James Young, Boston -- 5.6 percent
Others receiving votes: Jordan Adams, Memphis; Jordan Clarkson, L.A. Lakers; Spencer Dinwiddie, Detroit; Cleanthony Early, New York; Aaron Gordon, Orlando; P.J. Hairston, Charlotte; Rodney Hood, Utah; Zach LaVine, Minnesota; Marcus Smart, Boston; Russ Smith, New Orleans; Jarnell Stokes, Memphis; Noah Vonleh, Charlotte; T.J. Warren, Phoenix
Last year: Ricky Ledo, Erik Murphy, Nerlens Noel & Kelly Olynyk -- 8.6 percent
Worth noting: As usual, this question got the biggest variety of responses, including six Lottery picks. One rookie thinks McGary is set to open some eyes, having missed most of last season due to injury. "He's going to be a really good role player for [the Thunder]," the unnamed rook said. "He's going to bust his tail and earn himself a spot." Maybe the winner should have been No. 5 pick Dante Exum, who got only two total votes on this whole survey, in part because he was absent from the Photo Shoot.
Which rookie is the best playmaker?
1: Tyler Ennis, Phoenix -- 24.3 percent
2: Kyle Anderson, San Antonio -- 18.9 percent
3: Marcus Smart, Boston -- 13.5 percent
T-4: Dante Exum, Utah -- 5.4 percent
Doug McDermott, Chicago -- 5.4 percent
Shabazz Napier, Miami -- 5.4 percent
Elfrid Payton, Orlando -- 5.4 percent
Others receiving votes: Jerami Grant, Philadelphia; Zach LaVine, Minnesota; Jabari Parker, Milwaukee; Nik Stauskas, Sacramento; T.J. Warren, Phoenix; Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland
Last year: Trey Burke -- 47.1 percent
Worth noting: Ennis is obviously a more traditional point guard and, as a Canadian, gets to work with Steve Nash in the summer. Anderson, who is 6-foot-9 and averaged 6.5 assists in his last year at UCLA, should be fun to watch in the Spurs' system. "He's always been a pass-first facilitator," another rookie said.
http://www.nba.com/news/features/john_schuhmann/2014-15-nba-rookie-survey/index.html
Great find!
What will Kyle Anderson’s role be with San Antonio Spurs?
by Andrew Melnick
http://fansided.com/2014/08/09/will-...spurs/#!bBiiE0
After capturing the NBA Championship in June with a dominating, five-game series win over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs got a bit of bad news. In early July, they found out backup point guard Patty Mills, who performed very well for the Spurs last season, would miss about seven months with a shoulder injury.
This news came on the heels of the Spurs picking former UCLA Bruins’ forward Kyle Anderson with the 30th-overall pick in the first round of June’s 2014 NBA Draft.
Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders believes Anderson could help fill the backup point guard role while Mills rehabs.
I think Mills is slated to be out through January, but I actually think the Spurs will find a way to manage during his absence. Popovich did a really good job of priming Cory Joseph last season, and I expect him to use him again. Kyle Anderson was a fantastic pick for San Antonio, and totally a “Spurs” pick. I see him as eventually running a bit of point-forward for them similar to the way Diaw has been used for the past couple seasons. As long as he settles in and learns the system, he seems like a guy Pop and staff will look to develop.
Anderson measured in at 6’8.5 and 230 lbs. with a wingspan of 7’2.75. He put up 14.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 48.0% from the field, 48.3% from beyond the arc and 73.7% from the free throw last season. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express ranked Anderson as the 21st-best prospect in the draft.
Realistic Expectations for Kyle Anderson's Rookie Season with San Antonio Spurs
By Luke Petkac , Featured Columnist
Aug 11, 2014
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...-antonio-spurs
The San Antonio Spurs' Kyle Anderson may just be the most fascinating rookie in the NBA next season, if only because there's virtually never been a player quite like him—a 6'8” point guard with wonderful court vision and a near total lack of athleticism.
Perhaps the best player comparison comes from Dean Demakis of DeanonDraft.com, who had this to say about Anderson in June:
Anderson is likely the weirdest prospect in the draft. Every time I try to think really hard about what he’ll become in the NBA, I come up completely blank. He’s pretty much LeBron James if LeBron was doughy and required to move in slow motion at all times.
You've hit the weird jackpot when “doughy Lebron James” can be considered an accurate player comparison.
Anderson, who the Spurs selected 30th overall in the 2014 draft, posted a 34.3 percent assist rate at UCLA last season, per Sports-Reference. Only five players in NBA history listed at 6'8” or taller have hit the same benchmark—LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Jalen Rose—and Anderson doesn't have half the athleticism those guys do.
All that strangeness makes it tough to nail down a prediction for Anderson's first NBA season, and to be quite honest, it's likely that even the Spurs—so good at drafting and developing talent to fit specific needs—don't quite know what they have in him at this point.
Keeping that in mind, the most reasonable expectation for Anderson's rookie season is nothing more than simple experimentation. Anderson has no clear cut position at the next level, but he'll probably settle into a role as a playmaking guard or a hybrid 3-4 (Spurs general manager R.C. Buford compares him favorably to Boris Diaw), and the Spurs will certainly try him out at multiple spots.
Due to Patty Mills' shoulder injury, Anderson has the chance to steal minutes at guard immediately, and he creates some bizarre mismatches when he's on the ball. Anderson's height gives him the ability to throw unobstructed passes almost anywhere on the floor, which could be particularly deadly in conjunction with the Spurs' frantic off-ball movement.
Anderson will also be able to bully some guards down on the block. He's not a deadly post player by any stretch of the imagination, and he'll have to get much stronger to really take advantage of his height in that sense.
But defenses are forced to bend in uncomfortable ways anytime a 6'8” player is posting up a much smaller guard, and Anderson is a clever enough passer to take advantage of any seams that may open up as a result of that.
With that being said, Anderson's lack of athleticism could really hamper him as a true shot-creator at the next level.
Only 26 percent of Anderson's shots came at the rim last season, per hoop-math.com, nearly the lowest rate on UCLA's entire roster. Struggling to get to the rim against college athletes does not bode well for his shot-creating future, and as great a weapon as his height is, it's not going to help much if he can't get by anyone at the next level.
That problem multiplies if Anderson isn't effective from deep. He shot 48 percent from three last season, but on just 58 attempts, a seemingly fluky jump from his 21 percent shooting two years ago. If defenders can consistently go under screens against him, he'll struggle to beat just about anyone off the dribble, and his defender will muck up a lot of passing lanes.
None of that's to say that Anderson can't someday be a decent shot-creator, but it's certainly hard to see him being really effective right out of the gate. For that reason alone, he may fit better in that stretch 4 mold, or at the very least, as an off-ball wing.
Anderson may be slow, but he is very skilled offensively and could replicate a lot of the sets the Spurs run with Diaw in the high post. Plus, the Spurs have a nasty habit of making dangerous weapons out of players without much off-the-bounce juice.
Kawhi Leonard, for example, rarely gets after defenses off the dribble. Last season, Leonard generated just 2.5 points per 48 minutes off of drives (defined as any touch that starts at least 20 feet of the hoop and is dribbled within 10 feet of the hoop), ranking fifth among the Spurs' rotation players.
Leonard isn't a particularly poor off-the-bounce player; San Antonio has just optimized the way he attacks the basket. His rim assaults typically start with him off the ball, looping around screens for give-and-gos or finding small lanes that open up from the Spurs' brand of controlled chaos.
In function, a lot of this stuff is similar to a pick-and-roll that starts at the free-throw line rather than the top of the arc. That kind of jump start into the teeth of the defense is exactly what Anderson needs. Once he's on the move in the paint, he causes havoc as a playmaker and even as a scorer (though he'll likely struggle at first against NBA athleticism and length at the rim).
His only real problem is getting there, and the Spurs' sideline-to-sideline movement could make it a whole lot easier for him. Once again, Anderson's shooting has to hold up for him to be really effective, but he has the potential to be a really unique frontcourt weapon offensively.
The knock on Anderson as a big is his defense, and it's definitely a valid concern. He's going to be a poor defender no matter where he plays, but frontcourt defense is extremely important, and the thought of him going toe-to-toe with say, Blake Griffin, is laughable.
This is where the Diaw comparisons stop making sense. Diaw is a good athlete and a versatile enough defender to make playing only one of Tim Duncan or Tiago Splitter palatable. That's not the case for Anderson.
He's lengthy, which at least puts him a tier above Matt Bonner as a rim-protector (for what that's worth) and makes it possible for him to gum up some passing lanes and force deflections. But that's his only real tool, and he's almost certain to be a massive minus on that end, even if he's hidden on an opponent's worst offensive wing.
Defense is the one thing that could hold Anderson back from seeing any real time this season. Given the Mills injury and San Antonio's penchant for resting its veterans, he would have to be truly terrible to not deserve some burn, but to be honest, that's well within the realm of possibility.
Prediction
It's going to take a lot of experimentation to find where Anderson fits, but if any team can make it work, it's the Spurs. The prediction here is an up-and-down rookie year, at the end of which Anderson carves out a defined role for himself.
Statistically, something like this looks about right.
MP PTS REB AST FG% 3P%
12.5 4.2 2.1 1.5 43% 36%
Anderson will likely be equal parts maddening and supremely entertaining next season. But given the Spurs track record when it comes to drafting and developing talent, he should end up being an important cog in the San Antonio machine for years to come.
Last edited by xmas1997; 08-11-2014 at 10:16 AM.
This kid is in the big time now and with professional training and diet, that fat will come off him to be replaced by muscle. Look at pics of Kawhi as a rookie compared to the 2015 Finals. Maybe his speed and quickness will improve once the fat comes off.
If he's got mostly slow-twitch muscles, then I don't think he'll gain any speed once the fat is off.
I think the rumors of his lack of ahtleticism is over blown. He comes from a family of atheletes, his brothers and sisters all performed pretty well in other sports.
Cheers. Thanks for posting that.
I actually thought it might be too long for most here, glad you enjoyed it.
This. In the family of geniuses, the one they call dummy is smarter than most people.
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