-It's difficult to get a good read on Kyle Anderson. I'd say about 50 percent of the time through the first four games he has been underwhelming, 30 percent of the time he's been decent and 20 percent of the time he has been impressive. One thing is for sure: he's really damn slow and that's never going to change. On defense, he has good anticipation, can read passing lanes and is a conscientious rebounder. On offense, his slowness makes it really difficult for him to operate in a crowd. He's an adequate ball-handler in space but can't maneuver when multiple players are around him. His passing hasn't been as good as advertised, especially off the dribble or on the move. Anderson is a good stationary passer and he can see the floor but doesn't always deliver the pass with good timing. His jumper is flat; his form isn't aesthetically-pleasing. He's not afraid to drive to the lane but he makes finishing more difficult than it needs to be due to relying on finesse moves. Anderson has a lot of herky-jerky savviness in his game (for example, his pump-fake-lean-into-the-defender move has been working in summer league), but he has a ways to go to help an NBA team. Defensively, he's going to have to learn to give space and use his length to his advantage (a la Danny Ferry back when he was a small forward). Offensively, he's still intriguing due to his varied skills but it's unclear how much he could contribute at the NBA level. The good news is that the spacing on the October-through-June Spurs will work to his advantage and he'll be much more comfortable being a fourth or fifth option rather than a first option like he is on the summer league team.
-I wasn't expecting much from Jonathan Simmons but he was actually quite impressive in his first game with the Spurs in summer league. And it was clear why the Spurs liked him enough to reportedly guarantee his contract for next year. When he checked into the game, the Spurs were down 13-2. Within seconds, he had turned the tide and got San Antonio right back into it. The first thing that stands out about him is his energy. Simmons played with the fire and passion of a young Stephen Jackson or a cranky Mario Elie. The second thing that stands out is his athleticism. He's fast, has quick feet and can really jump. While he's a bit handsy on the defensive end, he got up into ball-handlers to make life difficult. I was also impressed with how attentive he was off the ball; it's obvious that he knew what he was doing after being in Austin this last two season. On offense, he actually flashed quite a bit of skill. When the other players were frightened by backcourt pressure, Simmons took it upon himself to act as the point guard. He has a high dribble but it was effective; he didn't have much issue advancing the ball against pressure. I also really liked his passing. He made a few spectacular cross-court skip passes off the dribble that were almost worthy of me saying they were Manu-esque. Simmons was fearless driving to the hoop, didn't shy away from contact at all and finished while utilizing every ounce of his athleticism. While Spurs fans shouldn't FedEx his jersey to Springfield just yet, in this one game he made me believe the Spurs did the right thing by signing him. He's an compe ive live body with elite athleticism who goes in and plays hard from his first moments on the court. You can't ask for much more out of a young prospect on a minimum contract buried deep on the bench.
-Man, I really liked Dairis Bertans after the first game of summer league. Unfortunately, he has gotten worse and worse and worse. Now I'm officially off the bandwagon. The thing holding him back the most is the fact that he just doesn't have an NBA body. Bertans has a stubby frame, wide hips and can't jump at all. I was hoping that he could at least be a Gary Neal clone as far as surviving without athleticism – but he's another step or two below that. I could live with his shooting slump since the opening game but nothing else about him is interesting at all. He doesn't dribble well enough to be a point guard. He's not that good of a passer. He's okay defensively one-on-one when he has help but he's dead in the water when a screen is set or his man has a clear path to the bucket. And even his shooting form is inconsistent, which is baffling for a player whose strength is supposed to be shooting. Unless he's dealing with some sort of injury we don't know about, Bertans isn't even worth the money it'd take to get him to training camp.
-Livio Jean-Charles is another player who peaked in the first game. Since then it's been downhill. That said, it's safe to say he has really good potential on the defensive end. He can move his feet, elevate well and has good instincts. But it appears as if he's now tired, which has led to less activity on that end. On offense, he's a train wreck. His jumper isn't pretty – neither form-wise nor accuracy-wise. Jean-Charles doesn't know what to do on offense so he just tends to float around to open space. He doesn't set screens or do anything to help the half court offense. Yes, he's good in transition – but that too has dried up due to the apparent exhaustion. Let's thank the lord above (and/or Tony Parker) that LJC has agreed to go back to Europe for at least another year. He looks and moves like a basketball player. Now he he has to learn how to play basketball.
-I remain moderately interested in Cady Lalanne. Good length, good fight and he stays connected mentally. His lack of mobility will limit his defensive potential but if he can learn to get by on physicality, he could develop into a Tony Massenburg type defender. He has exhibited flashes of being a good rebounder thus far in summer league, but he hasn't been as dominant in that area as I hoped heading into Utah and Vegas. Offensively, the truth is clear: the only chance Lalanne has to become an NBA player is to become a 35 percent shooter on three-pointers. With the ball in his hands in the paint, he's a slow jumper and lacks touch so he'll never survive as an interior bigman in the NBA. Basically, Lalanne has to learn to play like an old Sam Perkins ... or start collecting stamps on his passport.
-Treveon Graham has shown some promise but it appears as if he's just too short. A 6-foot-5 small forward simply isn't going to work.
-Jarell Eddie looks like a natural born shooter with an impressive stroke who gathers and fires quickly. Can he do enough elsewhere? That's to be seen. He doesn't appear to be a complete stiff and he looks like he's a legit 6-foot-6 or maybe an NBA 6-foot-7, which would be big enough. Since the big boy Spurs could use another shooter, he's someone to keep an eye on.
-None of the point guards appear to be NBA prospects. The only reserve bigman who appears to know what he's doing so far is Brandon Davies, and he has only played 17 minutes.
-And, hey, I thought Becky Hammon did a good job. As the game against the Knicks (her first as head coach) went along, I thought she gravitated toward using the better players more and changed the rotation on the fly. That sounds simple but some summer league coaches of the past (*cough* Don Newman *cough*) used inflexible rotations that didn't allow any flow to develop. Oh, and Hammon's end of game plays were actually pretty good. Well done.
great read bud
Anderson has a nice complementary skill set. In the Spurs' offense which next season will have Splitter and Baynes replaced by two of the best midrange shooting bigmen in the game, his game should fit well. The Spurs need to make him watch game film of Diaw for the two months prior to training camp. That is how he has a future in SA.
I'm glad Anderson had a better game today. Hes just looked so bad for most of this summer league. But I do agree that he'll probably be much better when hes not the lead player on the floor and just one of many quality options. But he needs to find a way to make his shooting numbers more consistent. Today was a good day. But the 2-12 he shot last game was hard to watch.
Simmons definitely has a lot of energy. I don't want to put too much of my heart into this one game as we've all seen the regression of Bertans, Lalanne and Jean-Charles recently. But I can definitely see why the team liked him and signed him. Pretty much the perfect find out of summer league for us and more than we realistically could have hoped for. The crowds will love him!
Sad about Bertans. After that first game I thought we'd stumbled onto something. But hes not going to work out. Still, he obviously has a good BBIQ. I'm hoping that trait is also evident in his brother Davis considering hes physically a much more desirable basketball player.
Lalanne is very interesting. Hes definitely not ready though. I really hope hes down with going to Europe for 1-2 years because he might have an NBA future with some polish and refinement. Not a great option for the Spurs this year though.
Jean-Charles is interesting too. But he really needs to commit himself to getting one or two quality offensive go-to moves. Right now he doesn't have anything. It makes most of his offensive possessions very awkward.
Nice write up. Thanks.
I don't believe we can honestly evaluate Andersons passing ability for a few reasons. One, the spacing of this team is terrible. Factor in that no one has been hitting the three consistently which nullifies his ability to penetrate and kick. He has made the right play consistently, you might argue that the pass accuracy is off, I'd say these guys just aren't knocking them down. Two, the ball movement has been mediocre at best so obviously his facilitating ability Is negated since it's hard to eliminate the ball stoppers due to the fact that there will always be that incentive to showcase rather than play within the system. Three, a part of the Spurs offense that I believe Andersons passing ability would be on full display is non existent with this team, in where a back screen is set to get a 3 point attempt on the weak side. Hopefully, they'll incorporate this misdirection at some point in Vegas.
Four, the tempo is erratic. These kids are just like the majority of the other teams pushing the tempo and getting bad looks. Again, the hero ball aspect that's tough to eliminate in the summer. These guys panic instead of forcing tempo not just for the sake of running but to get into a set before the defense can react. An advanced Spurs break would be tailor made to Andersons game. I get it, he's not athletic so it seems boring but it must be effective he gets by his defender almost at will. To say that he can't contribute 10-15 minutes a game for the Spurs is just being hyper critical.
Agreed, not sold on Bertans.
Bertans, yes I agree. I thought he had a nice performance in the first two games but went downhill since then. I wonder why sometines, he's hesitant to shoot.
I'm a little surprised Anderson is doing so badly in summer league. Wasn't he killing last season in Austin?
Anderson got two or three shots blocked against this level of compe ion because of his slow reaction and release. Other times his slow motion moves to the lane brought heaps of trouble from defenders who were able to close on him. Sometimes his herky-jerky awkwardness allowed him to get a shot off but he will have trouble with the more experienced players in the big leagues.
Defensively, he plays waaaay off his man to prevent getting left in the wake, but this leaves a wide open 3 opportunity. I can't count the times I saw him trying to get back in touch with his man to put up some defensive hands. On this level he had some success however when he was laying off his man by covering the passing lanes with his long reach.
If he makes a passable player it will be because his slow motion style winds up confusing more athletic players. I wish him well since he's a Spur, but don't have a feeling that he ever was a legitimate top 15 pick.
Nice post.
The Simmons signing with a guaranteed contract has pretty much close the door at another wing rookie having a legit shot at making the roster. While Spurs haven't make the mistake to sign a bunch of 35 years old ring chaser to fill their roster, I doubt they will go with inexperienced players to backup Leonard, Green and Ginobili. Spurs will surely add a shooting wing but it will be a NBA vet.
Nice write up.
Dude will never make it in the league. Unless he drinks some of Mike's secret stuff or gets a blood transfusion from Patty Mills, he's just too damn pathetic to make an impact. I've never had any sort of hope for him so if he doesn't completely up, that's a plus. Anyways, at least Boner/Errors are off the team.
I don't think Anderson will develop into anything more than what he is: A solid wing that has a good basketball IQ.
He'll never be a star based off his athletic ability, but he'll perform well enough based off his smarts.
-Doc.
Simmons: Now a mix of Stephen Jackson, Mario Ellie, and Jaren Jackson.
Thanks for the write-up. Tomorrow we get to see them again. Simmons is bound to light a fire under everybody...
Anderson is pretty far away from being a solid wing in the NBA.
will Boban play Summer League?
Good case for the glass half full.
Good points. Anderson's game is *not* suited for Summer League kind of basketball.
Now consider that he'll be playing on the second team with a guy like Marjanovic. Anderson can be very effective setting up Marjanovic with a pass at the right time. Kind of like how Magic used to pass to Kareem.
Honestly, I've thought about whether the Spurs should just make Anderson a power forward. Although he'll never protect the rim, he rebounds and the fact that he's slow wouldn't be as much of an issue. He'd need to bulk up a ton but that might be what the plan should be if he doesn't make progress in his second season.
And, like you said, Diaw would be the perfect blueprint to go from young point guard to veteran bigman.
Well the claim here is LJC and the rest are all exhausted because of the schedule.... let's see if Simons can execute on a back to back.
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