Anderson is an inconsistent player but...

[Laughing Gravy]

He's a tease. He's always ABOUT to do something good but it rarely
seems to materialize.

[Chinook]

I like Kyle. And I think he has more potential on D than he's being credited for. That long wingspan of his helps. He can stay off the ball and still get his arms and hands into who he his defending. Kawhi and Green use a lot of handsy stuff to disrupt opponents, but both of them can play closer to the ball. Kyle can do the same thing, but further from the ball.

I would like to see some better lateral movement from him tho. He tends to cross his legs instead of shuffling side to side, which puts him on his side and easier to get around...making him trail the play. Maybe he's used to that and with his wingspan, thinks he can get to the ball from behind. I dunno. I'd prefer that long wingspan to be in front of the player tho.

Hard not to like this guy. Like to see him get a lot of minutes with Manu gone just to see what he's capable of. Weird to be making so many adjustments at this point in the season...lol

I'd say that Anderson's already an average one-on-one defender. If he can get a small into a phonebooth, the ball isn't leaving their hands without being deflected. And he has great anticipation in using his hands to disrupt the dribble of guys backing him down. I don't think he'll be a defensive liability against most fours, though his style of D will lead to some games where he gets unlucky with the whistle and has to sit with early foul trouble.

Behind Kawhi obviously, Kyle might be the best player the Spurs have drafted in the last decade. Tiago is the only other compe ion. If he can bulk up to play the four against starters, I think he'll end up being a core player. He won't be the new Manu. He'll actually be something else altogether.

[SAGirl]

Behind Kawhi obviously, Kyle might be the best player the Spurs have drafted in the last decade. Tiago is the only other compe ion. If he can bulk up to play the four against starters, I think he'll end up being a core player. He won't be the new Manu. He'll actually be something else altogether.

I agree, I think he's his own package. One of the most confounding talents in college, could turn out to be the same for us in the long run.

[SAGirl]

Agreed, but I want to address your characterization of Simmons as a natural SG. He is clearly being groomed as a combo guard very much in the mold of Manu. There are times when they give him the ball near mid court and set him up to drive and either score or dish just like the Manu sets. Tonight he made one very nice drive and dished to Patty for the open corner trey. More and more he brings the ball up court like a PG. The guy will be a very good combo guard for the Spurs TNG.

You are right in the characterization as combo guard. Semantics, I call him a natural SG, bc I would always see a good ballhandler at the PG next to him. His ballhandling skills are not there to be the main ballhandler... but it is semantics as what matters for the spurs is the role...

[baseline bum]

To quote ElNono, Magic without the AIDS.

[LongtimeSpursFan]

To quote ElNono, Magic without the AIDS.

I was thinking more of Penny Hardaway.

[daslicer]

He is one of those weird type of players in the sense that he has a high basketball IQ but he doesn't know how to use it to his advantage. He could end up being a better player later on in his career on a different team.

[SouthernFried]

Actually, I'm not sure any other team would want Kyle. He's slow and not athletic. Few teams, other than the Spurs, look for Basketball IQ and Chemistry as "main" attributes.

[BatManu20]

Gotta remember Kyle's only 22 also. Should be a Senior in college. He'll get better with more experience. He's 6-7 years away from his prime.

[apalisoc_9]

My critisim of kyle a year ago was largley due to the fact that he played the 3 and the perimiter in general. Kyle is not going to be manu or diaw. Hes going to a be a player with a unique playstyle that the NBA have not seen before.

Right now hes one on one talent offensively is unreal for his age and as a guy deep in the bench...i still dont know what his role will be, but its probably going to be limited minutes in 3 and a situational small ball..probably a 15mpg next year or the year after.

[SAGirl]

Actually, I'm not sure any other team would want Kyle. He's slow and not athletic. Few teams, other than the Spurs, look for Basketball IQ and Chemistry as "main" attributes.

I disagree. I think a lot if the young teams specially have just pure athletes, but not a talent that brings them all together. Raymond maybe nit so overrated TBH. Diaw when we got him elevate the team even when he wasn't scoring big time. Many young teams have point guards that really don't have court vision or mind for an offense. A different guy who's a better 3 pt shooter but similar in being a forward with passing skill is Batum.

What Kyle needs to take his game to another level is the 3 ball.

[Down Under]

Diaw clone tbh

[SouthernFried]

I disagree. I think a lot if the young teams specially have just pure athletes, but not a talent that brings them all together. Raymond maybe nit so overrated TBH. Diaw when we got him elevate the team even when he wasn't scoring big time. Many young teams have point guards that really don't have court vision or mind for an offense. A different guy who's a better 3 pt shooter but similar in being a forward with passing skill is Batum.

What Kyle needs to take his game to another level is the 3 ball.

I'm not saying they don't need guys with higher BBIQ...they obviously do. I'm saying a lot of teams don't "look" for it as one of their main requirements. If they did, they would have them. Spurs do, and it's why he's here...and dropped so low in draft. I still don't think many teams would go out of their way trying to get Kyle. Which, again...is why he is here

And yes...the three ball would be nice. I just think he needs to take more of them. Got a good stroke, just doesn't take many. But, taking three's does take away some of his passing, playmaking abilities. He's not a 3 and D type player, he's a movement playmaking type, which is not that conducive to the three ball.

I still think he would be good in a Dirk-like role...that can also pass and spot open men. Unfortunately, LMA and West do a lot of mid-range jumpers as well. If there was a ton of movement on offense, I can see Kyle spotting cutters, open men, etc. But, that is not always the case on this team. So, it is kind of a conundrum for him...lol.

[sasaint]

You are right in the characterization as combo guard. Semantics, I call him a natural SG, bc I would always see a good ballhandler at the PG next to him. His ballhandling skills are not there to be the main ballhandler... but it is semantics as what matters for the spurs is the role...

No, not really a case of mere semantics. Many people believe Manu has been our best PG. I believe that we are trying to develop Simmons' ball handling skill to be the primary ball handler at times - as he was in the latter stages of this game. I believe that will be his role at times.

[sasaint]

My critisim of kyle a year ago was largley due to the fact that he played the 3 and the perimiter in general. Kyle is not going to be manu or diaw. Hes going to a be a player with a unique playstyle that the NBA have not seen before.

Right now hes one on one talent offensively is unreal for his age and as a guy deep in the bench...i still dont know what his role will be, but its probably going to be limited minutes in 3 and a situational small ball..probably a 15mpg next year or the year after.

He is unique, as you say. But, assuming Tim retires after this season, Kyle will bulk up some and play much closer to 20 mins agame, becoming essentially our "4th" big with LMA, West and Diaw, plus an occasional stint at the wing.

[SAGirl]

No, not really a case of mere semantics. Many people believe Manu has been our best PG. I believe that we are trying to develop Simmons' ball handling skill to be the primary ball handler at times - as he was in the latter stages of this game. I believe that will be his role at times.

To me it is... bc I don't see what he was doing at the end as him being trained to be direct an offense necessarily. I see him developing his skills to drive (his best offensive weapon) and dish when he gets doubled or is stuck... something that has caused him TO in the past outside of garbage time, or he's gotten blocked, so he is developing his decision making and many other skills, including ballhandling.

I have a more complex definition of PG anyways, and it is probably subjective. So I said semantics, but there is a large degree of subjectivity by both of us in different directions and we won't convince each other. I believe in his potential, regardless... just don't see him as a PG.

[SAGirl]

I'm not saying they don't need guys with higher BBIQ...they obviously do. I'm saying a lot of teams don't "look" for it as one of their main requirements. If they did, they would have them. Spurs do, and it's why he's here...and dropped so low in draft. I still don't think many teams would go out of their way trying to get Kyle. Which, again...is why he is here

And yes...the three ball would be nice. I just think he needs to take more of them. Got a good stroke, just doesn't take many. But, taking three's does take away some of his passing, playmaking abilities. He's not a 3 and D type player, he's a movement playmaking type, which is not that conducive to the three ball.

I still think he would be good in a Dirk-like role...that can also pass and spot open men. Unfortunately, LMA and West do a lot of mid-range jumpers as well. If there was a ton of movement on offense, I can see Kyle spotting cutters, open men, etc. But, that is not always the case on this team. So, it is kind of a conundrum for him...lol.

Got you.

[TD 21]

My critisim of kyle a year ago was largley due to the fact that he played the 3 and the perimiter in general. Kyle is not going to be manu or diaw. Hes going to a be a player with a unique playstyle that the NBA have not seen before.

Right now hes one on one talent offensively is unreal for his age and as a guy deep in the bench...i still dont know what his role will be, but its probably going to be limited minutes in 3 and a situational small ball..probably a 15mpg next year or the year after.

He's similar to Turner and Livingston.

He'd be best as a small ball PF, but that's not going to happen until Diaw is gone. He's always going to be an awkward fit playing SF alongside either Ginobili or Simmons, but I fully expect him to continue to play that role, as a sometimes rotation player, through next season.

At that point, there's the potential for significant change: Ginobili will be retired, Diaw might be gone, they'll have had Bertans over for a season and added two more 1sts to the pipeline.

[SAGirl]

To me he really comes alive with the ball, not necessarily bc he's ball dominant but it allows him to start the offense and he usually makes good decisions. When he grabs a rebound he gets into an aggressive mindset immediately and passes ahead, gets the ball to the big man if he's sealed his defender under the basket or finds an open shooter. He doesn't hold the ball without purpose I would say.

He's truly a passing forward bc he does a good job finding shots for everybody. I like to watch him in garbage time bc he plays more freely and he will get shots for everyone he plays with. He will give the ball to Simms (and they play well off each other), and clear out, he will get a PnR with Boban or a post up, he will bail out teammates (Ray is the most often culprit) if a set they started broke down, etc. None of that you can take advantage of, when he's reduced to spot up off the ball. The SF offense we have calls for spotting up off the ball a lot and then getting the ball to post up (like Kawhi's offense). It's very structured. Ideal for Kawhi, but not for Kyle.

He came alive at the 4 to me, bc that spot gets the ball every time from the guard at the top of the key (for him and Diaw, all the way out to the 3 pt line). It allows the forward to have perfect court vision. D.West, TD and Diaw are able to set up a whole lot of ppl from that spot, find cutters, throw lobs etc and Kyle playing at that spot is the same (but youngling and skinny, a PF Jr. lol) He's just not very natural spotting up... like SouthernFried said, he always looks to pass first, if he became a shoot first player it would take away how special he is finding ppl... He's just put in spots to shoot though, not pass as a SF.

He does have to find a balance to play the SF role though and shoot it when he's open.

[dabom]

You're a bad player if Pop doesn't know if you are a PG, SG, SF, Small ball PF or Center.

[cutewizard]

I like Kyle a lot, hehe

[cutewizard]

Kyletotbatot

[ceperez]

Spurs are in deep trouble if they don't have a player to cover Shaun Livingston.

Anderson is the only option in the team for this assignment.

[look_at_g_shred]

I wonder why we don't run our offense through KA in the post. We've seen he can score down there and make plays. I was watching GSW/Thunder and man when they went to Livingston in the post like 3-4 plays in a row. I believe the spur can do the same with KA. Of course, most people here will that's ludacris.

[SAGirl]

I wonder why we don't run our offense through KA in the post. We've seen he can score down there and make plays. I was watching GSW/Thunder and man when they went to Livingston in the post like 3-4 plays in a row. I believe the spur can do the same with KA. Of course, most people here will that's ludacris.

It's not ludicrous. We are just a vet team and run things through Diaw and West in the bench and Manu needs the ball. They have called plays for him when he plays. It's just difficult when you are in and out of the rotation to catch a good rhythm IMO. Definitely this was a development season for him. When Manu retires, maybe we don't even have West or Diaw then we will really need him. By then hopefully he will be stronger, body more developed, plus he will have matured in his game a bit.

Like ceperez said we have no answer for Livingston unless we go to him bc both Patty and Tony were owned. Maybe Pop will live with Livingston hitting shots.

I don't think we can defeat the Warriors w/o relying to a degree on some of the new guys. Maybe we can't defeat them anyway bc Simmons and Anderson are too young/rookie still coming along, to be relied upon, but I don't see the older dudes doing it on their own. Against the GSW and Cavs they looked worse than Anderson.