What you think of when you think a spurs player

Looks like we got Kyle Anderson. Who is he?

From nba.com:

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Strengths
Good passer
Good rebounder
Improved perimeter shooter
Stat sheet stuffer
Knows the game
Versatile

Weaknesses

Not a great athlete
Has to get stronger
What position can he defend?

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The strengths scream Spurs.

6'8" with a 7'3" wingspan. I'm still very surprised we didn't draft and stash.

If you follow college basketball recruiting you already know Kyle Anderson. He was a 5 star prospect.

I think they see him as Boris 2.0. I just hope they see him as an understudy vice an immediate replacement.

I wouldn't have minded a bit more athleticism with the pick but you have to trust the Spurs front office.

Anderson was on my short list. Love that pick at 30.

He's an actual American, so weird.

NBA.com says he's like Jalen Rose and Lamar Odom.

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He's an actual American, so weird.

NBA.com says he's like Jalen Rose and Lamar Odom.

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I'm excited that we actually picked a guy that will be on the roster as opposed to someone that will sit over seas.

The Spurs traded their 58th and 60th pick to Philly for their 54th pick. The spurs took Nemanja Dangubic with their 54th selection. Guard from Serbia.

nbadraft.net's analysis of the anderson pick...

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And the rich get richer. In Anderson, the Spurs get arguably the best value in this draft. Anderson is a do-it-all type of player that does so many things well. He is a point-forward type of guy who does so many things well. His versatility and length make him a matchup nightmare because of the speed in which he plays the game. He has cut down on his turnovers tremendously from his freshman to sophomore campaigns. His skillset resembles that of another player currently on the Spurs roster in Boris Diaw. The Spurs hit a home run with this pick and get a player late in the first round that will be able to come into his own instead of being thrust into a role in which he isn't ready. -Clayton Crowe

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The Spurs traded their 58th and 60th pick to Philly for their 54th pick. The spurs took Nemanja Dangubic with their 54th selection. Guard from Serbia.

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So glad to hear this. When I heard the Spurs taking 2 Americans in the 2nd Round it was freaking me out.

The comparison of Anderson to Bo Diaw is apt. I bet Anderson sticks. Good pick at 30.

It will be interesting to see if they try to bulk him up to an undersized PF right away or keep him at SF. I read that he often ran the point at UCLA and guarded the worst guard or SF on the opposing team since his athleticism isn't exceptional.

He seems to have the frame to add some bulk. He could go from being an unathletic three and a liability guarding perimeter players to an undersized stretch four and plenty athletic to stay in front of Big SFs and PFs.

Diaw is 6'8" 250 and Anderson is 6'8" 230 right now. Both are great passers, good rebounders and decent shooters especially on open looks. Anderson is great in transition and should fit right in with the uptempo spurs. I just hope we resign diaw and Anderson gets to understudy under Boris (I hope Diaw teaches him his passing drills). This could be a a really nice pick for the Spurs. The only questions are if he is athletic enough to play in the league and can he rebound at the next level?

The Medium Fundamental will teach up his perimeter game some

I think they keep Anderson's weight down and let him be a SF while he's younger. He's still be enough to play small ball 4, but train him to take advantage of the one open spot we have.

He's the classic point-forward that are so rare. It's really up in the air right now where he will play best.

IMO his best long term spot would be to develop as a stretch 4 who can handle the ball. Much like Diaw is doing. Being a 2 or 3 in the Spurs system required a lot of standing in the corner waiting for a three and while he can shoot; that isn't his game. He needs the ball in his hands and to be able to create for others.

Most of the Spurs offense is generated either by the PG or by the Post players.

Obviously the biggest concern is his ability to defend with his lack of lateral quickness. This is why he went 30 and not 10.

He's a very interesting and rare type of prospect.

Summer League also starts July 12. That should be fun. I'm obsessed with basketball but it will be fun to see Anderson play.

Unsure if Bertans or Hanga will be making it over. I hope so though.

I know DeShaun Thomas and Marcus Denmon will. I wonder if Austin Daye will play it as well.

I like this pick. Another guy who can dribble, pass, shoot, and play multiple positions.

As long as he has the length to contest shots and can deflect guards off of straight line drives, the Spurs team defense should help compensate for his inability to cover one-on-one. Plus, adding another guy with a huge wingspan and BBIQ will make it that much harder to move the ball against the Spurs even if he's not a great on-ball defender.

I wonder if they'll try Anderson at point for stretches. His (consistent) ceiling sounds like second unit facilitator from the 3/4 spot a la Diaw, but he's supposed to be a good PG, too. If so, you probably end up with crossmatches. They already do that some with Parker especially in the playoffs, but if you start rolling out a slow 6'9 PG then they might have to institutionalize it as part of the regular defense. Assuming he pans out, a big lineup with Leonard-Anderson at 2-3 is pretty versatile, and you could potentially even go Anderson-Green-Leonard-Diaw/Duncan-Splitter.

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Most of the Spurs offense is generated either by the PG or by the Post players.

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True, but I think that has a lot to do with the best passers playing PG and post. Green is almost entirely a spot-up shooter and Leonard was pretty passive most of the year. If the SF sees a gap in the defense that he can drive or pass to exploit then he will and should. The rest of the offense will keep moving around whoever initiates the offense. We call Diaw a post or stretch 4, but he is frequently in SF territory with all those catches and drives from the three point line on the right wing. Anderson should be able to play the same position offensively, the question is who he'll defend to stay on the court. Diaw is big enough to stick with fours, but I'm not sure Anderson is stout enough to play anyone but other skinny stretch fours.

I don't study players and certainly don't try and over-analyse the Spurs schemes (even the NBA couldn't figure out how they do it)... but if what the so called expert scouts are saying is true, it seems like a really good pick and exactly what you'd expect the Spurs to do.

I guess it helps when you are a team with zero needs (assuming they can retain their free agents) and you can go out there and simply draft a really good basketball player instead of needing to find a player to play a specific role.

PS: I saw how that Napier guy (the one LeBron wanted) actually fell far enough so Miami could trade up to get him. I had the thought, what if San Antonio moved up first and got the guy! Not really a player they needed, but would have been funny. James would have been all "friggin Spurs!!!"

The NBA is quickly going away from back to the basket scorers. Look no further than the two best teams: Spurs and Heat leading that change. Duncan is still decent in that roll, but it slows ball movement. I bet Duncan shot less than 5 true back to basket attempts per game last year.

Splitter has minimal back to the basket game. Diaw probably has the next best post game besides Duncan but only exploted that on true mismatches. The Heat have basiclly zero back to the basket players.

So the best two teams this year have very little back to the basket post scorers that a player like Anderson would have to defend, not to mention Duncan and Splitter would take the best post player so you would be looking at the second best post scorer on each nba team. There aren't a ton of teams that have two good low post threats that could just abuse an undersized four, which is why diaw is so effective.

If Anderson can use his size well to block out bigger defenders like Diaw does in order to rebound effectively then I think he has a role immediately with the Spurs. In my opinion Diaw got a little winded in the finals at times as his minutes were extended. His stats were still very good but I think he missed a few shots (especially longer shots) he normally makes as he lost his legs a bit. If Anderson is a poor man's diaw and can give him a rest while keeping the Spurs playing small ball then this is a huge add.

At 6'8" 230 if he adds about 10 pounds you could routinely see a starting lineup of Duncan, Diaw, Parker, Green and Leonard and a full second unit of Splitter, Anderson, Mills, Manu and Belenelli. There should be plenty of rest for everyone this year as you could literally two platoon teams and wear them out, then play the hot hands to finish out the games.

I would still love to add Gasol for Duncan insurance and a athletic backup SF or tall SG that can defend and hit the corner three in case Anderson is a couple year away or not athletic enough.

I was liking Frye as a stretch 4 but now I think I would use that money elsewhere if they see Anderson in a similar roll as Diaw. I am just glad he joins the team next year and we get to see Pop develop a new player.

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I don't study players and certainly don't try and over-analyse the Spurs schemes (even the NBA couldn't figure out how they do it)... but if what the so called expert scouts are saying is true, it seems like a really good pick and exactly what you'd expect the Spurs to do.

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I'm not going to pretend to fully understand their schemes, but I think this is the general principle: Aside from set plays, there are many 2-3 man plays (many of which can be run simultaneously) plus a general set of rules for spacing and knowledge of the shots with the highest expected value, which is how they know what is good to great. Throw in tweaks based on who is running the play (so each shooter gets to a little different spot) and wrinkles of off ball trickeration learned over 7 years of evolution. I think the plays are chosen for the player, not the position.

So you can run a post/G pick and roll at the top and a stagger screen down low timed so that as the help makes it over to the ball handler G another G/F is open on the wing. If it's Diaw (who shoots 40% but only because he is highly selective), he probably drives into the disoriented defense, forcing them to scramble from the weak side. Meanwhile the guards followed the rules of spacing and movement to fill in open spots and you end up with a no-look hook pass from under the backboard to a wide open 40%+ shooter on the wing.

Anyway, that's what's so hard about defending it. It's not predictable because what the offense does after the opening play is in response to the defense. All 5 guys are live and great passers, so anything you do to shore up one weakness opens another. There are many sets and infinite variations on every set.

As far as I know, the only way to consistently break it is to have top flight athletes at 4 positions at all times so that they can close out without over pursuing, fight through picks without losing too much ground, and recover faster to breakdowns. The problem with that is that it is too expensive to have 6-7 top flight, basketball savvy, high intensity athletes on one team.




[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 6/27/2014 10:30a).]

It's a motion offense predicated on moving the ball from side to side. The initiators of the offense are normally the PG or the Bigs though. The wings are normally the beneficiaries of the ball movement.

Great thing about this spot for Anderson is he will have time to figure out exactly how his game is going to play out at the next level. I'm not sure he even knows where he would be best at right now. He will be expected to be nothing but a situational player for at least his first year or two anyway.


Anderson has pretty much been a PG his whole career even if he was playing out of position in college (he could get away with it a lot more sense you can pretty much hide him defensively at the collegiate level). That's why I am excite to see him in Summer League though. You better believe the Spurs will have him playing positions 1-4 during the Summer to see where he's most comfortable. It will be interesting to see how he can run point.

So the Mavs have already traded for Chandler.

The Griz have re-signed Zach Randolph for the next three years.

The bulls appear to be going all in for Anthony.

I must say that if Gasol doesn't re-sign with the Lakers I have a hard time seeing him get a major offer from a contender any larger than what the Spurs could offer. I like the Spurs chances here if he leaves LA.

If Gasol is willing to come here for the MLE (All the Spurs have to offer) Than that would be something. The rest of the league would be like whaaaaaat.

If those things come to pass, I'm not sure who would be left for him to go to. I don't know anything about Memphis cap situation, do they have any room, even for a small deal? I can't imagine him wanting to stay with the Lakers. Kobe's old as ****; I doubt he plays more than 50 games in the entire rest of his career. If the Heat manage to restructure everyone to take a lot less money, maybe they make a bid for him? That's pretty much all that's left. He either stays with LA and a new coach, or goes to the Heat or the Spurs. That's of course assuming the Heat or the Spurs have enough room to even sign him.

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The rest of the league would be like whaaaaaat.

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Imo, it's no crazier than how Gasol ended up in LA to begin with.

He can go pretty much wherever he pleases if he's willing to take the MLE. You'd have to think if money isn't an issue anymore then the Spurs would be at the top of his list though.

EDIT: fixing.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 6/27/2014 3:27p).]

And I think ZBo is opting out of his 16mm to take 2y20mm.

I think ZBo is probably doing that because he knows Pau is interested in playing with Marco and how ridiculously difficult would Pau/Marc/ZBo be to defend?

There's plenty of places he can still go and get payed a lot more than what the Spurs have to offer.

Not sure he would want to go to Memphis and come off the bench though. The Spurs could theoretically offer him a starting position and move Tiago to the second unit.

If he's looking for money though then he wont come to SA.