San Antonio Spurs: Kyle Anderson’s Shooting Has Been A Clear Disappointment
By Cody Daniel
After becoming the final pick in first round of the 2014 NBA Draft, reality would soon hit the former UCLA Bruin and current San Antonio Spur, Kyle Anderson, quicker than Anderson could have hoped for during his inaugural season into the NBA.
We knew Anderson was going to have to wait behind a roster littered with champions, veterans and future Hall of Famers, but what couldn’t have been as easily as expected was the absolutely horrid shooting start Anderson has seen through his first 18 games as a Spur.
In those 18 games, Anderson has only seen time in nine, which is the lowest on the San Antonio roster, excluding the injured Tiago Splitter. And in those nine games, Anderson has only been on the hardwood for total of 101 minutes, which equals out to 11.2 per game.
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But it’s how he’s done shooting from the field that has been so terrible in those minutes, and after hitting only two of his first 24 shots as a pro, the proof is in the pudding that the NBA game is still a few steps ahead of Anderson.
Let’s flashback to the days when Anderson was a star at UCLA. Those were the days of a 48-percent field goal percentage and a matching percentage from beyond the arc, which led the Bruins.
Anderson often had the size advantage at UCLA and likely had the increased shooting numbers from deep with the three-point line being a big closer in college than it is in the NBA, but translate that to the NBA, and just as his numbers suggest, he’s had far less success as a shooter and scorer in general.
In his nine games where Anderson saw the court, he’s yet to hit more than a single shot in a game, and has put up shooting performances where he’s went 1-8 and 1-7 from the field, which make up the majority of his shot attempts and all of his successful looks thus far this season.
And you know what that means; in his other seven appearances, Anderson has failed to hit a single shot in his 49 minutes of action.
For a team that that has grown accustom to seemingly plugging anybody into the rotation and seeing them become productive and valuable pieces, what Anderson has shown up to this point has been undoubtedly a disappointment, especially considering he managed to become a first round pick in an absolutely loaded draft.
You could argue that Anderson hasn’t had the offensive freedom to become a fact, but the truth is, he doesn’t deserve that freedom yet and hitting only two of his first 24 shots isn’t going to help his cause for minutes much.
In addition to his shooting, Anderson has averged only 2.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game as a Spur. For a guy that’s 6’9”, 2.3 rebounds simply isn’t enough from someone who’s struggling miserably as a shooter and clawing to find minutes.
Also, dishing out less than a single assist a game on a team that built on ball movement doesn’t look too impressive when it’s coming from someone who played much point guard in college.
In a nutshell, Anderson has been the complete opposite from what we’re used to seeing from Spurs players. You could try and scrape up reasons for his bad shooting and overall underperformance, but the simple truth is, he’s underperforming tremendously and the NBA game just looks too fast for him so far.
Luckily, he’s got the legendary Gregg Popovich on his side and he’s turned garbage into gold a time or two.