The Memphis Grizzlies stole Kyle Anderson from the San Antonio Spurs with a hefty offer sheet. The question is: Was it worth it?
With a desperate need for help on the wing, the Memphis Grizzlies began their 2018 offseason by signing Omri Casspi to a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum. The addition was a step in the right direction toward resolving an issue that has plagued the franchise for years now, but it would have been a huge mistake for them to stop there.
Instead, the Grizz got aggressive, tendering a four-year, $37.2 million offer sheet to San Antonio Spurs restricted free agent, Kyle Anderson. According to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Spurs have declined to match the offer, allowing Memphis and Anderson to move forward together.
It’s an interesting move for the Grizzlies. Though Anderson isn’t an elite athlete like most of his contemporaries on the wing these days, he’s long at 6’9″ and offers the ability to serve as a secondary ball-handler in a team’s offense while covering multiple positions on the defensive end.
It also means Memphis is doubling down on its Grit-N-Grind style of play. The team finished 27th in the league in pace last season, and adding a guy nicknamed “Slo-Mo” should only further add to their deliberate offensive philosophy.
Spurs are declining to match Kyle Anderson’s four-year, $37M offer sheet with Memphis, league sources tell ESPN. Anderson will likely become Grizzlies starting small forward.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 9, 2018
Head coach JB Bickerstaff, for one, is on board:
"“Why try to copycat and be like everybody else? I think it’s the mentality that we have right now. Everywhere you look around the league, people are chasing the Golden States, they’re chasing the Houstons, so why can’t we be different? Why can’t we be unique? Why can’t we be so good at what we do that teams have a hard time when they come and see us? I think that’s what the strength of this team has been.”"
If this is truly the direction both Bickerstaff and the organization want to go in, then Anderson should serve as a perfect fit. It will be fascinating to see how the Grizzlies deploy him. Despite posting a roughly 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in four years with San Antonio, the Spurs never really gave him the chance to operate as a pick-and-roll ball-handler.
Because of that, his numbers in that particular play type leave a lot to be desired, but he showed plenty of playmaking chops in two seasons at UCLA and, at 24 years old, he has a lot of room to improve.
Unfortunately, his spot-up numbers weren’t much better. Though he has shot over 40 percent on corner 3s the past two seasons, he averaged a measly 0.88 points per possession on spot-up opportunities in 2017-18, according to Second Spectrum.
Until his offensive game comes along, most of Anderson’s value will be seen on the defensive end, where he’s posted a very good defensive rating of 100 for his career. He defends the perimeter well, forcing opponents to shoot below their expected percentage from beyond the arc, and also uses his length as a means to get into passing lanes. He ranked in the top 20 in deflections per game with 2.2 last season and his 1.6 steals per game were good enough to tie for fifth.
Anderson makes for a good gamble for the Grizzlies in a vacuum, but it’s unclear what his ceiling is on a team that’s playing an outdated style of basketball.
Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
Grade: C