How many times has Matt Bullard read and re-read this thread while thinking about his $8.5M in career earnings over 12 years? Is there a lot of tears or just a single, stoic tear? He was just unlucky. Matt Bullard would have been a $10M a year player in today's NBA. His skillset did not match his era.
that's exactly how big he swings tbh. I do think having him on the court drives their PF's outside really far. They are really closing off on his threes, so there's not one to clog the lane for Harden.
What you really need to look at is Taj Gibson's 1 rebound and the Rockets totally dominating a superior rebounding team. Gibson had to get so far out to challenge Anderson that it eliminated the advantage they wanted to gain by starting a big lineup of Adams/Gibson. It also created immense space for Harden as we kept forcing the switch so that Harden was attacking their big man (meaning no Gibson or Adams inside) OR he was attacking a defense that hasn't set itself up yet. Meanwhile Anderson was still making himself useful grabbing tons of boards. Like I've said since day 1, this guy is a huge plus just by bringing his reputation to the floor, and you know he's going to score more once he adjusts. Scored 4 points in 37 minutes but was a game-best +27. Great stuff.
ryno is critical to any success we want in the postseason. hope his shot can fall consistently in close games. i'm cool with his shot not falling in a blowout.
Dude earned his paycheck on the boards the other night. I think it was a psychological boost for him to not see Boogie on the floor. Went ham...
For the people who still don't think Ryan Anderson is worth it, last night's game was another reminder. Dude couldn't hit the broadside of the barn, yet his defender had to stick close. Why? Because you never, ever leave a 40% 3pt shooter wide open no matter how poorly he is shooting. When that 40% 3pt shooter also happens to be a PF, well lets just say Harden will have a field day with all that yummy space. Basketball is far beyond your simple box score, raw totals, ect. Contracts are far more than just numbers in a vacuum. Role matters. Fit matters. Purpose matters. When you have players that insist on playing outside their role/purpose, you end up with players like Dwight. When you no longer fit in the scheme of things, you end up with players like Brewer.
Ryno is Great for this team and harden specifically. Imo he's the last guy I want to trade besides harden if we need to make room for a Paul George or Gordon Hayward. He's the type of complimentary piece that any guard/wing player would love to have. He's the perfect PF for any star unless that star is a PF. Last night he showed that he can still rebound the basketball when called upon. This wasn't an accident, the scheme that MDA and bizdelick put together was focusing heavily on getting boards. If you go back and listen to any of the players interviews leading up to game one they all said the same thing. "Rebound and we will be just fine" And his defense isnt nearly as bad or atleast noticeably bad as people said. Ryno is going to be huge moving foward. I fully expect him to keep rebounding well and moving the ball and sucking the defense away from the hoop. He'll have some games were he hits 5-6 three and we blow a team out or he'll have games like Last night were he has 4 and 12 with a team high plus 38 or whatever he was.
Another thing: Having Ryan Anderson on the floor discouraged OKC from playing the Adams+Kanter twin towers front court, which was pretty successful during the regular season. Billy Donovan just did not want to risk either having Kanter guard Anderson or having Adams do so leaving Kanter to be the rim protector. I suspect that Ryan Anderson doesn't go all out with his rebounding during the regular season. In the past, especially when he played with Dwight Howard in Orlando, he's been a much better rebounder than his current stats show. He may not be much of a strong finisher, but he is plenty big and has a knack for sneaking into the paint for offensive boards while the defenders' attention is elsewhere. Unlike past seasons when the team had to go small and play a wing player (Ariza, Harden, Parsons, even Delfino from several years ago) at the 4 in order to get spacing and shooting, the current Rockets can play a full-sized PF while still having great shooting from that position (arguably better shooting than the wing guys).
Anderson's D is terrible, but he tries. His poor D comes from his lack of quick movement in any direction on the 3D axis and a general lack of measurements. His past back injury certainly didn't help with any of that either. He's is a very smart player however, meaning he knows what he needs to do and where he needs to be most of the time. Whether he actually gets there in time or can hold his own however, that's a different story. Now that said, he is still a way better option at the PF position than say Ariza (like some people were wanting) due to a very simple reason... physics. As slow and flat footed as he is, the man still ways 240 pounds. Yes you can shoot over him. Quicker PF's can even run around him. However, you cannot easily move him. Harden comes close (hence why he is a good post defender), but bigs will just push around players like Ariza all day.
Yes, I agree. And now his story is distorted: http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/115/matt-bullard. He has a distant look in his eye.
Anderson being a DECOY focusing on grabbing rebounds was awesome. If Anderson can show up in the paint in tandem alongside Capela and Nene in the playoffs I really don't care how many points he scores spreading the floor for Harden
Didn't realize Adams-Kanter was a go-to lineup for them. Sabonis started a big chunk of the season, I was surprised they didn't use him.
And.......... - D-Mo's man would not be hugging him at the 3 point line (opting to have more defenders in the paint & doubling James). -D-Mo would only be shooting around his career average 34 to 36% -D-Mo would likely be playing the 5 mostly where he is NOT the P&R player that Nene & Capela are -D-Mo would probably be benched for other options like Ariza at the 4 with the bench unit rather than D-Mo at the backup 4. Sure it would be nice to have had D-Mo but folks are just still drinking the D-Mo cult Kool Aid if they think Mike D'Antoni would really be using him as a key contributor in this series.
They're foolish not to be using Sabonis. He's much better suited both offensively and defensively to help them at the 4 than either Kanter or Taj.
You can say the same thing for Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf aka Chris Wayne Jackson when he sees the Steph Curry's fortune. Curry is one of the best ball handlers though..
Would you trade Anderson for Aldridge? Would you trade Anderson for Kanter or Adams? I highly suspect both the Thunder and Spurs would say yes (although they might want mute fit their players. My answer to the above is no.
