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Draft Report: Ryan Anderson Of California

Authored by Christopher Reina - 24th June, 2008 - 10:57 am

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Ryan Anderson can extend the floor as a terrific spot-up shooter and has decent agility and foot speed, but he labors a little bit and takes small steps off the dribble.

He was face guarded and double-teamed on a Cal team that had very few other legitimate scoring options, so he worked hard for nearly every bucket during the entire season.

Anderson is an excellent perimeter shooter, but his mechanics are a little odd. He has a quick release, but his follow through is really flat and appears strange. He has been able to shoot over most players because of his height, but in order to shoot over NBA power forwards, which is where his value is, he will have to tweak that extension.

He hardly uses his size at all offensively and doesn’t do many things differently on the floor at 6-10 that he wouldn’t do at 6-6.

Much like Reno being the ‘Biggest Little City In The World’, Anderson is the ‘Littlest Big Man In Basketball’.

He has a good handle for a player of his size and can get into the lane but is decidedly right-handed and struggles to truly beat his man off the dribble.

Anderson is not that strong when he gets the ball down low and needs to develop a mid-range game.

He avoids contact well in the post, but his balance is inconsistent when he gets bumped. He is better when he bumps against the defender and fades off for a jumper than simply trying to outmuscle his defender.

He does a nice job trying to get position in the post, sealing his man for an extra edge, but the constant double teams he faced here makes it difficult to accurately gauge his potential. He has good length to the rim when he’s given a little space, but it is difficult for him to dunk on people.

Anderson has the potential to be a tremendous pick and roll/pick and pop player, but he doesn’t hold the screen long enough, and his footwork when popping could be smoother.

Anderson doesn’t have much of a presence as a defender in the post although he’s not altogether apathetic.

Guarding smaller players is difficult because he doesn’t move his feet well laterally and tends to reach.

Anderson chose to keep his name in the draft because teams informed him he would definitely be selected in the 20’s, but he is just as likely to be selected in the 30’s. One way or another, he will be on an NBA team in 08-09 and expected to be a Hedo Turkoglu type of player.

- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Reports which has new additions daily

Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. He can be reached at Chris.Reina@RealGM.com where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition

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