Good piece from BSS on Ryno

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Specifically, I can imagine a couple of ways Gentry can help get the flamethrower firing on all cylinders. Take a look at his assisted vs unassisted numbers:
assisted vs unassistedA Career low of his shots were assisted this past season (61.5% compared to his career average of 69.7%). The Pels relied on throwing the ball to Anderson and hoping for him to create something far too much. He has a couple moves to his arsenal—a couple of herky-jerk post moves and his turnaround isn’t that bad, but he is best when he can exploit mismatches and benefit from others creating in the space he provides. At times he tried too hard to get it going instead of playing within the offense. Sure a heat check now and then is fine but relying on Anderson to hit one-legged fades for an offensive spark is unrealistic and not beneficial to either him or the team.
A faster paced offense with more ball movement will undoubtedly benefit Anderson more than Monty Williams’ offense did. When stretch-big Channing Frye was added to Gentry’s offense in Phoenix in ’09-’10, he propelled them to the 4th best offense in NBA history. He was a Sun for 5 years, missing one full season. His first season the team’s offense was 1st in the league, the next year they lost Stoudemire but were still 9th, the next year 9th again, then 29th in ’12-’13, then back up to 8th in ’13-’14. Can you guess which year he missed? He left for Orlando this year and the Suns offense dropped down to 16th. Anderson is a better stretch 4 than Frye in my honest opinion, I think he can play a similar role to Frye seeing as both’s best aspect is providing space. Don’t think space is that important? Just ask someone who can appreciate a good space-creator, like Goran Dragic:

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Last year (’12-’13) he [Frye] had some heart problems and couldn’t play with us, so when I played pick-and-roll I didn’t have that space guy. This year, when we play pick-and-roll, Channing stretches the floor so I have room to operate; I can get inside the paint and make other plays for him and everybody else. He just gives us that spacing, and especially for me and Eric [Bledsoe], he makes things much easier because nobody can rotate from him

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Anderson shoots a little worse career percentage from behind the arc (37.9 vs 38.6) but that might have a little to do with the fact that he attempts 3’s at a much higher rate (52.5 vs 35.6). He is every bit as dangerous of a stretch 4 as Frye so I have no doubt that Gentry can find a way to use him to the team’s advantage.
The last thing I will say about Anderson is even when he was off, the team was still better with him than without. The offense was still an above league average offense with him shooting miserably on the road. Davis is better with him on the floor, and the team is better with both. A small ball lineup with Davis at the 5 and Anderson the 4 still has the possibility at being untouchable offensively. He will continue to be invaluable to this teams offense, I’ll bet anything on that. He is true professional, a irreplaceable locker room guy, and he’s a fan favorite for a reason, just look at that smile!
Here’s to seeing the return of the Flamethrower, I can’t wait for next year.

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