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Ryan Anderson openly takes shots at his former team about open shots
Ryan Anderson has not been shy about voicing his disdain for the New Orleans Pelicans’ offense.
In his first two major media sessions upon signing a four-year, $80 million deal with the Houston Rockets, the stretch forward threw quite a bit of shade on how the Pelicans used him from 2012-16.
“I haven’t had a lot of wide open looks over the years,” Anderson, who led the league in 3-point tries on the Orlando Magic in 2011-12, told reporters at his introductory press conference this past July.
Anderson then doubled down on Media Day, telling media gathered in Houston on Friday, “I’ve had more wide-open looks in our pickup games here than I’ve had in the past four years, probably.”
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Considering the NBA now tracks such statistics, we can tell whether his statement is actually true. In total, Anderson has attempted a total of 716 3-pointers over the past two seasons, ranking among the league’s top 25 in 3-point attempts per game each year, and a whopping 652 of those — or 91 percent — were classified by SportVU as either “open” or “wide open” (nearest opponent at least 4 feet away).
So, either he’s played an awful lot of pickup this summer or he saw something SportVU didn’t.
Perhaps Anderson was merely lamenting his total number of 3-point attempts, rather than just those considered open, since that number has dipped from an average of seven per game over his final season in Orlando and first two years in New Orleans to 5.6 during his final two years on the Pelicans.
Or maybe Anderson was simply ingratiating himself with Houston. After all, his latest remarks came after calling Mike D’Antoni’s system “a dream place to play for me” and as part of a longer response about easy it’s been to play with James Harden, who he called “the best offensive player in the NBA.”
“You don’t realize how much he wants to distribute the ball when you watch him play or play against him. You just think, if you’re that talented, you can score every time, so why not just do it? He finds you. He looks for me on the court. One thing that a lot of players have trouble doing in this league — and I think a huge success point offensively — is getting to the paint, and James consistently gets to the paint, sucks the defense in and leaves players like me wide open on the perimeter. I’ve had more wide-open looks in our pickup games here than I’ve had in the past four years, probably, so it’s been a very easy transition so far playing with James.”
Still, that statement comes across as an unnecessary shot at the Pelicans, who have a superstar in Anthony Davis that commands double teams in the post. Whether it’s a jab at Davis’ passing ability out of trouble or a dig at the sorry state of the point guard position in New Orleans, it’s still a shot.
For his part, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, who replaced Monty Williams last season, told the media upon learning of Anderson’s comments, “Great, that’s good. That’s terrific. We’re happy for him.”
And if Anderson actually believes it, he may be in for a rude awakening. Houston’s most prolific 3-point shooter not named Harden hasn’t had as high a percentage of open looks as Anderson over the past two years, as 83 percent of Trevor Ariza’s 1,054 3’s since 2014 were considered open or wide open.
There’s also the possibility that Harden’s presence will do more for Anderson in Houston than Davis’ did in New Orleans, regardless of what the SportVU data suggests, which would be cool, because there are few players in the NBA more deserving of a than Anderson.
After four unsavory seasons on a team that failed to win a playoff game during his tenure, we can excuse Anderson for plucking the Pelicans, especially since they fired the head coach who recruited the 28-year-old forward to New Orleans and helped him through the most trying time of his life.
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is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
