Posts Tagged ‘James Anderson’

Banged-up Spurs Begin Six-Game Road Trip

November 21, 2012  ·  11:28AM


HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Five days ago the San Antonio Spurs were the picture of good health, one of just two NBA teams with a clean injury slate. Now, as they begin a six-game, 10-day road trip through the Eastern Conference, two key injuries have the Spurs plugging holes with D-League reinforcements.

Starting small forward Kawhi Leonard (knee) could return by the fifth game of the trip (at Orlando in a week) and reserve small forward Stephen Jackson (finger) will miss all of it, and more. Jackson is expected to be out four to six weeks after he fractured his right pinkie finger Monday night.

Combined, the pair averages 18.3 points and 9.7 rebounds. Beyond the stats, Leonard is a tough wing defender and he helps spread the floor offensively as a 3-point threat. The veteran Jackson obviously delivers jolts of energy and attitude at both ends of the floor.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich loves to rotate players and the injuries will make that more difficult to accomplish when most needed on a long road trip that winds through Boston, Indiana, Toronto, Washington, Orlando and finally Miami, and includes two back-to-backs. Through 11 games — with the Spurs quietly at 8-3 — Popovich has used 10 players for at least 16 minutes a game with only two players – Tim Duncan and Tony Parker – averaging at least 30 minutes (both are at a very reasonable 30.5).

“It hurts numbers-wise,” Duncan said following Monday’s loss home loss to the Clippers. “Obviously, what they mean to the team skill-wise and being out on the floor and making shots and all the rest of that stuff, numbers-wise we actually had some guys step up. Matty (Bonner) got back in there and played well. Nando (De Colo) got an opportunity, so we’re just going to have to keep shuffling and see what we get out of it.”

On Wednesday, the Spurs recalled guard Cory Joseph from their D-League affiliate in Austin and signed former draft pick James Anderson, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who was playing for the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

But, old hands like Bonner, whose customary 20 minutes a game over the last four seasons has been sliced in half this season, in-and-out-of-favor DeJuan Blair and the inconsistent Tiago Splitter will have to pick up more minutes and help out the rejuvenated Duncan (18.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg) on the boards, the one area the Spurs collectively have lacked, ranking 24th in the league in rebounding differential and near the bottom in giving up offensive rebounds.

“Obviously we lose a lot of size with Jack and Kawhi, so that’s going to be a disadvantage for us at that 3-position,” Duncan said. “We’re going to ask them to do a lot more of that rebounding and rebound their area, but it’s on all of us. We know what we have to do. We know where we’re being hurt, and definitely the offensive glass is one of them.”

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Anderson Hoping Familiar Run With Spurs Leads to Another Shot

July 19, 2012  ·  12:45AM

LAS VEGAS – His reasoning makes sense. Knowing the system increases the chances of being comfortable, being comfortable increases the chances of playing well and playing well obviously increases the chances of being signed, so James Anderson decided to play for the Spurs in Summer League.

It’s still weird, though. The Spurs have told Anderson in actions that he is not in their future, first in declining to pick up the $1.56-million option on his rookie contract, making the No. 20 pick in 2010 an unrestricted free agent, and then by committing themselves to Danny Green at shooting guard. Green became a surprisingly important contributor to the team that tied for the best record in the league and got a three-year, $12-million deal this month, and Anderson got to go job hunting.

“I think a fresh start would be good for me,” he said, reconciling himself to what appears to be an inevitable breakup. “It would be good to getting a lot of minutes.”

San Antonio could still bring him back, although that seems very unlikely with 14 guaranteed contracts already on the books and no real openings on the wing. But Anderson chose to stay with the Spurs for Summer League, figuring the comfort level would give him the best chance to play well in an audition for the rest of the league.

“It’s not awkward at all,” Anderson said Wednesday night after eight points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes in the 86-80 loss to the Clippers at Cox Pavilion. “I know a lot of the guys on the team. I know the system.”

There does not appear to be any strong interest yet from other teams after 77 total appearances the first two seasons. Anderson is hoping that will change. He is hoping that one, probably final, run with the Spurs will lead to a future somewhere.

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Manu’s Injury Worst Break For Spurs

January 3, 2012  ·  9:46AM


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HANG TIME TEXAS – Just last week Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was sounding delighted that the good health of second-year players James Anderson and Tiago Splitter could give his team the kind of added depth necessary to weather the rigors of this condensed season.

Now Pop is sounding the alarm.

The Celtics had to open the season with Paul Pierce missing a few games due to a bruised heel and the Lakers have had to adjust to Kobe Bryant playing with torn ligaments in his wrist.

But the Spurs became the first team to take a serious hit to their starting lineup when Manu Ginobili broke a bone in his left (shooting) hand Monday night in Minneapolis while trying to make a steal.

As our good friend Mike Monroe points out in the San Antonio Express-News, the Spurs are losing more than just their leading scorer in Ginobili:

The two-time All-Star is to be re-examined by the Spurs’ medical staff today, after which a timeline for his return will be determined.

By the time the Timberwolves claimed their second victory of the season, the Spurs already were counting the ways they will have to cope without one of their most important players and their emotional touchstone.

“It’s going to be tough for us, because he was playing at an All-Star level,” said Parker, painfully aware Ginobili entered Monday’s game leading the team in scoring (19.8 points per game), shooting (60.5 percent) and 3-point shooting (54.2 percent). “Now everybody is going to have to pick it up and play better.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said James Anderson would move into the starting spot at shooting guard until Ginobili returns.

Anderson said he will be in the gym at the Spurs’ practice facility today, even if Popovich doesn’t call an official practice session.

“With him gone, I’m just going to have to get in the gym for some extra work and try to fulfill that role the best I can. He’s one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle on this team. Without him, we lose a lot of stuff, and that’s on both ends.”

It is so much more than the almost 20 points a game from Ginobili that the Spurs will be missing. He’s their heart, their soul, their spark, their engine at both ends of the floor. While we watch the 35-year-old Tim Duncan age before our eyes and Tony Parker not quite rise to the level of someone who can carry his team every night, Ginobili is the difference-maker for the Spurs.

(more…)

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