Memphis Grizzlies’ Offer To Kyle Anderson Shows Stability

Late on Friday night, the Memphis Grizzlies offered their full MLE to San Antonio Spurs restricted free agent forward Kyle Anderson.

This deal left the fan base split in half. Kyle Anderson, coming off of an average season statistically, is only 22 years of age. This sounds similar to their top draft pick in Jaren Jackson Jr. While they are not the same age, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Front Office is looking to their future, and pushing them to their ceiling.

Of course, San Antonio can match the offer sheet because Anderson is a restricted free agent, but let’s look at this as if they do not match it, and look at the small forward’s positives.

Positives:

Defense, Defense, Defense! Kyle Anderson fit a certain role in San Antonio, and that was to play defense, make corner threes, and pass really well. He fit that mold well through his first four years in the league.

His passing at the beginning at the clip above is eye-opening because it is something I never noticed about him. He has great I.Q. for the game, and this Front Office believes that he has not reached his full potential on the offensive end.

Kyle Anderson’s length will be huge, especially with teams going to smaller lineups. He can sometimes defend the guy at the four-position.

Anderson’s speed sometimes gets talked about too much. He is slow off the dribble on offense, but if it translated into his defensive game, then we would have a problem. It does not, and coming into the NBA, prospects struggle for years learning how to play solid defense. At the age of 22, outside of Kawi Leonard, Coach Popovich leaned on Anderson on the defensive end.

Another good move by the Front Office:

Wait, a good move by the Memphis Grizzlies’ Front Office? I never say this, but this is a move with a direction. A direction for Grit ‘N’ Grind, right? Kyle Anderson comes in and brings an immediate impact on the defensive end. The plan is to make him more of a priority in this offense, that he was not in San Antonio.

It makes sense:

With Lionel Hollins, or Dave Joerger’s coaching staff, I would be worried. However, J.B. Bickerstaff has a very talented group of coaches. At first, I had the side effects from previous coaching staffs, but then I thought about how well this coaching staff is orchestrated. Take a look at the link below, provided by the Memphis Grizzlies, to meet the coaching staff.