The Houston Rockets have acquired the perfect stretch four for new coach Mike D’Antoni’s shooter-friendly system. Ryan Anderson reportedly agreed to a four-year deal in Houston worth $80 million on Saturday afternoon.
Free agent Ryan Anderson plans to sign a four-year, $80M deal with the Houston Rockets, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2016
According to David Aldridge, Anderson’s deal is 100 percent guaranteed.
Confirm @Jonathan_Feigen report on Ryan Anderson: four years, $80 million with Rockets. Deal is all guaranteed, no early outs, per source.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) July 2, 2016
Anderson is one of the best shooting big men in the NBA. For his career, he is a 37.7 percent shooter from behind the arc, and he’s never shot below 34 percent for an entire season during his time with New Jersey, Orlando, and New Orleans. Anderson has averaged 13.1 points per game over the course of his career, and with an expanded role in New Orleans, he’s been an especially good scorer: he averaged 16.1 points per game during his four years in Louisiana.
There is also the added plus of the fit of Anderson in Houston, at least on offense. The Rockets have long been one of the more trigger-happy teams in the NBA when it comes to shooting from downtown, and adding in a guy like Anderson – who averaged a little over six attempts from three each game in New Orleans – is going to make for some entertaining offensive basketball. If you’re a more cynical person, you may be worried that the Rockets won’t be able to stop anything on defense, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe noted.
Bev/Harden/Ariza/Anderson/Capela should be a pretty dynamic scoring lineup. Rox looking for another ball-handler. Defense…….
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 2, 2016
Sam Amick of USA Today decided to use Anderson’s deal to provide some context as to how much $20 million a year would look under the old cap. According to Amick, this deal would be like if a guy signed a deal worth less than $15 million a year prior to last season.
Joining the chorus of folks who highlight the seemingly obvious about why these deals are so big: cap went up approx 35% from last season
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 2, 2016
So for those struggling with these optics: this $20 mil/per Ryan Anderson deal, on an annual basis, is like $14.8 million last season
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 2, 2016
If Anderson got a deal last summer worth $14.8 million a year, most people would probably nod their heads and go “yeah, that sounds about right.” So while $20 million sounds like a lot, it is probably about what Anderson should get. The salary cap spike is real, as we’ve been saying.
Let’s just stop thinking about how much Anderson’s going to get paid and instead focus on the fact that the Rockets are going to have a ton of games where one team scores 120 points and the other scores 115. At the very least, they’ll be fun to watch.
