Houston Rockets reach new deal with former PF Ryan Anderson

With minicamp being over and training camp around the corner, the Houston Rockets have agreed to a contract with former forward Ryan Anderson.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Houston Rockets have agreed to a partially guaranteed contract with former Rockets forward Ryan Anderson, who played for the team from 2016-2018. During that span, Anderson averaged 11.5 points per game and shot 39.5% from deep, filling the stretch four role perfectly. In addition, he averaged 4.8 rebounds per game, which was lower than the 7.7 rebounds per game he averaged during the 2012 season in which he won the NBA Most Improved Player award.

In 2016, Anderson was signed to a four-year contract worth $80 million, which as most Rockets fans will now tell you, made him significantly overpaid. Although he played well on the offensive end of the floor, Anderson’s biggest fault by far was on the defensive end, which is why he ultimately fell out of Mike D’Antoni’s rotation. To show just how much he dropped off in the rotation: during the 2017 playoffs, RyNo averaged 30.5 minutes per game but had has minutes reduced to just 8.6 minutes per game in the 2018 playoffs.

Ryan has always been a good shooter during regular seasons but sometimes sees a dropoff come playoff time. Over his last two postseasons, he had field goal percentages of 39.1 percent and 35 percent. In addition, his 3-point shooting percentages were 28.3 percent and 33.3 percent over the same stretch. If Anderson is going to be a difference-maker for the Rockets, he is going to have to perform better in the playoffs

In terms of the original contract, it became an example of another brilliant move made by Daryl Morey, as he was able to move the $20.4 million Anderson made last season as part of the deal the team agreed to in 2016, and have it count on another team’s payroll. It’s especially phenomenal to get Anderson back at a much-reduced price of $2.6 million after trading him away.

Anderson struggled significantly last season, playing for both the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat. On the season, he shot 30.4 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from distance, which contributed to the Miami Heat deciding to use the stretch provision and waive him.

Ryan Anderson will have to impress in training camp to have a shot at making this talented Houston Rockets roster. It’ll be interesting to see if he will be up to the task.