Currently the consensus on Oklahoma State’s James Anderson is that he’s a decent scoring prospect worth about a 20th pick. But having reviewed his late season game versus Kansas I have to say that my opinion of him is much greater than that. He’s not the BPA at #1, but at the 10th pick…well I think there’s a pretty solid case.
The large view of Anderson is a player that’s a blend of Arenas and Hamilton. His body type and movement have much in common with Arenas, but his passion to work off screens clearly comes from the Rip/Reggie/Curry school of play. What you have is a scoring machine that is equally adept at the catch and shoot or dribble drive score.
Clearly OK St felt the same because he is asked to be the center of virtually every play they run when he’s in the game, and when he sits in the second half Kansas begins to make a run, and Xavier Henry comes to life. Everyone on both teams recognize that Anderson is the key to the game.
As always my cut down of the game features the good, bad and blah of his game, this isn’t a highlight package. At the 1:40 mark you’ll see Henry even reach to deflect one of his catch and shoots (James gets revenge at 7:13). You’ll also see Kansas put many different players on him and eventually wear him down and disrupt his play.
But the majority of footage is dominated by brilliant, quick catch-n-shoots, solid passing and rebounding (check 6:50) and even modest defense, all bundled up in a manner that is typical of “best guy on the court”. His struggles come from traps and double teams, as well as pure exhaustion from so much usage.
His missed shots are nearly always just off the mark and show a good repetitive motion of a disciplined scorer. When he misses a lay up at the 4 minute mark it’s after he’s already blown past Henry on the dribble and has both Morris and Aldrich coming at him in the “stop him at all costs” style. Often that style leads to scraps for teammates, assist near the rim chances, or fouls drawn.
While not an elite defender he is good enough for the NBA. His awareness is also solid. He switches to defend Aldrich (commits a foul) after protecting for the Collins drive, lingers on the bigger Morris brothers quite often, but also comes out to make a steal on Collins (5:18) and rips a Collins to Henry pass (1:05)
Henry wants no part of him. Check around 4:20 as Anderson comes up to cut off Henry’s drive, and the comment “oh he’s hesitant”. That’s the theme for Henry throughout the game; if Anderson is after me, I can’t make a play. When Anderson sits, Henry gets briefly hot.
And for me the details show the most truth. At 5:00 you have what looks like a sloppy play as Morningstar forces Anderson into a dribble off his foot. But watch Anderson recover from it, all using his dribble. He changes dribble tempo, goes behind the back to elude 3 players, and then it peaks out at the 5:05 mark with one of the nastiest, quickest crossovers you’ll ever see. It’s pure chaos and he’s the only one that seems remotely in control of the moment.
That’s the kind of skills on the fly I like to see from a prospect. Any player can play in their comfort zone, but the great ones can react well when things go south and have the tools to make good on it. Anderson doesn’t need to be set to hit a jumper, doesn’t need a pick to get free with his dribble, doesn’t need a 1 on 1 situation to be effective. Put him with some other players of his talent level and I think his game really takes off.
Enough of the hype, let’s take a closer look at James Anderson…
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