dont know much about him. pretty funny video. i say work him out and see where it goes from there. His game does resemble murphy's but Murphy bulked up quite a bit once he got in the league. whether Ryan Anderson can also do that is up in the air.
Very skilled player. I'm really hoping he comes back to Cal next year. I'm too sleepy now, but I'll be back later with a better description of him after having watched him for 2 years.
Ok, I've woken up I just graduated Cal, and one of my regrets is not being able to see Ryan Andreson continue to develop as a player (at least not on student prices), especially under new coach Mike Montgomery, where he'll surely flourish. That should tell you already that Ryan's a very skilled player. He has a vast offensive skill set, in the post and out on the perimeter. He leads the Pac-10 at 21 PPG, and is also third in rebounding at 9.9 RPG. 49% from the field, 41% from 3, and 87% at the FT line. He's definitely more of a perimeter oriented PF versus a Post-up PF, and has a beautiful stroke and arc to his shot. His size usually just lets him shoot over smaller defenders, and he's faster than most defenders his size. He doesn't have too much of a mid-range game, or chose not to use it (or was told not to... Cal's offense over previous coach Ben Braun consisted mostly of perimeter shooting, driving, less post ups, and even less midrange), but I imagine his shooting stroke works great at 18 feet as well. In the post, Ryan is a smart guy, having great footwork and does a good job or getting his defender into an awkward position to allow Ryan to move around him. He tends to draw a lot of fouls around the rim, and of course converts almost all of them. His post arsenal revolves more around outmanuerving his defender to get closer to the basket for a lay in, rather than rising up and shooting jump hooks. Has a great touch around the rim, and has very soft hands. Has a high BB IQ, hardly forces himself into a position where he can't succeed, and makes good passes. This also makes his a great rebounder. He gets into great position for every rebound and boxes out well. Not the type of athlete who jumps over people to get rebounds... he just knows where to be. His ball handling is not as great as the rest of his offensive package, but it's good enough, especially for his size. It's good enough for him to get where he wants, but he's not going to be crossing people over on the wings. He's an average to above average athlete. He's no Jason Collins for sure, but don't expect any highlight reels from him. As a defender, Ryan is competitive and is willing to sacrifice his body. He uses his high BB IQ and great positioning to body up his man and try to force him into a bad position to score. He's just not strong enough at times to do what his head wants him to do, so that's where he lacks. He should build up his lower body strength to improve in this area. On the perimeter, I don't think he's fast enough laterally to keep up with faster forwards so he'd be a liability there as well. Mentally, I think Ryan needs to take more ownership of the team. He's obivously the most skilled person on the floor almost every game, but he doesn't always show it. He needs to be more aggressive at times, and really want to take over a game. I'm not saying he's not a competitor... he is, but he needs to show a desire to kill his opponents every game. He might be too much of a nice guy. Definitely a good, fun guy off the court. The fact that he leads the Pac-10 in scoring at 21 PPG just shows how much offensive skill this guy has, despite these current flaws. I'm not sure how much he'll improve statwise by staying another year, but I think he'll mature as a player. I'm anticipating a better record with Montgomery as well, which should also improve his draft stock. Remember, he only JUST turned 20.
