Ryan Anderson: 5 Areas Orlando Magic Forward Still Needs to Improve

I would like to make a caveat my article by first saying that I am not a Ryan Anderson hater. I don’t want to be the Kanye to his Taylor Swift moment.

Anderson is the Magic's scoring leader and has started off the young season brilliantly.

He has shown that he can score with the three-point shot and pick up the loose rebounds that Dwight Howard hasn’t gobbled up. But I refuse to be hasty in calling him an All-Star caliber player just yet.

Anderson needs to become a more complete player, and here are five ways the young forward out of Cal can do that.

Run the Floor

Anderson is excellent in getting back on defense due to his penchant for hanging around the three-point line.

Offensively, however, he must remember to get back and catch the ball in transition.

Unfortunately, you can't learn speed, and this may never happen.

Ball Movement

With career assists per game under one, he should be more active in the passing game.

If he wasn't such a catch-and-shoot player and handled the ball more efficiently, Anderson could increase his assists production.

Once again, this may be the product of Stan Van Gundy's offensive scheme, but if Ryan catches the ball behind the three-point line, he's thinking shoot first and ask questions later.

Be a Better Ball Handler

He needs to increase ball-handling skills.

Creating his own shot has been his weakness.

I'm not sure if it's Van Gundy's offensive scheme to never isolate him, or if it's the fact that Anderson just is not a good ball-handler.

Get to the Basket More Often

At 6'10", he should make better use of his big body and drive to the basket more.

There are large portions of game time where he seems content to camp out around the arc and simply wait for the Dwight Howard double team.

Of his 84 shots this season, 50 have been three-point shots.

Get to the Line More

This goes hand in hand with his contention to be a spot up three-point shooter.

Getting to the line less than two times a game is unacceptable.

If Anderson can get to the basket more, the career 84 percent free throw shooter would be successful.

I'd like to see him take it to the hole more and become more of a ball-handler.