The Magic Matrix: The Mr. Anderson Story
Tonight is another big night for the Magic. Crippled by the loss of their All-Star Point Guard, Jameer Nelson, the Magic team will find themselves against the Thunder again. In the last meeting with Oklahoma City, Magic were without Lewis and Anderson. Despite the return of both over the course of this past week, Nelson's absence will be a factor in this match up.
But let's look beyond the match-up and the most exciting piece of news (even if it was overshadowed by Nelson's injury). Rashard Lewis is finally back in the lineup and played against Charlotte on Monday night. Unfortunately, Lewis' return was met with a brick wall. The young All-Star went 4-for-15 (26.7%) from the field, 0-for-6 from behind the arc for 10 points. My excitement slowly turned into dismay as the abysmal shooting percentage went unchallenged by Van Gundy, who allowed a -6 player to continue for an entire 34 and a half minute he was in. He scored 8 of his points in the second half, boosted by a rotation by Van Gundy to put in the sophomore Ryan Anderson at PF, who has been turning Magic fans' heads since he arrived on the scene. With Lewis at SF, he got in a scoring groove.
But why is Anderson, who has boasted better overall numbers this season (vs. Lewis 08-09), playing only 19:15 minutes? Anderson's +/- was at +13 that night, the highest amongst the Magic lineup!
After the game I went and started doing research, which is where I found that Anderson has flourished under the Magic, shooting 60% from the 3-point-line during the preseason and hitting 40 points in Summer League games.
I started looking at stat pages and found this little tidbit at 82games.com:
For those who don't want to navigate away, it shows that Anderson has the highest production on the court out of the Magic lineup, and shows a significant offensive boost, which was displayed in Monday's game when he stepped on the court and scored 7 points on top of his 5 from the first half, and Lewis scored 8.
Anderson was also 5-for-9 from the floor and 1-for-3 from the 3-point line, which comes up to 55.6% FG% and 33.3% 3P%. Anderson averages 14.6 PPG with only 24 MPG to work with.
82games.com also showed this:
Which basically shows the production of certain 5-man squads. Each of the squad combinations that had Anderson in it had good numbers. What does this all mean?
Mr. Anderson is The One. These stats show that he is extremely productive and seems to inspire productivity despite being the youngest and least experienced (professionally) on the team. In the upset where the Magic broke the Sun's spotless record, Anderson scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to add to the Magic's relentless assault.
So what is Van Gundy doing? Raw talent is standing 6-10 feet in front of him with the potential of an All-Star. My opinion: I know everyone is used to Lewis, but ease Lewis back into the lineup and let Anderson start. Other than the game against Detroit, the 21-year-old forward has been amazingly productive and will not disappoint. And if Van Gundy really wants Lewis to start, Lewis should play SF, and Anderson at PF.
Ryan may not seem like he's All-Star potential, but he is. He doesn't have to make fancy plays, but he gets the job done. And be sure of it, as long as Anderson is on the floor, the Magic will get in a good groove, at least offensively.
And trust me, Mr. Anderson will rise up and fulfill his destiny as the one to help the Magic to victory.
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