Kyle Anderson fits into an archetype that is rare to find in the NBA: a stat-stuffing player who doesn’t really stuff the stats. He’s capable of scoring, rebounding, assisting, stealing, and blocking, and he often does all of those things in a single game, but never at a volume that is really notable. A 10/10/4/2/2 line in thirty minutes is pretty much normal for him. He’s a walking scrub-by-five, easily able to accumulate two each of the five main counting stats. In fact, my terminology “scrub-by-five” should actually just be called “The Kyle Anderson” or “The Slo-Mo Special” because he is the player who I deem most likely to achieve that particular statistical feat.
Anderson stepped up his stat-stuffing in this game against the Pelicans, recording a final line of 19/11/4/3/3. Just an assist, two steals, and two blocks away from a five-by-five. He did it in his normal way, by being slow, deliberate, and calculated with all of his movements. It’s been said that defenders actually get thrown off by Anderson because he’s TOO slow, and I believe it. He is just a really slow dude. Even his jumpshot release is slow as absolute heck.
What I still don’t get is how the Grizzlies’ ragtag assemblage of misfit role-players and castoffs is currently at 15-9 in a talent-stacked Western Conference. If Anderson was doing this every game it would make more sense, but he’s not. Is Mike Conley really that good? Has my whole life been a lie and Conley actually is a top-five PG?