While every potential draftee has a team they would prefer to be drafted to, more often than not they go somewhere else. For Kyle Anderson, he got his wish. While speaking to a group of kids in New Jersey, Anderson told them his team of choice was the San Antonio Spurs. Referring to how they play “beautiful basketball” and are “all business”.
Anderson took a bit of a tumble on draft boards, projected to go in the late teens, early 20’s, it was surprising how far he fell. Some experts believe Anderson will be the best of the UCLA players drafted. After falling all the way to 30, with the best franchise in the NBA at developing talent sitting there, that projection just became even more likely.
For UCLA, Anderson was tasked with doing a lot of scoring. He mainly ran out of isolation and as a result, his efficiency suffered. With the Spurs, they can take what he excels at, put it into their system and help his efficiency problems. He won’t be required to do as much creating and that might help the young 20 year old. With so much room to grow, the Spurs got a possible steal.
It’s cool to see a player go to to the team he wanted to be drafted by. Even though he lost out on some potential money by being drafted so low, he was still a first-round pick and that guarantees him a contract. Hopefully he’ll succeed with the Spurs. It would be disappointing to see a player drafted by the team he wanted to play for, and then fail with them.