NBA Free Agency Rumors: Ryan Anderson to sign with Houston Rockets
By John Buhler
The Houston Rockets have landed their wing jump shooter by signing veteran forward Ryan Anderson away from the rival New Orleans Pelicans on a four-year deal.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports, “free agent Ryan Anderson plans to sign a four-year, $80M deal with the Houston Rockets.”
Houston had been targeting players to help their team in the jump shooting department in 2016 NBA free agency. The Rockets also made their Southwest Division rival in the New Orleans Pelicans by signing away arguably their second-best player behind Anthony Davis in Anderson.
Free agent Ryan Anderson plans to sign a four-year, $80M deal with the Houston Rockets, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2016
After four years with the Pelicans, it became fairly obvious that Anderson wasn’t going to re-up with New Orleans in 2016 NBA free agency. This led to the Pelicans to draft a solid jump shooter at No. 6 in the 2016 NBA Draft in Oklahoma Sooners star Buddy Hield and sign former Indiana Pacers wing into a multi-year deal on Friday.
Anderson had a few teams on his radar, but many were speculating that he would go to the West Coast to play for his hometown team in the Sacramento Kings. However with the Kings agreeing to a strong two-year deal with journeyman shooting guard Arron Afflalo, it seemed like the Rockets were going to win the Anderson sweepstakes.
In Houston, he’ll be a great catch-and-shoot guy for new head coach Mike D’Antoni. D’Antoni is widely expected to install his seven-seconds-or-less offense in 2016-17. While the Rockets are probably not going to play anywhere near championship defense this winter, having a strong outside shooter in Anderson will hopefully aid in the Rockets’ turnaround from what was a disastrous 41-41 2015-16 NBA campaign. Anderson makes the Rockets a better team.
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