INSIDE THE ROCKETS
Ryan Anderson: Return to the Rockets is "full circle"
Sep 29, 2019, 7:56 am
Getty Images
Ryan Anderson
Ryan Anderson approached his media scrum after training camp practice on Saturday as if he was meeting an old group of friends. "It's good to see you guys again," Anderson said, with smiles all around. "It feels like I never left."
Anderson is, of course, referencing his two-year tenure with the Houston Rockets that ended last summer when he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. Anderson found tremendous success with the Rockets, providing quality floor spacing that helped form the identity of the team that would eventually go toe-to-toe with the Golden State Warriors and almost win. After a year of bouncing from team to team, seemingly in NBA purgatory, Anderson landed back with the Rockets this summer. To say he relished the opportunity to return to his old stomping ground is an understatement.
"It's an amazing feeling," Anderson said. "It's an easy adjustment back with this group. The system is obviously the same. Just playing the other day for the first time again with these guys, it's like there's no adjustment period."
While the Rockets haven't formally promised him a roster spot, Anderson was offered a minimum deal with $250,000 being guaranteed money, significantly more than players like Anthony Bennet, Michael Frazier, and Ben McLemore. Anderson also has familiarity with a lot of the players, Mike D'Antoni's system, and the way Houston wants to play so it gives him a real leg up on some of the newcomers. The way things currently stand, there's a strong chance he won't have to sell the condo he bought (and kept) in Houston several years ago.
"This team has, just like when I was here a few years ago, high hopes to win a championship," Anderson said. "The less time I take to get adjusted to the system in the right way, the better. I'm ready to help the team the best I can."
Although, Anderson isn't just satisfied with grabbing a roster spot. After a brutal season in which he only logged 25 games and 322 minutes, he wants to prove to the NBA that he can still contribute to a contender. After being much maligned for his contract and traded to clean up Houston's financial situation last season, Anderson struggled to find consistent roles with both the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat. A tough journey he describes as "humbling."
"Obviously I would like to bounce back from last year," said Anderson. "It feels good to be back with a group that has an identity. I know what that identity is and what the main goal is. I feel really good to be back. That's just how life is sometimes. It's full circle."
Anderson averaged 11.6 points and 4.8 rebounds on 39.6% three-point shooting when he played for Houston. Before signing Anderson, the Rockets had a noticeable hole at backup power forward plus a need for size and floor spacing. Houston isn't a team known to making novelty signings. Anderson will have an opportunity to earn real minutes and play a role if he proves himself viable in training camp.
"My journey has been one of many mental struggles," Anderson said. "Last year was a tough challenge for me. Something that I've never experienced before. It was difficult. I feel very fortunate to be very to be where I'm at right now. To have a chance to play for a great team, to produce, and to do what I can do. This team knows me very well and knows what I'm capable of. I feel very fortunate to be back here."
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
How Astros advanced metrics tell puzzling story about Houston's start
Apr 17, 2025, 5:21 pm
Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s 23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. In the batter’s box he has often looked befuddled. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
_____________________________________________
*Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!