Anderson awarded as Most Improved: Last week, Magic forward Ryan Anderson was rewarded for his breakout season by being named the league’s Most Improved Player, in his fourth season in the league. Anderson upped his scoring from 10.6 points per game last season to 16.1, while also adding a couple of rebounds to get to 7.7 per game. He managed to increase his scoring load without a drop in efficiency, as he posted almost identical shooting lines to the season before, hitting 43.9 percent of his shots from the field and 39.3 percent from three-point range. (Updated 05/14/2012)
Injury Report
No information available at this time (Updated 5/26/12).
Fantasy Analysis
Anderson’s jump in production can be explained almost exclusively by pointing to the fact that his minutes played jumped from 22.3 per game to 32.2, however there is something to be said for a player who can take on a larger role while maintaining his shooting percentage. Unfortunately for the Magic, Anderson’s season ended rather unceremoniously after he was given the award, as he averaged just 9.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in the Magic’s 5-game series loss to the Pacers. He moves forward next season hoping to show that his regular season production was not a fluke; we bet it isn’t. Anderson should be considered an early-middle round selection on Draft Day. (Updated 05/14/2012).
05/21/2012 13:21 Irving, Lin among players to train vs. Team USA
Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving of Cleveland and Knicks star Jeremy Lin are among 13 NBA players chosen to scrimmage against the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team in July.
Anderson had his best offensive season of his young career with the Magic during the 2011-12 campaign. The 23-year-old averaged a career-best 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds while appearing in 64 games on the season. He saw some decent time when Brandon Bass went down with an injury and was once again a deep threat, posting a 39 percent shooting percentage from behind the arc. However, the Magic want him to tweak his game a bit in the offseason. Anderson is working on improving his post-up game as well as creating more off-the-dribble effectiveness so defenders can't crowd him so much at the three-point line. He should once again continue to push Brandon Bass for more minutes and could be in line for a major boost in production during his fourth season. Fantasy owners should consider Anderson as a solid reserve worthy of taking flier in deeper head-to-head formats. Although, he could be worth spending a late-round pick on in category-based formats because of his 3-point shooting. (Updated 8/23/11)
