Toronto Raptors re-sign free agent Alan Anderson – NBA Update
On Monday, the Toronto Raptors agreed to re-sign free agent forward Alan Anderson on a long term contract, the semantics of which have not been made public yet.
Anderson came to the Raptors on March 26th last season after signing a 10 day contract. In that short span, He was able to impress the Raptors management with his work ethic thus landing him a stay in Toronto till the end of the season.
In the 17 games he played for the Raps, the forward averaged 9.6 points and 2 rebounds in the limited playing time. During that time, the highlight performance of the 29 year old player came against the New Jersey Nets on April 26. That night, Anderson put together a season best performance of 20 points, with15 of those points coming from the long range.
He was part of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2005 but was waived after spending just one year with the organization. During his three years in the NBA, Anderson has been able to get 70 appearances under his belt. He is at best a role player and in18.3 minutes per game, he boasts of career averages of 6.7 points and 1.9 rebounds.
In between his two NBA stints, Anderson spent some time playing in the D-League and also has the experience of playing across Europe and Israel.
After spending a major chunk of his professional career playing basketball overseas, Anderson impressed late last season and was able to earn the trust of the new Raptors head coach Dwane Casey who gave him the starting nod ahead of James Johnson – a player who has been traded to Sacramento Kings during the summer.
The addition of Anderson will add depth to the Raptors back court, which was recently bolstered by the addition of John Lucas III. Anderson is a well travelled player and in just 7 years he has been a part of 11 different basketball organizations, two of them being in NBA. A long contract with the Raps might just be the tonic he needs to deliver on his potential.
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