March 9, 2009

Rookie Year Rockiness (Ryan Anderson)

For me, the season’s been really up and down. It’s tough as a rookie – well, some rookies. Other guys, like Brook, have their set positions, but I’m in there with three or four other power forwards. I’ve gone from starting to not playing. It’s different for me, but I’m trying to get used to it, trying to stay positive at all times. It’s weird, but when you’re not playing, Coach can call your name at any time, so you have to be ready.

Overall, I think the season’s going great. I’m learning a lot. My confidence has been bumpy, but as a whole, I think I can build from this. I’m going to get stronger and my game’s improving every day, so I’m excited to see where I can go from here.

And it’s exciting to be on a team that nobody expected could do anything – they thought we were going to be worst in the league – but is in the playoff race and being looked at to make a little run. Also, we can achieve more than even what we’re doing now. I think we have a lot of offensive presence. We need to work on our defense, but that’s something I think will come in time as we build as a team more. Everyone’s having fun – we’re a real close-knit team. It’s been a good year.

It’s a lot different than in college, where one loss can mean the whole season for you. It’s pretty rare when one loss can mean a season for a team in the NBA, because there’s so many games. But as we have fewer and fewer games to go, we’re feeling more pressure each game to get wins. It’s starting to feel a little bit like we’re heading into the Pac-10 Tournament or something, but not completely. We’re just trying to stay focused and take it one game at a time.

So This is What Winter's Like
Man, it’s completely different from California. I’m used to a lot of rain in Sacramento, but I’m not used to snowstorms and huge winds with crazy gusts. The weather is a complete 180 from what I’m used to. In a lot of ways, I try and stay positive so I don’t get depressed. I’m so used to the California sun, and I can’t tell you how nice it’s been the past few days to have it be 65 degrees. It feels amazing. I feel refreshed – when it’s snowing, I know I’m going to be inside and watching movies. It’s completely different from being outside and wearing T-shirts.

Before I got here, my mom was really warning me that I was going to need a jacket. I was like, "Nah, Mom, honestly, I’ve got a couple." But I ended up going and buying a bunch of them. You’ve got to stay warm, especially if you’re going out in the city. In December and January, we’d go out and just make it a normal night and it’d be 10 degrees outside. It’s a culture shock. When you think of New York City, as far as weather, it’s snow and it’s cold. I’m looking forward to the summertime here.

I’ve never really driven in the snow on freeways – oh wait, they don’t call them freeways here. Whatever. In California, we call them freeways – so that was a big change for me. But I got an SUV. I didn’t want to get a car that would have trouble in the snow. It took one day of adjustment, as far as checking the brakes and everything, because it can be pretty dangerous in some areas.

The first time it started snowing, we were right outside of practice and I’m looking at Brook, like, "How are we gonna do this?" I was sliding past stop signs. It was a big adjustment for me, but I’m definitely used to it.

Speaking of which, Brook finally got his license. We’re all really proud of him – he’s becoming a man before our eyes! He’s driven me a few times, so it’s good. I think he passed it the first time. I think since he’s getting up there – in his 20s – I think he just went right through and did the driving test. I don’t think he would’ve told me if he hadn’t passed.

He seemed really confident the first time he drove me. He’s driven my car before, but he was by himself. I wasn't nervous – I never saw any nicks or scratches on the car. He did well.

Stepping Up to See the Movies
If we have a day before we play on roadtrips, we generally go to a movie. We usually try to bring a sandwich or some dinner with us and eat it in the theater. This one time, we got big Subway sandwiches, then went to Coldstone and got some ice cream, also. It was hard to keep the ice cream from flipping over and getting everywhere, so we went to the front counter and bought our tickets, and the guy said, "You can’t bring that in here."

We were like, "Shoot," and got our jackets and put them over the food. We walked by again, and the guy said, "You guys are obviously sneaking food." So we were like, "Dang! All right." Then we see the escalators going the wrong way, and we run up the reverse escalators. It was just dumb; we looked like idiots. Just like running stairs in high school, but they’re coming at you, so it’s harder. But you have to have food – it’s necessary.

Half-Million Halfcourt Shot ... NOT!
That College Humor prank was hilarious. How could you get a whole crowd to cheer at the right time? It’s even more funny when you follow all of the pranks, because I watched all of them and they really got each other bad.

The fake proposal was awful. That was so bad. Me and my buddy were watching that last year – my friend Dave Liss from Cal (a walk-on, he was one of my roommates). He showed me all those and we were just busting up.

I'm not confident at all I'd be able to hit that shot. I’ve never tried it. I’m kind of confident shooting a free throw with my eyes close, but no way with the halfcourt. No. Way. Maybe a three-pointer, from the top of the key. Or the corner, but the backboard’s kind of in the way there. With a dead-on target, you could bank it, too.