April 1, 2014
For a second season, New Orleans forward Ryan Anderson is providing periodic blog updates on Pelicans.com, delving into many of his experiences as a resident of New Orleans and other topics. In his latest update, Anderson responded to questions about some of the personalities and off-court traits of his teammates.
MOST TALKATIVE PELICAN
If you were to take a poll among the guys on who’s the funniest player on the team, it would have to be Anthony Morrow. He’s hilarious and – I mean this in the best way – he has a big mouth. He just doesn’t care. He doesn’t care what people think and he’s going to say what’s on his mind. The things he says in the locker room always make me laugh.
He’s always talking. The reason I say he has a big mouth is that in the games, he’ll talk to anybody. Anybody. For example, when we were in Los Angeles, he was talking to Ashton Kutcher and yelling at him during the game. I loved it. He’s hilarious in a lot of different ways.
I’ve had a few teammates in the NBA who have kind of old souls. I played with Trenton Hassell in New Jersey when he was getting older in his career, but he seemed like he was 60 years old. He would always call people “young fella.” Keyon Dooling in Orlando was the same way and was hilarious with his jokes. Anthony is one of those guys who always say the funniest things at the perfect time.
QUIETEST PELICAN
Luke Babbitt is by far the quietest player on the team. I love Luke, and everybody really likes him. I played against him in high school and we had some good conversations. But some people are just naturally quiet. He’s without a doubt the quietest guy we have.
BIGGEST ROLE MODEL
Jason Smith is very well-rounded and I feel like he could talk about anything. He’s a smart guy with his finances. He’s a leader in different ways because he’s kind of the prototypical person in how he carries himself. I look at him like “this is the type of NBA player you should look at if you want to have a long, successful career, on and off the court.”
MOST WORLDLY PELICAN
Greg Stiemsma is the most worldly guy on the team. He’s spent some time overseas, and he’s one of the older players we have, so he has more life experience. He had some really horrible experiences overseas that he’s told me about, but also had some great ones. He’s played on a Boston Celtics team that was very successful and went far in the playoffs. He’s experienced it all. But at the same time, he’s basically a country kid living in Minnesota (in the offseason).
MOST GULLIBLE PELICAN
Austin Rivers is one of the guys you can just make up the most ridiculous, bold-faced lie – but it might seem like it has a bit of truth to it – and he’ll say “Really? Are you serious?”
MOST FASHION-CONSCIOUS PELICAN
Austin. I’d say myself too now, because I’ve had so much time to sit out and focus a lot more on my clothes. Now that I’m not playing, I can focus on what I’m going to wear to the game. I have to dress up in a suit every night. Austin has his own style and buys expensive T-shirts that you’d never know could possibly cost that much money. He loves shopping and is a very fashionable guy. He definitely focuses a lot on what he wears. But he’s put together some good outfits, so I have to give him credit.
BIGGEST PRACTICAL JOKER
It’s me. It’s hard for me to be overly serious in life. Of course there are plenty of moments in life where you need to be very serious, but a majority of the time, a great practical joke, or lightening up the room, is something I like to do and even pride myself on!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAN INTERACTION Editor’s note: Do you have a New Orleans restaurant recommendation for Ryan? Perhaps a movie you think he should see… or avoid? Want to ask him a question? Send in your thoughts on Twitter to @Jim_Eichenhofer using the hashtag of #rynoblog and we’ll help Ryan become even more acclimated to the Crescent City.