8:40pm: Petrie reiterated to Jones that Thompson remains his top priority, saying the team has made him an offer and added that he can envision Anderson sliding over to play small forward for the team (Sulia link).
7:32pm: The Kings met with restricted free agent Ryan Anderson today, tweets Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. Jones opines the three-point sharpshooter, who attended high school in the Sacramento area, would make sense for the Kings (Twitter link). With Anderson in town and Thomas Robinson, another power forward, arriving through the draft, Jason Thompson is taking a "wait-and-see" approach to re-signing with the Kings.
Kings president Geoff Petrie said re-signing Thompson would be the team's top priority in free agency, but it appears they at least have a Plan B in place. The two players represent a contrast in styles, as Thompson took only two three-pointers last year while Anderson won the league's Most Improved Player Award in great measure because of his 39.3% three-point shooting. Anderson averaged 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last year while Thompson put up 9.1 PPG and 6.9 RPG.
Anderson and the Magic expressed mutual admiration in the spring, but that was when GM Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy were in place, and much has changed for the Magic since then, with new GM Rob Hennigan in place. If the Magic deal Dwight Howard, they may want to rebuild and might be reluctant to match an offer for Anderson, Jones says (Sulia link).
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If u put Anderson at SF then it’s guaranteed that he will get smoked on every single play against anyone he’s trying to guard.
I agree with Sanjo85. Putting Anderson at the 3 will MAYBE increase his offense but he will get DESTROYED on the defensive end. Best bet to keep him at the 4
He’s gonna be like a Radmonovic type player if Kings pick him up…
I would love to see him stay, we need him. He seems to be a down to earth kid with lots of natural talent. His defense will do nothing but get better in the next few years with more time on the floor. We should do everything we can to keep him seeing as it looks like more and more another rebuilding cycle is coming (Thanks Dwight!). By the way Dwight how does it feel to be in a race with Lebron to be the most hated NBA player?