Washington Wizards’ Alan Anderson Signing Continues To Be A Disaster

Prior to the beginning of the NBA season, I thought Alan Anderson could potentially become the sixth man for the Washington Wizards. Quite frankly, I thought the veteran wing could compete for minutes with Otto Porter as a starter. I was that confident that Ernie Grunfeld had gotten a steal in free agency.

As the salary cap rose and players like Al-Farouq Aminu were getting $30+ million, the Wizards had signed Anderson — a proven veteran — for less than the mid-level exception.

With Paul Pierce gone and the Wizards looking to play more small-ball, everyone expected Anderson to be a key part of the team. Even if he wasn’t playing 30+ minutes per game, the Washington Wizards needed a player that could fill the scoring void created by Pierce’s departure.

During the 2014-15 NBA Playoffs, Anderson put up 11 points per game on over 60 percent shooting — both from the field and from three.

The Wizards were supposed to be a team with depth on the wing. Porter, the starter, wasn’t supposed to be heavily relied on. Anderson and Martell Webster — who’s currently out of the NBA — were supposed to compete for minutes, with rookie Kelly Oubre learning on the bench.

Now, we’ve been faced with a situation where we’re all begging Randy Wittman to play a 20-year-old with just one season of college basketball under his belt. We’ve reached that point.

It’s February and the Washington Wizards don’t have any wing depth. They live and die by the play of Porter on some nights.

To make matters worse, it’s February and Anderson hasn’t even gone through a full practice with his team.

Two value free agents I like: Cory Joseph and Alan Anderson. CJ has good feel in P&R/can get to the rim + solid D. AA is the quiet 3&D steal — NBA Cap Strategist (@colezwicker) June 27, 2015

Anderson underwent a small ankle procedure in the off-season, which didn’t deter Ernie Grunfeld to sign him. After all, Anderson was deemed one of the more under-the-radar free agents who could potentially become a steal. (Side note: the Wizards also tried to sign Mike Dunleavy, who’s essentially missed this entire season too…)

During training camp, Anderson felt discomfort and was forced to get another procedure done on his ankle. That procedure was supposed to set him back to debut in November, or at the very latest, right before All-Star break.

NBA All-Star weekend is happening this week.

Alan Anderson hasn’t practiced with the team yet, and while he’s reportedly closer to returning, he hasn’t done anything of substance.

At this point, it’s OK to be skeptical — I think.

Anderson seriously might earn north of $4 million dollars and never play a game for the Washington Wizards. Even though he’s on just a one-year deal — think about that for a second: he’s going to make FOUR. MILLION. DOLLARS. and might never play basketball for the team paying him FOUR. MILLION. DOLLARS.

It’s a disaster and it probably won’t change anytime soon.

And who’s fault is it? Who’s fault is it that when no other team was taking a chance on the already-hurt Anderson, Grunfeld picked up the phone and gave him nearly all of the mid-level exception? It’s no one’s fault, well, besides Grunfeld’s.

It’s almost become comical. The Alan Anderson non-updates updates might be the most depressing, yet funny things I see on my Twitter timeline. He’s slowly “recovering,” eh? Cool. Thanks for the update.

Is this the worst free agent signing the Wizards have had? It’s tough to tell. Grunfeld has an entire book on bad signings, trades and draft picks. Where does the Anderson one rank? You tell me.