Only hours had passed following the Spurs’ season-ending Game 4 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 Western Conference Finals when Kyle Anderson decided it was time to go back to work.

In front of a packed AT&T Center, where fans had cheered for Manu Ginobili’s possible farewell, Anderson quietly produced a playoff and season-high 20-point, seven-rebound, four-steal performance.

Afterward, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was bombarded with questions about Ginobili’s future. Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown chimed in. Kevin Durant added some comments, too. The man of the hour — Ginobili — even conducted a memorable press conference.

Few interview requests awaited Anderson, and he was OK with it. As he’s done throughout his career, Anderson showered, checked his phone, dressed quickly and left the building with nothing but his inner thoughts.

“That’s when it clicked to me,” Anderson recalled. “That’s when I started thinking about it.”

Game 4 provided Anderson a glimpse into what could be, if he really put the work in. There have been moments in the 24-year-old’s career where his confidence has either soared or waned. His play had been spotty too. One game, he appeared to be one of the steals of the 2014 NBA Draft. But the next he finds himself buried on Popovich’s bench, left to ponder.

How could Anderson make the most of the upcoming season, his fourth with the Spurs? What could he do to prove he belonged in the NBA?

Once the Warriors eliminated the Spurs, Anderson knew he wanted 2016-17 to be his final season of uncertainty. He desired more. But to get more, Anderson had to give more of himself toward perfecting his craft on the basketball court.

“Something had to change,” Anderson recalled. “It’s that time.”

The off-season is the time of the year where the best players rarely take days off. Maximum effort in the weight room and on the basketball court is mandatory. If Anderson’s goal was to transform his former mindset into one of where he felt undaunted, then utilizing the off-season was the perfect start.

It was in those hours after the Warriors swept the Spurs when Anderson started the arduous process of making himself into the player fans are witnessing this season.

Call it “The Summer of Kyle.”

Seeking advice

There aren’t many people Anderson allows into his basketball circle.

But two individuals, his father Kyle Anderson Sr. and brother Jamar Wilkins, have lifetime passes. When Anderson needs unbiased advice, Wilkins and Kyle Sr. are not afraid to provide it.

If constructive criticism is required, the duo don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and tell Anderson what he’s doing wrong.

“I sat down with my brother and had a talk,” Anderson said. “I sat down with my father and had a talk. They gave me a new perspective on how I should go into off-seasons.”

With no Summer League responsibilities for the first time in his pro career, Anderson wanted to know how he could take advantage of the next four months. Kyle Sr. informed his son he was preparing to return.

Though Kyle Sr. promised a hands-off approach when Anderson entered the Spurs’ culture, he felt this was the time to temporarily suspend that agreement.

“This summer was important because he was going into his contract year and I just had to get my hands on him a little more than I usually do,” he said.

Kyle Sr. gave his son a schedule. He wanted Anderson to relocate to Los Angeles where his agent, Thaddeus Foucher of Wasserman Media Group, could assist in coordinating workouts with other clients like Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis.

The reasoning was simple: “The new chapter in your life is you being more aggressive offensively,” his father said. “How are you going to do that if you’re not playing against peers? If you’re not playing against your peers, how will you be able to gauge if you can do it when the season comes?”

But before Anderson could workout with peers, he needed an individual overhaul.

Wilkins created a list of things he wanted Anderson to improve on. It was almost the same routine that Anderson declined years ago when Kyle Sr. asked Wilkins for help. Anderson wasn’t ready then, but timing is everything. He needed Wilkins’ regimen now more than ever.

“He was searching for answers,” Wilkins said. “But deep down he was searching for confidence. I had to lay it out for him. Obviously, basketball has come easy for him. He’s worked at it. He’s been a gym rat, and I think the work ethic he had in AAU — all his life playing for different AAU teams and different high school teams and mixing up high school with AAU … In AAU, he could play his game.

“At UCLA, he could play the power forward, second year play the point guard. And then bounce to power forward from point guard for a handful of minutes. And now here come the Spurs. So, I had to lay it out for him. I had to make him see the whole picture.”

Wilkins saw Game 4 against the Warriors and remembered his little brother asking: “Why couldn’t I put that together before?”

It wasn’t the first time Wilkins heard the question. Over the years, Anderson would call throughout the season seeking more information.

Wilkins never told Anderson to have a talk with Popovich about his role. A trade was never requested, either. Wilkins wanted Anderson to do the small things.

“The first thing you need to do is take care of your body,” Wilkins told Anderson. “Train your body. If you’re going to sit on the bench the whole time, you know what, get some extra reps in the gym. Lift, shoot, do what you have to do to get back on the court. If you’re not going to play or only play a handful of games, lift.”

New routine

Wilkins went more in-depth with his advice, specifically working on Anderson’s body.

Wilkins did not want Anderson to get too big. Anderson needed to be light enough to play the guard and small forward positions. But Anderson needed to add muscle in case Popovich called his number to play the four.

Said Wilkins: “We don’t know what you are, but let’s put you in the best position and the best shape possible to guard two through four. Let’s find ways to lower your body mass, build confidence, get you stronger, give you stronger endurance. He said ‘OK, I’m on board.’”

Anderson worked with Wilkins three to four times a week starting at 7:30 a.m. His core was the focus. Anderson did deadlifts, squats, “plyometrics stuff that was all basketball related.”

Anderson worked out at Dumbbells Health & Fitness Gym in North Bergen, New Jersey. Wilkins described the club as a “meathead” gym. Nothing flashy. No fancy equipment. No distractions.

Anderson would spend 20 minutes working his upper body, chest and shoulders. The next 20 minutes were for basketball-related activities.

Wilkins had Anderson flipping heavy tires, and performing power cleans with dumbbells, which simulated rebounding.

There was a 15-pound medicine ball and a 50-foot monkey bar. Anderson practiced the Mikan drill — named after NBA legend George Mikan — which helps forwards and centers obtain a rhythm for rebounding and scoring in the paint. Wilkins called that workout, “The Kyrie’s,” as Anderson would mimic layup drills using the medicine ball.

“The reason I called those Kyrie’s is because the way Kyrie (Irving) attacks the rim,” Wilkins said. “Spins it left, right. So, when you look at Kyle’s game this year, he’s finishing around the rim a lot better because for three months to start every workout, he had to do the Mikan drill back and forth for about six or seven times on a monkey bar. That would allow him to finish around contact.”

The deadlifts were important, too. The workouts helped Anderson’s explosion when going up to rebound.

“But also, when you see him defensively, he’s now consistently in a defensive squat,” Wilkins said. “He’s lower, he’s more comfortable. And we did a lot of jump roping, too. A rope for him is foot speed. Once we got him in that core of doing all those different activities, getting a low center of gravity, now let’s work on your foot work. Let’s cut off different angles.”

Anderson played handball with his brother using a tennis ball. The drill enhanced Anderson’s hand speed and lateral quickness.

“Everything that we did had a meaning behind it,” Wilkins said. “It had some type of basketball-related activity so he could see it.”

The hill

As impactful as the gym and basketball related workouts were, Anderson he needed to challenge himself more.

On Bulls Ferry Road lies an extremely steep hill. It’s the same hill Wilkins recalls mastering while playing football at the University of Connecticut.

“It has a lot of different degrees where it comes and it just bites you. And then you come around and do a turn to finish,” Wilkins said.

Asked to give his description, Kyle Sr. said: “That’s a steep ass hill. For a car, in the wintertime if it’s snowing out and you have to go up that hill, God bless you.”

The hill is 300 yards up and back. Anderson needed to run up and walk back down six times to start.

“The first time you run it three times and you think that was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life,” Wilkins said. “And then you go back a week later and have to run it six times. And you think, ‘No way I’m running this six times,’ and you do. And then the third time, you have to run it nine times.”

Anderson could not complete the hill challenge the first few attempts. After five tries, Wilkins said he vomited, laid out on the ground, exhausted.

“You’re running and running, and then all of a sudden the transmission blows,” he said.

But Anderson needed to complete the drill for endurance. It was also a mental challenge Anderson needed to master. Run up. Walk down. Do it again. It was one of the hardest routines Anderson ever encountered until he finally completed the challenge will no side effects.

Wilkins knew Anderson had conquered the hill when his brother took a red-eye flight back from San Antonio. Hours after the flight, he went right back to the hill while waiting for friends to join him on a Friday afternoon.

“He wanted to attack it,” Wilkins said. “He wanted that to be his challenge. And I give him credit for it.”

Melo effect

Along with daily workouts with Wilkins, Anderson also decided to cut ties with anyone in his ear about shooting techniques. He granted Spurs assistant coach Child Engelland carte blanche, with no outside influences.

“I said it’s going to be one way the whole summer. I’m not going to have anybody in my ear telling me what I need to do or put this hand here, release it this way. I’m going to shoot one way and I’m going to get my repetitions that way and that’s just how it’s going to be. So, I think that was very helpful. Just doing the same thing every time,” Anderson said.

It was a sign he was ready for the challenge of the summer. He could finally display his game alongside his peers.

Anderson frequently watched clips of Carmelo Anthony working out in New York at the LifeTime Sky gym. Anderson admired Anthony’s game and wanted some of the action. He contacted fellow New Jersey native J.R. Smith, who worked out with Anthony, asked for the time the sessions began, and took the trip to New York.

Big Kyle had no idea Anderson took the trip to workout with Anthony and company.

“I called little Kyle and I was like, ‘When was this?’” Kyle Sr. recalled. “A part of me was like, ‘How are you going to go (workout with Anthony) and I don’t know about it?’ But I remember I told Kyle at the beginning of his four-year journey, at the end of the four years, I don’t want to be involved in your basketball any more.”

Anthony saw what Anderson learned over the summer when the Spurs played the Oklahoma City Thunder for the first time this season. It was Anderson who helped the team overcome a 23-point deficit for their biggest win of the year. Anderson finished with 10 points, four rebounds and six assists.

“(His game’s) grown,” Anthony said. “He found his role, he found his niche over there in San Antonio. I think Pop gives him a great amount of confidence to be able to play his game and finding out what he does best and utilizing that tool.”

Hard work pays off

Clippers coach Doc Rivers remembers watching Anderson in high school. What Anderson displayed then, he’s still showing now.

“He came into the league with like an old man veteran’s game,” said Rivers. “He already knew how to play. I think where he’s gotten better is he knows the spots where he can use his length, use his IQ. He’s just a smart player. I think I saw him at an AAU game when he was young. I was like, ‘Man that guy is a smart player.’ And now when you see him now, you say, ‘Man that guy is a smart player.’ I don’t think it ever changes for him.”

Like Rivers, the rest of the basketball world is starting to notice Anderson’s game. His number are up dramatically this season over 2016-17; points per game from 3.4 to 9.2, shooting percentage from 44.5 to 50.7 and minutes per game from 14.2 to 27.9.

Popovich sees a more confident player: “Just playing a free and easy game, not worrying about making mistakes. When he’s like that, he’s a much better player.”

LaMarcus Aldridge mentioned Anderson’s playmaking ability, crediting Anderson for taking advantage of the opportunity he’s been given while Kawhi Leonard has been sidelined.

Kyle Sr. noticed something else, though. Anderson is taking his craft seriously, especially on the defensive end.

While watching an old clip of himself at UCLA, Anderson couldn’t help but laugh. He sent his dad a video of a defensive possession, an indirect confession that he didn’t play defense in college, or at least put little effort into it on a consistent basis.

“I called him up and said, ‘Kyle, remember I used to always say you don’t play hard and you don’t play defense.’ You used to say, ‘Dad, yes I do.’ I know you just think I was being a hater, but you never played defense,” said Kyle Sr.

And then Kyle Sr. gave his son a huge compliment.

As he watched Anderson last month when the Spurs traveled to play the Dallas Mavericks, Kyle Sr. witnessed all the things Anderson worked on with Wilkins. How he got down in a low stance, used his feet and hands.

At halftime, he texted his son: “I love watching you on defense.”

“This was the first time I had ever said anything positive about his defense because I know he never played defense,” Kyle Sr. said. “For three straight games, I have seen him get down in a real defensive stance. I mean, ‘I’m low to the ground. I’m going to move my feet. You’re not going to get around me.’ It almost brought tears to my eyes because it’s the first time I’ve ever complimented his defense when it was warranted.”

Anderson knows his spot in the starting lineup will not last forever. Leonard will return and Anderson will go back to a reserve role — so, he refuses to get caught up in the hype.

Shortly after recording his third double-double of the season, a 12-point, 10-rebound against the Mavericks, Anderson did exactly what he did following Game 4 against the Warriors last season. He showered, checked his phone and departed the arena. No interview requests. No hoopla.

“I don’t like to get too high on myself if I’m playing well or not,” Anderson said. “I just try to keep it going. ... I don’t want to say I’m playing well or anything. I just want to focus on the next game.”

It took some time, but Anderson has finally arrived in the NBA. Anderson’s mission was to improve over the off-season, and he did just that.

“As you can see he’s blossoming and getting better,” Anthony said. “He’s gotten better each year and I think he’ll continue to get better.”

Anderson improved his shot, increased his endurance, strength, defensive attributes and, most importantly, completed the inner challenge by mastering the hill on Bulls Ferry Road. These days, When Wilkins watches his brother play, he no longer sees a player unsure of himself, trying to find his place amongst his peers. Anderson is different now. He’s better.

“Everything he did this summer gave him confidence,” Wilkins said. “He’s in a happy space. He’s really enjoying the game.”

And all it took was a summer of reflection.

Twitter: @JabariJYoung