New Orleans Pelicans Pixels: Ryan Anderson loves calibrating

New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson’s marksmanship and leadership give a glaring similarity to Garrus Vakarian of the Mass Effect series.

It’s not all advanced stats and critiques of the front office here at Pelican Debrief. Nope. We can have fun, too. Pelicans Pixels is a series in which the writers at Pelican Debrief make a humorous comparison between a video character and a Pelicans players. Why did we do this? No particular reason; we’re just big kids at heart. We hope you enjoy reading Pelicans Pixels as much as we enjoyed writing the series.

It’s a struggle for the New Orleans Pelicans on how to deal with the Ryan Anderson contract situation. While his game is still failing to fit into the team’s system, he’s one of the best locker room guys in the entire league.

And in his time in the Bayou, he’s become one of the fan favorites due to his charisma, his hard work and the struggles he’s faced. He’s also seen as a leader of this team. And it’s hard not to like him as a person.

He’s just a genually good guy. It’s why the video game character that resembles him is quite honestly one of my favorite characters ever. Mass Effect’s Garrus Vakarian.

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Garrus Vakarian is one of the main sidekicks to Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. Shepard, whose actions are controlled by the player, is on a mission to defeat the reapers from destroying the galaxy. Along Shepard’s journey, he meets Garrus, who at the time is a government law-enforcement official. Due to his knowledge of the corruption of his own agency, Garrus leaves and joins the Commander on his journey.

Garrus throughout the entire series is known for being a loyal, genuine guy. In the later stages of the game, he becomes a savvy leader and veteran to his squad mates. Seen as one of the guys whose seen plenty of time on the battlefield, he’s looked up to by the rest of the crew. Not only is he known for his leadership and “good guy” qualities, but his marksmanship as well.

Garrus can learn the ability to use a sniper rifle through the series, and is shown in the second game to be quite prolific at it. In Mass Effect Two, Vakarian goes under the name “Archangel” and takes on trouble gangs on Omega. He uses a high vantage point and picks off the entirety of three rival gangs from the top floor of a building using his sniper rifle.

He shoots and shoots well. Just like Ryan Anderson. Anderson is known for his dangerous shooting from behind the three-point line. The longer the shot is, the scarier it becomes. That sniper-like ability is scary. While their range is impressive, what makes them fan favorites is not what they’re great at, but what they’ve conquered to get there.

Garrus is known as the one character whose been through plenty of pain and suffering in Mass Effect. On Omega, Garrus develops a squad that helps him as “Archangel” take down the three gangs. However, he’s betrayed by one of his members, putting him in the pinned-down position. He loses his entire squad in the process, all of them killed by the betrayal. He acquires a scar on his face during the mission that’s easily visible, a constant reminder of what happened.

Ryan Anderson is not short on hardships in his career. From the painful loss of his girlfriend, to his devastating head injury in 2014 against the Boston Celtics. These experiences make it very easy to like both of these guys. When someone is able to come back from extreme losses, it shows you their commitment and strong character.

Both characters have the killer instinct in the games and the leadership qualities to be valued pieces to their team. However, they each have an obsession that questions their fans.

For Garrus, it’s his calibrating. Many times when Shepard talks to Garrus on the ship, Vakarian discusses that he’s “busy calibrating something for the ship”. Calibrating means to make corrections or adjust something to what it should be by standard. While Garrus shows his deep level of character throughout, it is wild how often he will bring calibrations into a conversation. Sometimes more than once in a sentence. It can drive the player mad.

Ryan Anderson’s is a little more detrimental. When Ryan gets the ball, he loves to post up and set himself up for a fadeaway jumper over his defender. While Anderson is capable of making that shot, the fadeaways are much lower in accuracy than the other shots he can put up in the same position. Yet, he REALLY loves that shot. On multiple occasions each game, he’ll put up his favorite fadeaway jumper and baffle the crowd.

Next: Pelicans Pixels: Quincy Pondexter is the brave sidekick

It’s hard to imagine life without Ryan Anderson on the New Orleans Pelicans, due to his awesome character and his reliable shooting. His overall body of work and his ties to New Orleans as a player and a person make him a strong part of the Pelicans family. However, his time could very well be ending soon. Just like when Mass Effect concluded, it really makes you appreciate the journey Garrus and Ryan have been on and what they’ve meant to the people who rooted for them through their adventure.