BosHerald: Bulpett's Kenny Anderson feature

[opi@unesco.org]

Quotes from Bulpett's Kenny Anderson feature:

 ``With Paul Pierce here and Antoine Walker, I don't have to be the big
guy,'' Anderson said. ``I've been on teams where I stuck out, but here I
just have to do my job. I still think people will say that if Boston
wants to go, it's me that has to make them go because I'm the point
guard. But making this team go just means getting the ball to the right
guys at the right time.

``It's not like I'm old and I've been in the league 15 years,'' said the
eight-year veteran. ``I feel I'm in my prime. But the young guys, Paul
and Antoine, this is their show. I'm just the host. I'm the master of
ceremonies. I'm introducing them.''

And MC Kenny knows at this point in his career what tunes to spin. He
has begun the season by answering all the ``can he still do
it?''questions, and he knows too much to let it get away from him.

 ``I'm going to tell you something - and this is from the heart - with
the way my career has been going, I'm humble,'' Anderson said. ``I've
really been humbled. I'm glad to be in the situation I'm in now. I still
get praise and fans come up and say they like me, but it's not about
that. It's what is inside me. Last year with my injuries and the way I
played, it humbled me. It put me in a situation where I was asking
myself whether I could fit in with a team like this, with Rick Pitino's
system. What I did was I got serious with myself and I went out and got
myself ready.''

 ``Experience is the best teacher, and I've gotten a lot of lumps on  my
top of my head,'' he said. ``And I'm still learning.

``I heard the mumbling last year, but just because people are saying
good things now, it doesn't mean it couldn't change in a week or two.  I
have to keep playing this way all the time. I have to do it every day. I
just want the coaching staff to know I'm doing my job. And the only way
to tell me if I'm doing my job or not is to look at our record. If you
see a lot of wins up there, then I'm doing my job. If you don't, then
I'm not.''

``I really didn't know,'' he said when asked what he wanted when he came
into the NBA as the second overall pick by New Jersey in 1991. ``I was
just out there playing basketball. Then you see the Chicago  Bulls and
Michael Jordan winning all these championships and you say,  `Aw, I want
some of those.' But I really didn't know what I wanted when I came into
the league. There's so many things you just don't see until you've been
around a while.''

And now?

 ``I want a championship,'' Anderson said. ``I want to win. I want to be
on a team that wins games all the time.''

He wants to go from Celtic depths to rings, like his idol.

``I think Rick Pitino stole a gem in Kenny,'' said Archibald. ``I think
he's in a good situation, and I'm happy for him.

``I know besides being a good basketball player he's also a good person.
He deserves for good things to happen.''

As long as wisdom remains in his portfolio, hoop justice can be served.

 ``I understand what it takes now,'' Anderson said. ``I know we have a
young team, but if I do my job and we all do what we can do, we can win.
I'd love to have that happen here, just like it did for Tiny.''