Kenny on Kenny

["Jim Meninno" <jam@london.com>]

I'm sure a lot of you have already seen this from yesterday's Globe, but I
thought it was worth posting.  I don't know whether to be encouraged (Kenny's
at least working out and has a good relationship with Dick Harter) or dismayed
(Basically nothing is ever Kenny's fault.  It's always the situation.)

Jim


ATLANTA - The black Mercedes-Benz CL 500 with the tan leather interior,
tortoise-shell dashboard, navigator system, and clean diaper on the back seat
belongs to Kenny Anderson. He drives the sports car as if it's the family
station wagon - all smooth turns, controlled acceleration, and yellow-light
stops.

But it also serves as his getaway car, to escape from the apparent crime of
being Kenny Anderson, the critically panned Celtics point guard with two years
and $17.5 million left on his contract.


To help deal with disappointment that turned into depression last season, he
drove aimlessly through the streets of Boston and Cambridge. He would arrive
early at the FleetCenter and turn around, getting lost in traffic. Storrow
Drive, Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street gave Anderson time to reflect.
What to say, what not to say. When to vent, when to make veiled trade
requests.


Now, during the offseason in Atlanta, Anderson drives down a 4-mile stretch of
Peachtree Road with more purpose and less contemplation. He commutes to the
city from his 15,000-square-foot suburban mansion, stopping at the Family Life
Center weight room and Georgia Tech practice courts for scheduled training
sessions. He steers around rush-hour traffic, mapping out a clear path in his
mind.


The Celtics have worked at acquiring and retaining scoring talent this
offseason, while shedding players who could complicate their financial future.
But the organization cannot afford another 33-game, injury-riddled season from
Anderson, which is what they got last year. The most important work for the
Celtics this summer may be taking place in Atlanta. While the team's fortunes
certainly don't rest with Anderson, contributions from the 10-year veteran
could go a long way toward helping Boston reach its playoff goals.


''You can prepare your body and you can prepare your game,'' said Anderson,
who will be 31 in October. ''But if your mind isn't really set, then doing all
that's a waste. For me, my mind is like the No. 1 key. Being a teenage
superstar in New York City, doing well in college, then having a roller
coaster pro career, I know that.


''I'll take people saying, `We don't know what to expect from Kenny Anderson'
over `He can't play no more. He's not the guy I remember.'


''I don't want anybody to think I want to be treated special. I can adapt to
any situation, but I need a productive situation for me to do well and for me
to help the team. I don't want people to sign Kenny Anderson and not use me to
my advantage. Then, you want to know what's wrong with me? Nothing's wrong
with me - it's the system you've got around me.''


Still an imperfect fit


Hearing Anderson espouse the mind-body connection comes as a surprise. After
he broke his jaw in the third game of the 2000-01 season and missed the next
16 contests, neither his mind, body, nor heart appeared interested in
competing. He was left behind by his teammates and unable to catch up. A
sprained right ankle, coupled with a coaching change, pushed Anderson further
out of the loop. He understood that Jim O'Brien's priority was a playoff
berth, not an injured point guard.


But even healthy, Anderson appears an imperfect fit for the Celtics. His
look-to-shoot-first, pass-second approach does not complement Antoine Walker
or Paul Pierce or the system the Celtics have been built to play. Boston looks
to Milwaukee and its array of capable scorers as a model, though Anderson is
no Sam Cassell. The time when an offense revolved around Anderson has long
passed. There may never be a situation in Boston that's exactly right for him.


By the end of last season, the question was not ''What can Anderson do for the
Celtics?'' but ''What can the Celtics do about Anderson?'' Yet for better or
worse, Anderson and the Celtics are wedded to each other for the next two
years. Until he demonstrates his usefulness, Anderson will have to hear
familiar criticisms, including comments that his career is near its
conclusion, and that he simply goes through the motions on the court.


''That's what they say, but that's not bad energy,'' said Anderson. ''People
are going to make excuses when they expect people to play a certain way and
they're not doing it. So, they've got to look at the money issue. It was never
the money. I didn't even go through the motions because I was injured. I
couldn't play. I ... did ... not ... go ... through ... the ... motions.


''[The criticisms] are all motivation. It's all in one bowl. If I'm worried
about criticism in this sport, I'm doing the wrong thing. I might as well get
another job.''


According to O'Brien, the Celtics envision the veteran handling his starting
role competently this season, and their public stance is that they are pleased
to have Anderson in their employ, despite the fact that the team tried to move
him to Dallas before the February trading deadline. O'Brien views last season
as an aberration, not part of a downward trend. He remembers the Anderson who
started all 82 games in his first full, non-lockout year with the Celtics,
1999-00.


''I'm very comfortable with Kenny running the team,'' said O'Brien. ''I don't
know why I wouldn't be. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in his
ability as a point guard.


''I love having the ball in Kenny's hands and I think he's a tremendous
offensive weapon for us. I don't see why he wouldn't be a key element in every
phase of the game.''


The popularity factor


Anderson pulls up to the rear entrance of the McDonald's Center, where the
Georgia Tech coaching staff enthusiastically greets him. It's the height of
college recruiting season, and two prospects are visiting. Head coach Paul
Hewitt takes advantage of the fortuitous meeting, introducing Anderson to the
high school players. Here, Anderson is still the freshman phenom who led
Georgia Tech to the 1990 Final Four.


Appearing slightly uncomfortable slipping into a younger, more successful
incarnation, Anderson says, ''I didn't know they were going to be here.'' It's
unclear whether he means the coaches, the recruits, their parents, or the
entire crowd. A decade has elapsed since he last starred for the Yellow
Jackets, and Anderson has an uneasy relationship with his past.


Part of Anderson would like to continue the recruitment process that started
in sixth grade and intensified until he signed his Georgia Tech
letter-of-intent. Although the pressure to choose one school from the many
that pursued him led to tension headaches, the attention was flattering. Bobby
Cremins and the Yellow Jackets ultimately won the prized recruit on style
points.


While John Thompson, coach of early front-runner Georgetown, had the 1988
Olympic team to worry about and left the recruiting calls to his assistants,
Cremins never stopped his pursuit of Anderson and seemed to have the entire
university sending letters. It wasn't enough for fans to fawn over his passing
off the dribble, his ability to change pace effortlessly, and his
unconventional jump shot that fell with regularity. For all the prodigious
talent that had scouts calling him the best guard ever from New York City,
Anderson needed to feel wanted. He still has the same need.


''My agent [David Falk] and I talk,'' said Anderson. ''He tells me, `You've
got the same thing: People doubting you, whether you still want to play. But
nobody's doubting your play. They're doubting your head.' That's what so
weird. But I understand that. I told my agent I was all right and he said,
`The Celtics want you. They just want you to be into it.' I'm into it, but
I've just got to know that I'm wanted.


''I will give it my all for a coach. I gave my all for coach Chuck Daly in New
Jersey, gave my all for P.J. Carlesimo in Portland. They wanted me. They said,
`Kenny Anderson's our guy.' I've got confidence, but I need confidence on the
sideline when there's a minute left to get that ball to Antoine Walker under
the basket. I need Coach to feel Kenny can do it, to want Kenny to do it. I'm
not past my playing days. It's too crazy to be past my playing days.''


Good signs


With a lot of discipline and a little help from old friends and former
coaches, Anderson believes he can be the point guard the Celtics expected him
to be when they acquired him in a February 1998 trade with Toronto.


Morning shooting drills take on an intensity familiar from his days at
Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, N.Y. Distracting weekend excursions
to New York City have been dropped in favor of a regular training routine.
Anderson pays a $5 admission fee at the Family Life Center to lift weights and
perform water aerobics. The suburban mansion now features an exercise bike and
treadmill, in addition to the ornamental fountain in front and waterfall
cascading in back.


Under the eye of longtime mentor and former Molloy assistant Vincent Smith, a
daily regimen of 500 jump shots and 100 free throws is supplemented with
exercises designed to build stamina. Smith spent July structuring workouts in
Atlanta and he will return for fine-tuning in September. He focused on
bringing back a more aggressive Anderson. In practice, he wants Anderson to
attack his defensive counterpart and follow plays through to their completion.


''This is the first time he contacted me [for summer workouts],'' said Smith.
''A lot of times, what happens is young men want to get back to their roots,
where they started from, what was successful for them for all those years. You
ask yourself, `What made me the best player when I was on top of my game?'
Sometimes when you have a lot of success, you drift away from [an earlier
routine]. Now, he's right on track to be the Kenny Anderson that everybody
knows he's capable of being.''


So far, Anderson has made all the right moves this summer. But it was the
Celtics' hiring of assistant Dick Harter that has convinced him next season
will mark a productive return from injury, that he has the backing of the
coaching staff. Harter was an assistant with Portland when Anderson played
there in 1996-97 and had one of the best seasons of his NBA career. It was a
year Anderson believes should have merited a second All-Star appearance.


''I'm not asking to be catered to, none of that,'' said Anderson. ''I just
need somebody to say, `I'm a Kenny Anderson fan. I want him to be in a certain
situation to do this or that.' That's where Dick Harter comes in. He was with
me in Portland. He knows what I'm capable of doing. I was relieved that [he
was hired] and I would have someone on the bench that's going to have input,
that's going to believe in Kenny.


''I'm not going to take the money and run. That's not in me. I'm not happy
about what happened last year. I want to perform. I want to be on the top of
my game.''


The Celtics are banking on the fact that Anderson wants to make amends for
last season, especially with just two more years left on his contract. General
manager Chris Wallace hopes Anderson will view 2001-02 with a sense of
urgency, as a time when he must prove his worth to future suitors.


''Kenny is important to us because we need to have as many hands on deck at
the point guard position as possible,'' said Wallace. ''Of all the players
that we've had at that position, Kenny has had more rave reviews throughout
his career than the rest of them. He did have an All-Star season [in 1994]. He
was the second pick in the 1991 draft.


''If he can get back to some of the form he has displayed in the past, it will
be a major, major boost for us. If he can just get back to playing 90 percent
of the games and we can pencil in his minutes and his production every night,
that would make a huge difference.''


Nothing to prove


After completing his senior season at Molloy, Anderson received an autographed
advance copy of ''Cousy on the Celtic Mystique.'' It was a gift from the first
New York high school player ever named All-City four straight years to the
second prep player so honored. The inscription on the inside cover reads: ''To
Kenny, Good luck in your career, Bob Cousy.'' The book sits tucked away in the
Anderson home, awaiting a thorough reading.


''When I'm over playing, I'll read all of it,'' said Anderson. ''It should
give me some knowledge. I should read it now, huh?''


In the past, Anderson has relied on instinct and natural talent to guide him
through his NBA career. Knowledge came from his own experiences, not someone
else's. But now, there's a growing recognition that his time left in the
league is limited, that he needs all the knowlege he can attain, all the
offseason training he can handle.


Anderson insists he's not disappointed with his 10 years in the league,
noting, ''I played with the cards I was dealt.'' The record, however, will
show he was not an innocent bystander when it came to his career. Anderson
tried to put himself in the right situation, financially and otherwise.


He rejected a $40 million offer from New Jersey because he didn't believe the
organization that made him an All-Star was headed in the right direction. Then
in 1996, he netted his current seven-year, $47 million deal on the open market
in Portland. He also refused to report to Toronto, insisting on the trade that
ultimately brought him to Boston. If Anderson completes his contract with the
Celtics, it will mark his longest stint (51/2 years) with one team.


In some ways, there was nothing he could do about a career that has fallen
short of expectations. His advance NBA billing was impossibly high. Wallace
cannot remember a time when a high school or college superstar reached the
heights that were predicted for him, specifically a player like Anderson who
was a household name following his freshman year at Molloy.


''I wish I was what you all expected,'' said Anderson. ''But I don't want to
get into a season trying to prove myself and I won't. I'll let the game come
to me, play hard, be happy. I don't have to prove myself.


''I've played in this game. I did some things in this game that players who
are retired haven't done. I know I have more in me. I'm not finished.''


This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 8/19/2001.
) Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.