Anderson has point: Former Celtic says team missed his play last year

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anderson has point: Former Celtic says team missed his play last year
By Steve Bulpett
Sunday, October 19, 2003

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Celtics like their new point guards. Rookie Marcus
Banks [news] is growing more comfortable with the NBA game, and free agent
acquisition Mike James [news] got high praise from Jim O'Brien when he said,
``He can run the pick and roll better than anybody we've had here since Kenny
Anderson.''

     Ah, Kenny Anderson. It seems the Celtics have been looking for someone
like Anderson since the day they traded him to Seattle in July 2002. The C's
went with undrafted rookie JR Bremer and combo guard Tony Delk at the point
last season, throwing more responsibility to Antoine Walker [news] to get the
offense in gear.

     The plan worked to a degree (the Celts got into the second round of the
playoffs), but after going to the conference finals with Anderson the year
before, the quick sweep by the Nets made it clear change at the point was
necessary. Now Bremer is gone and Delk is scheduled to play mainly at shooting
guard.

     ``It's good to hear the nice things the Celtics have been saying, but
enough is enough,'' said Anderson, now with the Pacers. He did not dress for
last night's preseason game against the Celtics due to a hamstring pull. ``We
should just move on. I had a great time in Boston, but they traded me and now
I don't play there anymore.''

     Anderson, yet to play in the preseason because of the injury, is used to
teams appreciating him more after he's gone.

     ``That's what's happened throughout my whole career,'' he said. ``I look
at it like that. I get traded and then teams realize when I'm not there how
much I meant to a team.

     ``Even last year I was watching the Celtics and I could see the offense
was disheveled. Antoine was a point forward and he can handle, but he couldn't
set the table and also look for his shot. So it made it look kind of out of
order. I would come down and my presence could sometimes say things because
teams would have to be aware of what I could do. I could set someone up or get
my own shot.

     ``A team may not press me as much as they might press another guy. And I
thought I set the team up very well when I was there, so I knew last year they
were going to have problems. You can't just come in and make somebody a point
guard. You're not taught that position; you've just got to know how to play
it.''

     But as much as Anderson knows what he did for Walker and Paul Pierce
[news], he is well aware it was a two-way street.

     ``I lived off them too,'' he said. ``I had a comfort zone because of all
the attention teams had to give Paul and Antoine. I knew the spots I could get
to to get a shot up.

     ``So it was a disappointment to me when I got traded. I knew both sides
were going to suffer. I got help from them and I set them up - but not all the
time, because those guys knew how to get their own shot, too. But Antoine
didn't have to rebound, bring the ball up and just do everything. It was a
good situation for everyone.

     ``But then last year it just looked like it was chaos at times,
especially in crucial situations - and that was one of my best times of the
game. When they needed someone to get it straight, I got it straight for them.
I think that's something they were really missing without me there.''

     That job now falls to others with the Celts, who hope Banks and James can
perform as well as Anderson did in the crunch.
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx