Kenny Anderson (basketball)

Kenny Anderson
Personal information
Born (1970-10-09) October 9, 1970
Queens, New York
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight 168 lb (76 kg)
Career information
High school Archbishop Molloy
(New York City, New York)
College Georgia Tech (1989–1991)
NBA draft 1991 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the New Jersey Nets
Playing career 1991–2006
Position Point guard
Number 7, 12, 17, 13
Career history
1991–1996 New Jersey Nets
1996 Charlotte Hornets
1996–1998 Portland Trail Blazers
1998–2002 Boston Celtics
2002–2003 Seattle SuperSonics
2003 New Orleans Hornets
2003–2004 Indiana Pacers
2004–2005 Atlanta Hawks
2005 Los Angeles Clippers
2005–2006 Žalgiris Kaunas
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 10,789 (12.6 ppg)
Assists 5,196 (6.1 apg)
Steals 1,258 (1.5 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Representing  United States
Men's basketball
FIBA World Championship
1990 Buenos Aires National team
Goodwill Games
1990 Seattle National team

Kenneth "Kenny" Anderson (born October 9, 1970) is an American retired basketball player. After a college career at Georgia Institute of Technology, he played point guard professionally from 1991 to 2006, mostly in the National Basketball Association.

Early life

Anderson was born in Queens, New York City. As a 16-year-old high school sophomore, the LeFrak City, Queens[1] native who attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens, was considered one of the best basketball prospects in America.[2] Collegiate recruiters began scouting Anderson in sixth grade and he was on the front page of the New York City sports section when he was 14.[3]

By the end of his high school career, he was a four-time Parade All-American, a feat not accomplished since Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), and the first player to be named All-City four times. He was a McDonald's All-American, was named New York State Mr. Basketball by the New York State Coaches Organization, and named High School Basketball Player of the Year by Gatorade, the New York State Sportswriters Association, Parade, Naismith, and USA Today[4] Despite his coach, Jack Curran, benching him for the first quarter of all of his games during his freshman year at Molloy, Anderson set the all-time state record for scoring in New York, with 2,621 points. This record stood until 2004, when Lincoln High School guard Sebastian Telfair eclipsed the mark late in his senior season. He was considered the No. 1 player in the country, over such notables as Jimmy Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal.

Georgia Tech

After a long recruiting process, Anderson signed a letter of intent in November 1988 to play at Georgia Tech, selecting the Yellow Jackets over North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse.[5]

Anderson played two years for Georgia Tech as the team's starting point guard, helping lead the team to the Final Four in 1990, along with swingmen Dennis Scott and Brian Oliver. The trio was nicknamed "Lethal Weapon 3".[6] Anderson played a controversial shot at the end of regulation, when it appeared the ball was still in Anderson's hand when the horn sounded, this was during Round 16 forced overtime against favored Michigan State. Georgia Tech's tournament run ended against eventual champions UNLV in the Final Four.

With Scott and Oliver gone after that season, Anderson averaged nearly 26 points a game. Georgia Tech secured a No. 8 seed for the NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the second round to Ohio State. Soon after, Anderson announced that he would forgo his last two years of eligibility to enter the NBA Draft.

He played for the US national team in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, where they won the bronze medal.[7]

NBA

Anderson was selected by the New Jersey Nets with the second pick in the 1991 NBA draft. He was the youngest player in the league at that time. He averaged seven points, two rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. In Anderson's second season he nearly doubled his point, rebound, and assist averages. In his third season, he averaged 18.8 ppg and 9.6 apg. Anderson and teammate Derrick Coleman represented the East squad in the 1994 NBA All-Star Game. He was traded to the Charlotte Hornets in 1996.

Anderson has played for the Nets, Hornets (including both Charlotte and New Orleans franchises), Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics and the Indiana Pacers, and split a season for the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers.

In 1998, Portland traded Anderson to the Toronto Raptors for Damon Stoudamire, but he refused to report to the team because he did not want to play in Canada. The Raptors traded him to the Celtics for Chauncey Billups.

Anderson was released from Lithuania's Žalgiris Kaunas after the 2005–06 season.

Personal life

Anderson was raised by his mother, Joan, and did not meet his father until he was in his thirties.[8] He has two sisters, Sandra and Danielle.[9] He was poor growing up, but Anderson says that being able to provide for his mother was inspiration for him to become a professional basketball player.[8] In October 2005, his mother died from a heart attack.[8]

Anderson is the father of eight children, by five women. He became a father of a daughter while attending Georgia Tech.[8] He had a relationship with Dee Dee Roper (DJ Spinderella of the rap group Salt-n-Pepa), and they have a daughter together.[10] He was married to Tami Roman (who has appeared on the reality series Basketball Wives),[11] but they divorced. They have two daughters.[10] Anderson met his second wife Tamiyka R Lockhart in West Los Angeles in 1998 while they both were going through divorces. They have a son together, Kenneth Anderson Jr. They divorced in 2004. He met his third wife, Natasha, during the 2004 NBA playoffs. They married in 2007.[8] Anderson and Natasha are raising his son Kenny Jr. and her daughter.[8]

In 2005, despite earning $63 million during his NBA career, Anderson filed for bankruptcy.[12]

In 2013, Anderson reported that he was sexually abused as a child by both a person who lived in his neighborhood and a basketball coach.[13]

After the NBA

In 2007, Anderson was named as the coach of the Continental Basketball Association's Atlanta Krunk.[14] The team was owned by Freedom Williams of C+C Music Factory.

In 2008, Anderson made a TV appearance on Pros vs Joes.

In September 2008, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.[15]

In 2008, he became the head coach of slamball team Hombres, and helped them to a semi-finals berth.

Anderson graduated in 2010 from St. Thomas University in Miami, with a degree in organizational leadership.[16][17]

In August 2011, Anderson took the position of basketball coach at the David Posnack Jewish Day School in Davie, Florida.[18] In May 2013, following a DUI arrest, the school indicated that they would not renew his contract.[19]

In 2014, Anderson was named to a team assembled by Dennis Rodman as part of his "basketball diplomacy" effort in North Korea with the job of playing an exhibition match against the North Korean Senior National Team to celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong-Un.[20]

In 2015, Anderson appeared in Dwayne Johnson's reality TV show Wake Up Call.

References

  1. ↑ "YouTube interview". Fox news(?). Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  2. ↑ "Players; Coping with stardom at 16". The New York Times. December 18, 1986. p. D-28. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Phil (28 March 1994). "Kenny Anderson is one ex-playground star who still shines". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  4. ↑ Mallozzi, Vincent M. (March 7, 2000). "The City Game". Village Voice. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  5. ↑ Blue Blood book excerpt at SI.com
  6. ↑ "Ramblinwreck.com "Lethal Weapon 3" article".
  7. ↑ 1990 USA Basketball at the Wayback Machine (archived June 7, 2002)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sheinin, Dave (25 September 2009). "Former NBA Player Kenny Anderson Is Working Hard to Be a Good Husband and Father". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  9. ↑ Wise, Mike (24 November 1998). "He Keeps Cars and Helps Others". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  10. 1 2 Rhoden, William C. (October 26, 2011). "A Surprising Twist in a Career That Has Been Full of Them". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Tami Roman". VH1.com. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  12. ↑ Rhoden, William C. (16 October 2011). "Kenny Anderson's Surprising New Path". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  13. ↑ Braziller, Zach (26 July 2013). "Ex-hoops star Anderson was sexually abused". The New York Post.
  14. ↑ ESPN Radio, June 21, 2007
  15. ↑ Mallozzi, Vincent M. "City’s Basketball Hall Welcomes 98-Year-Old Inductee", The New York Times, September 17, 2008. Accessed September 14, 2009.
  16. ↑ Mallozzi, Vincent M. "Education of a Point Guard Comes Full Circle", The New York Times, May 12, 2010. Accessed May 13, 2010.
  17. ↑ Vecsey, George (May 12, 2010). "Education of a Point Guard Comes Full Circle". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ Cherner, Reid. "Kenny Anderson takes high school coaching gig", USA Today, September 1, 2011. Accessed September 1, 2011.
  19. ↑ Stevens, Alexis (May 1, 2013). "Former Tech star Kenny Anderson player loses coaching job after DUI arrest". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Rodman's Goon Squad Goes to North Korea". The Daily Beast. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
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