Duff_Man

Didn't see this posted... Andersen Article Link Andersen's hoop dreams May 12, 2005 Page Tools Email to a friend Printer format Andersen shows his style for CSKA Moscow against Panathinaikos this week. Photo: Misha Japaridze A Frankston boy is making waves in Europe, and the NBA is taking notice. Stephen Howell reports. Would you believe there is an Australian basketballer doing so well - and earning so much money - in Europe that he will go to the National Basketball Association only on his terms? And for Frankston-raised David Andersen those terms will involve considerably more than the NBA minimum of $US380,000 (about $A500,000) and, just as important, the prospect that he will play, not just sit on the bench as a reserve for most of the 48 minutes of each of the 80-odd games in a season. When you are a seasoned 24-year-old and 212 centimetres tall, and when you have just been named runner-up in the Euroleague's most-valuable-player award and chosen as a member of its All-Star Five, you have that bargaining power. Especially when your best years are still to come, and when your own club, regarded as one of Europe's best and richest, is offering to raise your already substantial playing role and salary from its estimated $US1.2 million (more than $A1.5 million) this year. Andersen received his individual awards at the weekend when his team, CSKA Moscow, had a huge letdown: in its home city and going into the biggest weekend in European basketball, the Euroleague final four, with a 50-1 record since September, it lost the two games that counted most - a semi-final to Tau Vitoria of Spain and the play-off for third to Panathinaikos of Greece - and Maccabi Tel Aviv was crowned Europe's champion for the second year on end. For the third year on end, Moscow missed gold. "As we say in Australia, 'Mate, s---- happens'," Andersen said by phone from Moscow yesterday. All was not lost, however, because CSKA is an unbackable favourite to retain its Russian Superleague title, already leading its best-of-five quarter-final 2-0. After next month's championship decider forward-centre Andersen has to decide whether to stay or chase the NBA dream that was given some credibility when Atlanta Hawks drafted him in the second round a couple of years back when he was starring in Italy. The Hawks still have his rights and would hope to get him at a rock-bottom price. No way, according to Andersen and Moscow, which paid a reported $US700,000 last year to compensate his Italian club, Siena, after Andersen impressed at last season's final four and the Russians were looking to build a team to win at home this year. Andersen, whose parents came to Victoria from Denmark, plays as a European, although he regards Frankston as home and he represented Australia at the Olympics last year. He said his game had risen to a new level in Moscow. That is saying something, because he had a Euroleague championship and Italian titles spread between Bologna and Siena in five seasons. "The NBA was at the final four and I'm speaking with a heap of scouts and my agents here," he said. "CSKA are very happy with me and want to sign me back for more money as a cornerstone player." Andersen is in the first year of a two-year deal, but Moscow appears only too happy to sweeten it. Andersen said that, through his agents, he was talking with the Hawks about a worthwhile deal.

1st quarter - we got killed. 2nd quarter - we got killed more. 3rd quarter - we got killed. 4th quarter - we packed our bags at about the 8:00 mark. This game was never close.

I have to disagree with you. While I can see where you are coming from, I don't think a player's "popularity" makes them a superstar. I think the ability to take a team to new heights is what makes you a superstar. Kareem, Magic, Bird, Erving, Isaiah, Jordan, Shaq, Duncan, Hakeem, Drexler. Those are superstars. Making the playoffs doesn't make one a superstar, or Danny Manning would be the greatest player of all time for taking the Clips to the playoffs. McGrady and Carter are good players with gaudy numbers, however, I think both are Pippens who need a Jordan.

Tyronn is a quandary. Nights like Saturday, he looks like Steve Nash on the court, slashing, dishing, hitting big shots. Other nights, he might as well be Steve Henson out there. Overall, I would say he and Ivey have shown improvement all year. If Lue wasn't so short, he could get it done on both ends. I think both of them should watch tapes of Mookie Blaylock to see how defense is played from the point position. But I would say that Lue has blossomed in his role this year, and I am happy with his performance given what we have to work with.

Quote: Why do people keep saying that the Josh's can become shooters during the offseason? This is my new pet peeve. Nothing against the guy who posted this, but to just say that, "he can take care of that in the offseason..." oversimplifies things. I hope the young players on our team improve their jump shot in the offseason, but if it was so easy to just simply work on it and become great how come so few can do it? Everyone can improve, but what kind of improvement in a jump shot can you expect in one offseason? Can anyone provide an example of players who didn't have a great jump shot one season and the next season they had one? A lot of players of worked on their shot and developed it over the course of their career, but one offseason no way. My new pet peeve are people who think Carter and McGrady are 'superstars'. They cannot lead, and they both have QUIT on teams to facilitate trades. Those two will never be on the Shaq, Wade, Duncan, LeBron level.

Quote: This would be scenerio is what I can see BK doing.. Trade... Harrington/1st (Boston) for Christie/1st. 1st round - M. Williams. 1st round - Frye. Hate it or love it.. Williams is a BK guy. Long, defensive, Athletic, Versatile. 2nd round - David Lee 2nd Round - D. Taylor Free agency - Swift. Jaric. Gadzurich. Next year we start the season with: Jaric/Chillz/Williams/Swift/Gadzurich. Harington for Doug Christie?? Bart no like...bad medicine.

Yeah, total hose job. Maybe Pete Babcock will find a way to get Danny Manning in.

Quote: How many trade proposals or trade suggestions can you possibly make regarding Al? You ALWAYS have to have someone on the team that MUST be traded and you constantly propose trades including that individual that make absolutely NO sense. First it was "Lazy Lo." Then Theo. Then JT. Now its Al. Maybe BK should try to keep a solid player like Al and find a franchise player that Al can support rather than trading Al for another role player. It would be different if trading Al would bring us a superstar but that is not likely to be the case. Wow. Those guys all were traded. Can you wish a trade on Collier?? Please??

The fact of the matter is that I don't care what position he plays. Why typecast a guy? Put him in the best position to make plays. I think Smoove is doing a pretty good job of getting his own looks. I love his aggressive rebounding and defense (blocks), and the way he seems to find the open spots on offense. He does need to work on shooting and dribbling, but he has shown signs of work in those areas, and that is definitely a good thing. Bad part: he and Chill will continue to develop and both will need to be signed around the same time. Overall, I know this has been a bad year record-wise, but watching these young guys go all out every night has been way better than winning 30 games with Shareef jacking 20-footers all night and pouting over no-calls. If we play our cards right in the offseason (draft and FAs), we'll be way better off next year...keep the team intact and we should be in the playoffs in two years.

I checked Josh's last 6 games, and here are the stats: LAST 6 GAMES OPP MIN PTS TREB AST TO STL BLK 03/18 NY 36 16 8 3 2 0 3 03/21 CHI 32 16 4 1 0 1 4 03/22 PHO 37 14 12 1 2 0 1 03/25 SA 26 7 3 1 0 1 0 03/26 TOR 34 19 6 1 2 0 3 03/28 ORL 31 14 5 1 2 1 1 Add in last night's game of 34min, 17pts, 5reb, 3ast, 1TO, 3blk, and he is averaging 14.7pts, 6.1rebs, 3blk, and his turnovers are very low. Plus, he is starting to drain those 15-20 foot jumpers with some more consistency. I really am liking what I am seeing here late in the season when he should be running out of gas. Perhaps the Walker trade has helped Smoove develop faster due to necessity.

I am torn on Troy. Awesome rebounder, good shooter...but is a total injury waiting to happen.

Draft as big as possible early, and get Diener later.

Quote: Amarie is a player and after tonight there should be no doubt that we need Bogut or at least someone who resembles a center or power forward. We cannot stop anyone down low. Everyone over 6' 9" seems to have a career night against us and until that stops we will never get out of the lottery. It's not just us. Amare has been killing teams ever since Nash went to Phoenix. I do agree, though, we are soft as a Cadbury egg inside. I don't think Bogut will help in that aspect. He gets pushed around like a child inside. Imagine what the NBAers would do to him.

That article sums up everything I have been feeling this season. I loved watching Toine out there giving 110% every game. I really wanted us to keep him because of his heart and leadership. Now, there's nothing to replace that. Al Harrington isn't the answer. Hopefully Toine was here long enough to rub off on the players we do have, and it will have a positive spin. I will miss Antoine every game, though.

Quote: Below are some of the centers that'll be out there this year. There are 3 teams that we could make really uncomfortable if we made a generous offer to their RFA centers. Tyson Chandler - I feel the Bulls will want to sign both Curry and Chandler to long-term deals. I think Curry is their bigger priority because he has more upside on offense. They definitely want to keep Chandler, but they may not be able to afford both. If we go after Chandler, we'd need to front load the deal because Chicago still has Antonio Davis' enormous contract on the books next year. It would be difficult for them to pay Curry & Chandler with that contract still gouging their cap space. Samuel Dalembert - Philly has so many bad contracts that it will put them in a terrible cap situation if they had to match a big payout for Dalembert. Kwame Brown - Washington is going to want to re-sign Larry Hughes. They've already paid Brendan Haywood good money to hang around. Plus they have Arenas and Jamison on the books too. How much will they be willing to match for Kwame? Of the 3, he would probably be the easiest to pry away. The List... Michael Stewart - Bos - UFA Dikembe Mutumbo - Hou - UFA Elden Campbell - NJ - UFA Jason Collins - NJ - UFA Sam Dalembert - Phi - RFA Eric Montross - Tor - UFA Tyson Chandler - Chi - RFA Eddie Curry - Chi - RFA Zydrunas Illgauskas - Cle - UFA Dan Gadzuric - Mil - UFA Jahidi White - Cha - UFA Jamal Sampson - Cha - UFA (he's actually available now) Andrew Declercq - Orl - UFA Kwame Brown - Was - RFA Stromile Swift - Mem - UFA Iakovos Tsakalidis - Mem - UFA Ervin Johnson - Min - UFA Vitaly Potapenko - Sea - UFA Vladimir Radmanovic - Sea - UFA Dale Davis - GS - UFA That list isn't a "who's who", it's a "Who cares"? How funny is it that the Raptors are still paying Montross?

Quote: You must be losing it. First off, NJ can't afford that kind of Cap Hit otherwise they would have REEF right now. I think that they will sign him this summer. Second... Every player doesn't have to be an all around guy. We NEED somebody that can shoot the outside Shot... Instead of Mr. Fantastic (Harrington) twisting and turning in the lane everytime he gets the ball... If we traded Al Harrington for Peja, I would be thrilled. I highly doubt that Peja would come on the cheap, though. His shooting is deadly, and the Kings need that.

Quote: We don't know who our team does better with, Walker or Harrington, because Walker hasn't been out yet! I am anxious to see how they do when Smoove is back without Harrington. If he responds as well as Chill, then I think the answer would be clear. Sorry for the 'Harrington Hype' comment. That was carryover from the Falcons MB. There was an argument brewing because I said that we'd be better off trading Al. Antoine's shooting woes are painful to watch, but the truth is that he leads this team, keeps his head up, and plays at 100% every night. Harrington pouts from time to time when they don't give him calls. One game I swore I was watching Shareef out there. All 20-footers, whining, and no hustle.

Quote: Anyone else notice that Diaw is starting to take some shots? Anyone else also notice that we outscored Orlando 3/4 quarters of that game and we have frickin EZIZIE at center!!! I am also starting to see us play a little better as a team without Harrington. To me, this just raises a red flag when we start competing when he is gone. Next year... Diaw Childress Smith Walker Bogut I like that starting 5 if Antione can learn to hit a free throw. Glad someone else finally sees through the Harrington hype. Good to see Boris asserting himself out there. If he gets a half-way consistent jumper, he could be quite a nice player.

It is good to see him produce...I was scared as hell when we drafted him that we were getting a bust. josh Smith was a total surprise, although his game needs years of work to be a star.

Bogut would be a good pick for us. I think we may get him at #2 (I hope). The #1 pick might be one of the 3,000 NBA prospects that played in the Duke/NC game the other night. Of course, time and the tourney will tell.

Quote: But it's really all about having both of these guys on the court at the same time. In the ideal situation, we have all the pieces to make it work and we're winning. In the current situation, it's exactly the opposite and nothing is really getting accomplished. Except Toine and Harrington are putting up great numbers. I actually think we're better when they are NOT on the floor together. I think it isolates the young guys and forces guys like J-Chill into those 4 point, 5 board nights. Too many shots needed for both guys. I just hope if we do trade Antoine that I am wrong, although taking away the only 3-point shooter on the team may cripple us even farther.

Quote: Kenny Anderson has been a disapointment in his pro career..He has never lived up to the potential he showed early on..He also has had a reputation as a poor locker room presence and was even a self admitted poor presence early this year for our young guys.As for Chris Paul, I am hoping we don't draft a 5'11" point guard..The guy he reminds me of is Damon Stoudamire..He will get posted up continuously in the NBA. If there is a top big man available, we MUST take him. We are softer than Charmin right now inside.

Quote: It's mostly due to the fact that there is only one big dog chucking shots instead of two. It should come as no surprise that Chill has elevated his game while Al sits. He's not standing around watching Walker and Harrington (and Peja, and Delk, and Lue...) dominate the offense. I've been screaming it since the beginning of the year (you too Nich), but it seems like now people are finally starting to understand. Chill needs more than just an obligatory 15+ mpg or so for a lottery pick. He needs to have an increased role with the team. This is why lottery teams play their young guys. J Smoove does start, but Childress is really turning it on. I would be ok with Harrington stting as long as possible. Although...I am in shock that J-Chill's ugly shot ever goes in.

I have seen so much more effort out of this team and much more fluid play without Al Harrington in the lineup. I am sick of Al posting up, spinning, and jacking shots with four guys on him. We seem to slow things down in order to make sure he gets his touches and when he does get them, it is a stone cold lock to be a shot. Walker does have shooting issues, but he also knows how to pass the ball and get everyone involved. Anyone agree? Or am I about to get flamed to the gills?