HAWKS SIGN DAVID ANDERSON

[skaughtybee]

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Is this Alan Henderson painted white? He has the same ugly mug. Thank goodness, he doesn't have the same ugly shot or ugly contract (yet).

[ersimo2889]

Not sure if anyone's posted this article yet from CNNS -

He seems like a funny guy from his quotes!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...sen/04/29/cska/

2. David Andersen. The 6-11 Andersen is a European free agent this summer whose NBA rights belong to the Hawks, who drafted him in the second round in 2002. He would be an excellent complement to Al Horford's post game because Andersen can stray out to the perimeter as a face-up jump shooter, and he has the playmaking skills associated with European big men.

Andersen is an Australian with a European passport (one side of his family comes from the Danish city of Aalborg). He lives with his younger brother Grant in a Moscow apartment provided by the club; the unit once belonged to an Army general, as evidenced by its unusually thick doors and video security system.

"It's solid, man,'' Andersen said. "CSKA looks after its players very well -- bomb-proof doors.''

Andersen joined Bologna in the Italian league as an 18-year-old, which means he's been playing major European basketball for a decade. He spurned scholarship offers from UCLA and other colleges to ultimately establish himself as one of the best big men in Europe. He makes $1.65 million net -- the "net'' meaning that the club pays his taxes, rent and even provides him with a car and driver. Therefore, a competitive offer from the NBA would have to be $2.4 million, but Andersen's price is likely to rise higher as the top clubs bid for him this summer.

"It's always been a dream of mine, ever since I was young,'' he said of playing in the NBA. "In Australia, European basketball is not really known; I'm pretty sure hardly anyone in Australia is aware that I play on one of the premier European teams. Playing in the NBA would put me more on the map with the people in Australia.''

Andersen seems like the type who could enjoy himself anywhere.

"Sometimes you're on the roads,'' he said of living in Moscow, "and you see the big black Mercedes followed by another big black four-wheel drive with the security detail, and they're hanging out the sides [of the car windows] with their machine guns. Don't know who they are, but they're weaving back and forth through traffic and the car is sticking right to the ass of the other car and you see the guys sitting in the back window with their guns. I'm like, Steer clear of that.''

I asked Andersen for his best story about basketball in Europe.

"When we won the championship [with Bologna] in Italy, the fans went crazy and rushed the floor, and guys are cutting down the nets literally two seconds after the game's done,'' he said. "Not even before the game's over they're rushing the court, and we were trying to get off the floor and literally people were trying to rip our shirts off our backs. We nearly had to fight people off us, it was a riot kind of thing. I remember Marko Jaric, who plays in the NBA [now with the Timberwolves], he was the unfortunate one to be caught in the middle of the court when everyone rushed it, and he came into the locker room with nothing but his little jock strap. No shoes on, nothing. We had fans yelling back [through] the window outside our locker room, 'Hey, give us something!' And we'd drop out a sock or something out the window, and they'd all cheer.''

[DrReality]

Here's an interview with him. Not sure how old it is. Says he's 28 . . . we can use the maturity. He's well spoken.

[Jammin29]

cant wait to see him play in the nba, i cant see him having a big impact on the team, im thinking he will be a constant scorer at below 10 a game, about 8 i think and about 6 boards a game..... we will get to see him agasint usa in the olimpics in before the season.. ozzzie ozzzie ozzie! Australia will win it this year

[bronnt]

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cant wait to see him play in the nba, i cant see him having a big impact on the team, im thinking he will be a constant scorer at below 10 a game, about 8 i think and about 6 boards a game..... we will get to see him agasint usa in the olimpics in before the season.. ozzzie ozzzie ozzie! Australia will win it this year

Don't know about 8/6 for him...I'm thinking more like:

16 minutes, 7.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.6 blocks, 0.8 assists, 1.2 TO.

I figure on him having games where Woodson puts him in for two minutes and he doesn't really do anything. And others where he goes in for 10, is extremely effective, then gets benched and never makes it back in, of course.

But on the bright side, I do see there being times when he'll really have good games for us, sshooting, scoring, and helping to spread the floor. He'll have at least 2-3 games where his individual impact is the main difference between a win and loss.

[Rick]

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we will get to see him agasint usa in the olimpics in before the season.. ozzzie ozzzie ozzie! Australia will win it this year

Australia and the USA are not in the same pool in the Olympics, so both teams will need to make it past the pool stage to have a chance at playing each other, and this is no definite for Australia, with two players pulling out just recently. The best chance for a Australia/USA matchup would be Australia coming fourth in their pool and the USA winning their pool, if that happened then both teams meet in the next round.

Also, I worked on this last night, first time I have tried to put a different uniform on a player, also had to create the 3....

[thefloydian]

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we will get to see him agasint usa in the olimpics in before the season.. ozzzie ozzzie ozzie! Australia will win it this year

Australia and the USA are not in the same pool in the Olympics, so both teams will need to make it past the pool stage to have a chance at playing each other, and this is no definite for Australia, with two players pulling out just recently. The best chance for a Australia/USA matchup would be Australia coming fourth in their pool and the USA winning their pool, if that happened then both teams meet in the next round.

Also, I worked on this last night, first time I have tried to put a different uniform on a player, also had to create the 3....

Hah, nice. Being a Hawks fan in Australia since '91 is impressive. I wonder if there will be a lot more when he comes over.

[Rick]

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Hah, nice. Being a Hawks fan in Australia since '91 is impressive. I wonder if there will be a lot more when he comes over.

I have noticed just recently alot more people in Australian bball forums noticing the Hawks and trying to get on the "bandwagon" early. David Andersen isn't a big name here, only real bball followers here know of him. I think this is because he only played one or two seasons in the local league before heading over the Europe, where you just don't hear about Australian players here. When he does start playing, he will become much more known here, and I'm sure more Aussie will jump on then. Before Andrew Bogut got drafted to Milwaukee you never saw Milwaukee singlets, or people supporting them, now you see them quite often.

You can see my registration date to the left there....you all know I was here before DA got on board. ... though thats probably around the time he was drafted!

[shug94]

I've been an Austrlian based Hawks fan for quite a while too.

I would be quite chuffed if David Anderson can come over and play a significant role!

[DrReality]

It's imposssible to say how many minutes Woody will give him?? If he's still here. Got my fingers crossed he's not. But I think he will help Horf a lot. He's a good passer and can hit the outside shot so that should open things up a bit.

[jdoerter]

BK gone = Gary Fitzsimmons gone.