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Derek Anderson: "One day, I came home, and my dad had already left. He was a street dude, so I didn’t see him for a while. My mother started drinking, and my brother ran away from home. I came home to an empty apartment. She had left, taking everything except for a mattress and some clothes. I was 11 years old, almost 12. I started staying outside, hooping with older dudes, sleeping at friends’ houses in the projects. Back then, the neighborhood watched out for you. People would see you and say, 'Come on, boy, get something to eat.' I didn’t have anything else to do, so I started playing basketball every single day. A lady wrote on Facebook years later, 'I saw you out there shooting in the rain, and I thought you were crazy.' I said, 'No, I just didn’t have anything else to do.' That’s how my love for the game started. It became my outlet to stay out of the streets and out of trouble."
Derek Anderson: "At 11 and 12, I was figuring life out. I learned to cook a little because my mom would come home drunk sometimes, and I had to fend for myself. I’d fix baloney on the stove or cut potatoes, throw them in grease, and learn how to cook. When she left, I carried people’s bags at the Winn-Dixie to make some change. I’d buy bread and baloney, go back to my empty apartment, and keep the change in little cups. The lady next door gave me power through an extension cord, and my friends’ families looked out for me. I’d ask people, 'Can I cut your grass? Can I help with anything?' My attitude was always positive, even though I was scared to stay in the apartment some nights. I thought someone might rob me, even though I was broke. Our neighborhood was so rough that President Clinton came and said, 'People shouldn’t be living like this,' and had it torn down."
Derek Anderson: "At 14, I was kicking it with this girl who was older, and I didn’t have a place to stay. I didn’t have parents, so there was no one to tell me what time I had to come in or anything like that. I was basically going house to house. I met her, we hung out, and the first time we did it, she got pregnant. I was like, 'Oh man, what’s going on? What does this mean?' Then her mother was like, 'You can stay here for a little while.' A couple of months after that, they both got arrested for shoplifting, and I was left with my son, Derek Jr. I was like, 'What am I going to do?' I dropped him off with a lady who watched him during the day while I went to school. After school, I played basketball, worked on a candy truck across the street from Mr. White’s shop, and then I would come back, watch him through the night, and we would sleep against the door on a mattress. I’d get up, do the same thing every day. When I tell you it was the craziest thing, I was like, 'I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.' But I graduated with a 3.7 GPA and was class president."
Derek Anderson: "Growing up, the easiest job in the hood was selling drugs. My best friend and I saw eighth graders driving cars because they were selling. Then we saw a friend get shot and killed over drugs. We made a pact: 'We’re not doing this.' Older guys like Jerry Lester told us to play sports and leave the streets alone. We saw what happened to everyone who didn’t. None of them made it. My best friend Terrance was like my anchor. Even now, he’ll tell me, 'Don’t lie about it, man.' His solidness helped me navigate through the worst times. There were nights when I didn’t eat more than once a day, but I stayed out of the streets. I’d rather miss out on a meal than mess up my future. That fear of the streets kept me straight."
Derek Anderson: "When I won the NBA Championship with Miami, it was surreal. In the locker room, everyone was celebrating, throwing champagne. I’d never tasted it before, so when I got some in my mouth, I was like, 'What is this?' I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and thought about everything I’d been through—my mom leaving, raising my son at 14, tearing two ACLs. It all hit me at once. I started crying, thinking, 'Man, I’ve made it a long damn way.' That moment wasn’t just about the championship—it was about survival and overcoming every obstacle life threw at me."
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Anderson grew up in a crime-infested part of Louisville, was abandoned by his parents by the time he was a teenager, became a father at age 14, sold junk food from a truck to support himself and slept wherever he was welcome until an aunt and uncle took him in. Those experiences didn’t prevent him from winning championships at both the collegiate (Kentucky) and professional levels (the Miami Heat). But Anderson believes that he would’ve made more of his career, and better decisions, had he sought more positive ways to confront the challenges that came his way. “I was going through stuff and they was like, ‘You’ve got to toughen up. You’re not serious about basketball,’ ” Anderson said of the climate when he played from 1997 to 2008. “No one felt you could speak your truth back then. You could lose a family member and it’ll really hurt you and they want you back at work in a few days. It was rough back then.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard and Louisville native D'Angelo Russell is hosting his first basketball camp this week. "I remember being in this position — the same position these kids are in now," Russell said. "I remember guys like [Rajon] Rondo and Derek Anderson, guys like that, giving back to young hoopers like myself."
Earlier in his career, Dudley, 33, learned from veterans such as Derek Anderson with the Charlotte Bobcats and Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Jason Richardson with the Phoenix Suns. Anderson was at the end of his career and showed Dudley the importance of professionalism and how to conduct himself with coaches. Richardson’s mentality on the court in the prime of his career registered with Dudley. On the team bus and planes, Dudley spent time with Nash and Hill and picked up keys to longevity in the NBA as an older veteran. During timeouts, Dudley is usually doing lunges and squats to activate his muscles. It’s a similar routine to Nash’s from their time together in Phoenix.
StatMuse: Damian Lillard joined Derek Anderson (2003) as the only @Portland Trail Blazers PGs with 30p/10r in a game since 1985-86. statm.us/e/6yeAAqgF0
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You were abandoned by your parents at a young age and have spoken of how you stayed positive by keeping busy. Most others in that situation would probably crumble under the circumstances, but not you. How did you keep your head up? Derek Anderson: Staying busy and working then is how I avoided getting in trouble. That alone let me know that if I stayed busy and did something, I wouldn’t have to be explaining to all the drug dealers and gang-bangers and others that why I wasn’t joining them was “I’ve got to go to work. I have to go play basketball,” and that was kind of my excuse and was a way I got to utilize all my time when everyone else was hanging around. Everyone else saw me going to work at a candy store, delivering papers or playing basketball. I basically said at age 13 or 14, “I’m going to do a routine,” so I was basically like a machine. I just did everything the same and never changed. I’m almost the same way now. I just do what I do every single day and that way I stay committed to finishing what I started and I’ve always been busy.
Your best season was probably in 2001 with the Spurs because after that you ended up getting a six-year contract worth $48 million with the Portland Trail Blazers, right? Derek Anderson: Yeah, I had a great season, great team, great teammates... The general manager at the time was very disrespectful. The coach, teammates were great, the city and the fans were supergreat... I just didn't like the general manager at all. The GM you're talking about is RC Buford. DA: Yeah. I think he learned, after I left, that you can't be rude to people and expect them to stay [laughs].
I think that's the very first time I hear some criticism towards Buford. Seems like he's always making the right decisions. DA: Yeah he does now. But look what he did. He had to learn. They won a championship during the lockout and I came two years later. David Robinson was retiring, Sean Elliott... they were losing the core and they had to start all over again. They had to get people in there. Again, when you have a core team like we had and a coach like [Gregg] Popovich, they would have won against the Lakers every year if you had me.
So Popovich wanted you on the team and it was all Buford's fault that you ended up in Portland. DA: When I was on my way to Portland he called me. He wanted to know what had happened and I said '[Buford] is not going to pay me, he's going to give me a little bit.' I was offered a four-year, $28 million contract, and Portland offered me six years for $48 million. Of course they wanted to say that it was me, but I didn't buy into that.
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