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12-11-2005, 12:30 PM
Dec. 11, 2005, 1:33AM
Back in Portland, Rockets guard rips way Nash handled team, possible deal
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
PORTLAND, ORE. - For a moment, Derek Anderson has moved on. The Trail Blazers are in his past, no more than the next team on the Rockets' schedule.
Then he thinks of what could have been, what should have been to his way of thinking. He remembers all the hopes and expectations he brought with him when he left the Spurs to sign with the Blazers in 2001, then just one year removed from the Western Conference finals.
Before long, the anger and insult he felt last season is back. The excitement he had when he arrived in Portland had been wholly replaced with disappointment, unfulfilled optimism and a bitterness focused on general manager John Nash, whom he openly blames for the Trail Blazers' collapse and his own unsatisfying four seasons in Portland.
"It could have been right," Anderson said before returning to Portland for the Rockets' game tonight against the Trail Blazers. "We had so much talent. We had every piece. Everything was good. We made the playoffs my first two years, and then John Nash got there and everything went south. His first two years, we didn't make the playoffs. Everything went wrong. We had chaos. We had legal, off-the-court problems. On the court, we didn't have any. He started trading guys, not playing guys, telling the coach what to do. It just went bad."
Sole target of tirade
A Trail Blazers representative said Nash was traveling and unavailable for comment Friday and Saturday.
Anderson, however, said his dissatisfaction was solely with the Trail Blazers general manager. He praised former coach Maurice Cheeks, chairman Paul Allen and president Steve Patterson, a former Rockets general manager who had been the vice president of the Texans and Aeros before moving to the Blazers.
His enmity for Nash, however, was so clear that when he was asked about former teammate Ruben Patterson's suspension this season, Anderson spoke of Nash.
"It doesn't change," Anderson said. "Ever since the general manager, John Nash, got there, they stopped making the playoffs, having all these problems.
"I'm out. I know what I want to say, but I'm out. I'm done with it. I just think the general manager, John Nash, has made the biggest moves, the biggest decisions. It falls to him. The owner (Paul Allen) is a great guy. Steve Patterson is a great guy. Everybody knows he's not the problem. It's John Nash."
A season gone bad
Anderson's resentment seems focused on last season when he says he was asked to go on the injured list though he was not hurt, then returned to the active roster only to be told that the Trail Blazers had chosen instead to play their younger players.
But while Portland fell from 49-33 in Anderson's first season to 27-55 in his last, Anderson also seemed to feel that he and other players were unfairly blamed for arrests that earned the team the nickname Jail Blazers and polluted its relationship with the community.
"You've got to make changes but don't do them to the people who were not doing anything," Anderson said. "They were doing stuff to people who weren't doing anything wrong: me, Nick (Van Exel). It just wasn't right.
"I was never in trouble. I was never in trouble with the law. I was never late to anything. I didn't miss anything. If I didn't play well, fine, trade me for that. But don't tell me I'm the bad guy. He put it out there I was giving up. Now you can see, everybody sees, it was him.
"I wasn't going to go back and forth with that guy. That's not who I am. But after a while, you have to stop disrespecting somebody. He was totally disrespecting everybody. He lied to them to their face. He's not a fair man, not a fair man at all."
Anderson said that because he refuted Nash's public claim that Anderson had back spasms, Nash vindictively scuttled a proposed trade-deadline deal to the Rockets for Maurice Taylor and then kept Anderson from playing when he came off the injured list.
"They said they would do it, then didn't," Anderson said of the proposed trade. "He did that on purpose.
"He told me to go on the injured list because of my back then he told me to come back and they would play me. I came back, practiced, did everything, and they didn't play me. If they wanted to go young, fine, do that. But then he told me there was something wrong with my back. There was nothing wrong with my back. He put me through the ringer, there."
Being paid by Blazers
Anderson averaged a career-low 9.2 points on 38.9 percent shooting last season, playing in just 47 games. When the NBA offered teams a one-time option to cut a player to avoid paying a luxury tax on their salary, Anderson was released and the Trail Blazers agreed to pay the full $18.8 million owed on the two remaining seasons on Anderson's contract, voluntarily waiving their right to be rebated a portion of Anderson's Rockets salary.
"Derek is the most loyal person I ever met," agent Tony Dutt said. "There was hurt there. It was just time to cut the ties and move on. Steve Patterson and Paul Allen have been nothing but professionals in the way they handled their business."
With the Rockets, Anderson has started slowly, averaging 11.1 points on 38 percent shooting. But recently, he has seemed more confident and active.
"I'm just trying to fit in," he said. "You just have to play hard to help this team get wins. Last year, I didn't play much. I didn't play much this summer. I'm just now getting in tune to basketball. But I think it is coming around.
"They wanted to go a different way. Very few people get a chance to play for one team. The only things I miss are the fans and the people that treated me good. I'm just glad to get another chance to play."
Glad, and still more than a little embittered.
[email protected]
Link (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3516783.html)
Back in Portland, Rockets guard rips way Nash handled team, possible deal
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
PORTLAND, ORE. - For a moment, Derek Anderson has moved on. The Trail Blazers are in his past, no more than the next team on the Rockets' schedule.
Then he thinks of what could have been, what should have been to his way of thinking. He remembers all the hopes and expectations he brought with him when he left the Spurs to sign with the Blazers in 2001, then just one year removed from the Western Conference finals.
Before long, the anger and insult he felt last season is back. The excitement he had when he arrived in Portland had been wholly replaced with disappointment, unfulfilled optimism and a bitterness focused on general manager John Nash, whom he openly blames for the Trail Blazers' collapse and his own unsatisfying four seasons in Portland.
"It could have been right," Anderson said before returning to Portland for the Rockets' game tonight against the Trail Blazers. "We had so much talent. We had every piece. Everything was good. We made the playoffs my first two years, and then John Nash got there and everything went south. His first two years, we didn't make the playoffs. Everything went wrong. We had chaos. We had legal, off-the-court problems. On the court, we didn't have any. He started trading guys, not playing guys, telling the coach what to do. It just went bad."
Sole target of tirade
A Trail Blazers representative said Nash was traveling and unavailable for comment Friday and Saturday.
Anderson, however, said his dissatisfaction was solely with the Trail Blazers general manager. He praised former coach Maurice Cheeks, chairman Paul Allen and president Steve Patterson, a former Rockets general manager who had been the vice president of the Texans and Aeros before moving to the Blazers.
His enmity for Nash, however, was so clear that when he was asked about former teammate Ruben Patterson's suspension this season, Anderson spoke of Nash.
"It doesn't change," Anderson said. "Ever since the general manager, John Nash, got there, they stopped making the playoffs, having all these problems.
"I'm out. I know what I want to say, but I'm out. I'm done with it. I just think the general manager, John Nash, has made the biggest moves, the biggest decisions. It falls to him. The owner (Paul Allen) is a great guy. Steve Patterson is a great guy. Everybody knows he's not the problem. It's John Nash."
A season gone bad
Anderson's resentment seems focused on last season when he says he was asked to go on the injured list though he was not hurt, then returned to the active roster only to be told that the Trail Blazers had chosen instead to play their younger players.
But while Portland fell from 49-33 in Anderson's first season to 27-55 in his last, Anderson also seemed to feel that he and other players were unfairly blamed for arrests that earned the team the nickname Jail Blazers and polluted its relationship with the community.
"You've got to make changes but don't do them to the people who were not doing anything," Anderson said. "They were doing stuff to people who weren't doing anything wrong: me, Nick (Van Exel). It just wasn't right.
"I was never in trouble. I was never in trouble with the law. I was never late to anything. I didn't miss anything. If I didn't play well, fine, trade me for that. But don't tell me I'm the bad guy. He put it out there I was giving up. Now you can see, everybody sees, it was him.
"I wasn't going to go back and forth with that guy. That's not who I am. But after a while, you have to stop disrespecting somebody. He was totally disrespecting everybody. He lied to them to their face. He's not a fair man, not a fair man at all."
Anderson said that because he refuted Nash's public claim that Anderson had back spasms, Nash vindictively scuttled a proposed trade-deadline deal to the Rockets for Maurice Taylor and then kept Anderson from playing when he came off the injured list.
"They said they would do it, then didn't," Anderson said of the proposed trade. "He did that on purpose.
"He told me to go on the injured list because of my back then he told me to come back and they would play me. I came back, practiced, did everything, and they didn't play me. If they wanted to go young, fine, do that. But then he told me there was something wrong with my back. There was nothing wrong with my back. He put me through the ringer, there."
Being paid by Blazers
Anderson averaged a career-low 9.2 points on 38.9 percent shooting last season, playing in just 47 games. When the NBA offered teams a one-time option to cut a player to avoid paying a luxury tax on their salary, Anderson was released and the Trail Blazers agreed to pay the full $18.8 million owed on the two remaining seasons on Anderson's contract, voluntarily waiving their right to be rebated a portion of Anderson's Rockets salary.
"Derek is the most loyal person I ever met," agent Tony Dutt said. "There was hurt there. It was just time to cut the ties and move on. Steve Patterson and Paul Allen have been nothing but professionals in the way they handled their business."
With the Rockets, Anderson has started slowly, averaging 11.1 points on 38 percent shooting. But recently, he has seemed more confident and active.
"I'm just trying to fit in," he said. "You just have to play hard to help this team get wins. Last year, I didn't play much. I didn't play much this summer. I'm just now getting in tune to basketball. But I think it is coming around.
"They wanted to go a different way. Very few people get a chance to play for one team. The only things I miss are the fans and the people that treated me good. I'm just glad to get another chance to play."
Glad, and still more than a little embittered.
[email protected]
Link (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3516783.html)