Derek Anderson has lived an accomplished life. Anderson has the distinction of being an NBA champion as a member of the Miami Heat, an NCAA National Champion as a Kentucky Wildcat and a published author.

Drafted 13th overall  in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, dudes kick game as a lifetime member of team Air Jordan was clean!

While in the NBA, DA also had dunks for days!

Anderson won a National Title with the Kentucky Wildcats in 1996. With March Madness right around the corner, he’s got one team on his mind. “The only team that I’m rooting for is my Kentucky Wildcats,” Derek Anderson told me on Scoop B Radio.

“Some teams are disciplined and some aren’t, so it’s different. But I’m excited to see Kentucky win because we have a great chance at beating anybody.”

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LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 23: Derek Anderson #1 of the Los Angeles Clippers dunks against Latrell Sprewell #8 of the New York Knicks on November 23, 1999 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1999 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Derek Anderson was a fly dude when he entered the NBA.

The 13th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Anderson was fresh off winning a NCAA National Championship with Kentucky, had a deal with the Jordan Brand and played on a Cavaliers squad that included Shawn Kemp, Brevin Knight, a young  Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Wesley Person, Cedric Henderson, Bob Sura and Vitaly Potapenko.

He’d go on to average 11 points a game and 1.5 steals. He’d play ten years in the league where he’d average 12 points a game playing for the Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Bobcats, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers and the Miami Heat.

On Saturday, Anderson was the keynote speaker at the A&M Sports Academy’s March Madness Fundraiser. A&M Sports Academy is a hoops mentoring program founded in 2008. While there, he discussed the highs and lows of his journey: being a parent by the age of fourteen, being shot and stabbed, losing his mom to substance abuse, winning championships in college and the professional level. Anderson thinks he left impact. “I think they left with a purpose of I need to finish what I start  and also I need to change my attitude if I want to win,” Anderson told me.

“Those two things have always been key.”

While chatting with the students at the A&M Sports Academy, Anderson showed a video montage  of his career. Homeboy was high flying, acrobatic and showcased his arsenal of moves during his career. He zig-zagged, criss-cross apple sauced and broke ankles via crossover moves on guys like fellow NBA retiree, Kobe Bryant. While watching the montage, you couldn’t help but notice that Anderson also dunked on NBA big men like Horace Grant and Dikembe Mutombo! “I pretty much got everybody,” said Anderson. “If I can remember I think I got every big man that I can remember. So I really wasn’t searching them out, but I was always like I would love to get one of those posters up.”

You’d think Anderson got the biggest joy on dunking on Mr. No-no-no Mutombo? Was it Horace Grant? How about Charles Barkley? “Neither,” Anderson said with a sly grin.

Check out Derek Anderson Chatting With Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on Scoop B Radio.

Apparently, Anderson has one guy in mind that he wanted to dunk on during his career that he couldn’t. “I was trying to dunk on Patrick Ewing,” Anderson said on Scoop B Radio. “I always see him trying to box out. I was growing up seeing him blocking everybody’s dunks. I see Dikembe do it but once I got Dikembe my rookie year, I was good. But I always tried to dunk on Patrick Ewing  because Jordan did it. Remember when Jordan baseline dunked on him? I always wanted to get one like that.”

In addition to chatting about his dunk conquests, the former Kentucky Wildcat also weighed in on his thoughts on the current Kentucky basketball squad and their stars chances at the next level. “I think if Monk ever plays defense he would be,” said Anderson. “But I think right now Fox is the key one. So Fox is the point guard. It’s a point guard driven league. If he continues to work on his jump shot and goes full speed like he is doing I think he will be a significant player.”

If you’re tardy to the party and not familiar with Anderson’s high-flying prowess, check it below

AAU culture is something that’s a hot button topic in sports. Kobe Bryant was critical about it in his farewell tour and Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe stated on the Scoop B Radio Podcast that it’s all about guard’s and forwards in the NBA. Derek Anderson weighed in as well on the debate. “I think it has changed dramatically,” said Anderson.

“I think what that is something that the AAU coaches just let their players do anything instead of teach them and train them. So now they don’t have any discipline. You look at that one kid who had 92 points, but he didn’t come past half court like half the time. Do you think our coaches would let us do that? No. He would have been all over us ‘Get back on defense play hard.’ But now there are so many coaches that let players be good so he can get a name and I think that is the issue with AAU. If they just roll the balls out and say: ‘who ever is talented go do it.’ And I think that is where AAU is failing us. The coaches aren’t demanding excellence. Therefore there is none.”

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The post Retired NBA Vet, Derek Anderson On Knicks’ Ewing: “I always tried to dunk on Patrick Ewing Because Jordan Did It” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Williams is a huge fan of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl Anthony Towns.

Williams was the second overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls and ACC Rookie of the Year while playing for Duke University.Before leading the Blue Devils to a 2001 NCAA National Championship under head coach Mike  Krzyzewski, Williams was a student athlete at St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen, New Jersey, Towns alma mater.

“There are a lot of peeps that you see when you’re going through TV and you’re like ‘alright that guy needs my lending hand.’ KAT never needed me,” Williams told me.

The NBA’s reigning Rookie of The Year, Towns is a special player because he’s a modern big man that has a solid back to the basket game, a consistent face-up game, a 3-point shot and slick dribble too.

All of that is cool, but what impresses Jay Williams the most is Towns’ maturity at 20 years old. “The way he handles himself, the way he speaks, the way he thinks through the game, the way he acts off the court, he doesn’t act like a teenager, like he acts like a grown man and that’s how he should act. I’m proud as hell of him. I don’t think there’s a lot of young dudes in the league that have all of their head together and KAT definitely does so.”

Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves are a young team on the rise with players like Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Ricky Rubio and Shabazz Muhammad gracing that roster alongside Towns.

Towns credited Williams especially during his NBA Draft process in 2015 for helping him stay focused.

During last season, Towns leaned on now-retired forward Kevin Garnett for his guidance in getting acclimated to the NBA. “He continuously told me to be patient,” Towns told me. “Being patient on the court, everything will begin to slow down. I mean, just how to be a professional, how to be a professional in this game on and off the court. Just to do my best to lead, and that’s the biggest thing.”

As for Jay Williams, his book, Life Is Not an Accident: A Memoir of Reinvention is worth a read. The book highlights his NBA career and the terrible head-on motorcycle accident that severely damaged himself and ended his career. “I know where that lifestyle can take you,” he said. “The glitz and the fame and all of that, it’s addictive. “You know, you want more of it. The only thing I’m worried about is my bank account and the kind of legacy that I leave with my family. If I can take care of those two things, I’m a happy man.”

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A former Chicago Bull, Williams still keeps his eyes on his former team and the offseason additions of Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade. “Don’t know how I feel about Rajon Rondo,” he said. “I think that he’s a brilliant point guard. Everything that I’ve heard or seen says that there have been difficulties with him in the locker room. I love that D-Wade came home. I still don’t see nobody beating Cleveland though, no matter what they do.”

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