- Nick Anderson
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Nick Anderson No. 25 Shooting guard / Small forward Personal information Date of birth January 20, 1968 Place of birth Chicago, Illinois Nationality American High school Simeon Career Academy
(Chicago, Illinois)Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Listed weight 205 lb (93 kg) Career information College Illinois (1987–1989) NBA Draft 1989 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall Selected by the Orlando Magic Pro career 1989–2002 Career history 1989–1999 Orlando Magic 1999–2001 Sacramento Kings 2001–2002 Memphis Grizzlies Career highlights and awards - Illinois Mr. Basketball (1986)
Career NBA statistics Points 11,529 (14.4 ppg) Assists 2,087 (2.6 apg) Steals 1,114 (1.4 spg) Stats at NBA.com Stats at Basketball-Reference.com Nelison "Nick" Anderson (born January 20, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former American professional basketball player. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two years, playing on the team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 1989. That Fighting Illini team gained the moniker "Flyin' Illini" by Dick Vitale while announcing a game during the 1988-89 season. Along with Anderson, the other members of that team included Kendall Gill, Stephen Bardo, Kenny Battle, Lowell Hamilton, and Marcus Liberty. Anderson then spent thirteen years in the NBA beginning in 1989, most of them with the Orlando Magic. He ended his career in 2002.
Anderson was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.
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NBA career
Orlando Magic
Anderson left school and entered the NBA Draft in 1989, where he was selected with the eleventh pick of the first round by the Orlando Magic. As the Magic were an expansion team that season, Anderson was the first draft pick in franchise history.
Like most expansion franchises, the Magic struggled for several seasons, and as a result were awarded high draft picks in several consecutive years, including Dennis Scott in 1990, Shaquille O'Neal in 1992, and Chris Webber, who was traded for a package including Penny Hardaway in 1993. In his first few seasons, Anderson was the Magic's top scoring option, and led the team in points per game during the 1991-92 season. As the team's talent level increased, Anderson was gradually relegated to a lesser offensive role but remained a consistent member of the team's starting lineup. Exceptions include the April 23, 1993 game at New Jersey, in which he scored a career-high 50 points off-the-bench.[1] In 1994-95, Anderson led Orlando in three-pointers with 179, and averaged 15.9 points per game. The Magic won 57 games, finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and won their first ever Atlantic Division title.
1994-95 Postseason
Game One of the NBA Finals was against the defending champion Houston Rockets, at the Orlando Arena. With the Magic up by three points late in the game, Anderson, typically a 70% free throw shooter, missed four consecutive free throws that could have sealed the victory for Orlando. Kenny Smith hit a three-pointer for Houston shortly thereafter, tying the game and sending it to overtime. The Rockets went on to win the game in overtime and eventually swept the Magic, winning their second consecutive NBA Championship. As a result of this incident, some Orlando fans began to label Anderson with the derogatory nicknames of "Nick the Brick" and "Brick Anderson".
Post-1995 Career
Two seasons after the 1995 finals, Anderson's career took an abrupt downward spiral, largely due to a sudden inability to shoot free throws, and he even suffered an injury in Game 3 of the conference finals in a rematch against the Bulls and was out for the season. During the 1996-97 season, Anderson free throw shooting percentage tumbled to a career-low 40.4% and his scoring average to 12.0 points per game. Anderson had to be removed from the closing minutes of several close games due to being undependable at the charity stripe.
His struggles worsened through the first half of the 1997-98 season. Through January 27 of that season, Anderson was averaging only 6.5 points per game, and shooting a paltry 36.3% from the free throw line. However, in the second half of the season, Anderson experienced a sudden career revival, as his scoring average abruptly jumped to 22.6 points per game, and his free throw percentage improved to a 67.6%, a figure close to his former career average. He ended the season with a scoring average of 15.3 points per game.
Anderson would play on with the Magic through the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, after which he was traded to the Sacramento Kings. He left Orlando as the team's career scoring leader. He was the last player remaining from the Magic's original expansion roster, having remained with the franchise for ten seasons.
He played two seasons in Sacramento, averaging a career-low at that point, 10.8 points per contest in 72 games his first season. He would play just 21 games the next season, and just 15 games in his final season, in which he played for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Currently, Anderson is working with the Orlando Magic in the team's community relations department.[2]
Anderson's son Josh currently plays basketball for Grand Valley State University
Notes
External links
1989 NBA Draft First round Pervis Ellison · Danny Ferry · Sean Elliott · Glen Rice · J. R. Reid · Stacey King · George McCloud · Randy White · Tom Hammonds · Pooh Richardson · Nick Anderson · Mookie Blaylock · Michael Smith · Tim Hardaway · Todd Lichti · Dana Barros · Shawn Kemp · B. J. Armstrong · Kenny Payne · Jeff Sanders · Blue Edwards · Byron Irvin · Roy Marble · Anthony Cook · John Morton · Vlade Divac · Kenny BattleSecond round Sherman Douglas · Dyron Nix · Frank Kornet · Jeff Martin · Stanley Brundy · Jay Edwards · Gary Leonard · Pat Durham · Clifford Robinson · Michael Ansley · Doug West · Ed Horton · Dino Rađa · Doug Roth · Michael Cutright · Chucky Brown · Reggie Cross · Scott Haffner · Ricky Blanton · Reggie Turner · Junie Lewis · Haywoode Workman · Brian Quinnett · Mike Morrison · Greg Grant · Jeff Hodge · Toney MackCategories:- 1968 births
- Living people
- American basketball players
- Basketball players from Illinois
- People from Chicago, Illinois
- Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
- McDonald's High School All-Americans
- Memphis Grizzlies players
- Orlando Magic draft picks
- Orlando Magic players
- Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
- Sacramento Kings players
- Shooting guards
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