Rod Strickland and Kenny Anderson

fourtyounce48 · Post #1 » by **fourtyounce48** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:02 pm

What do you guys think of them? I thought both were great NY City point gods. Both very clever with the ball and very savvy in how they played.

Rod Strickland- Great playmaker. He knew how to run an offense. When to distribute the ball and when he needed to score. Although his range in his outside shot was never that good he did have an elite mid range shot and he could drive and slash/dish with the best of them. Had a slight attitude problem but was vastly underrated I believe.

Kenny Anderson- Great high school and college player but never was able to put it all together in the pros. Really the first player to constantly use fancy ball handling with regularity in the NBA. I believe he had the best dribbling skills in the NBA that I've seen. The ball was a yo-yo in his hands. Like Strickland he was very clever with the ball and was a great passer himself. He also could score when needed. Somewhat a mediocre shooter who suffered from a lack of elite athleticism. He didn't really have a great first step or very explosive. He relied on clever movements such as hesitations and timing to get to the hole.

What do you guys think of them?

Post #2 » by **penbeast0** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:09 pm

I disliked Strickland's attitude more than most, even in Washingont. This is the guy who left the bench to get a hot dog from a vendor. Strickland was the Derek Coleman of point guards . . . great talent, good stats, bad for team . . . getting him for Rasheed Wallace was a downgrade in team attitude (to say nothing of talent) and Strickland is one of my least favorite NBA players.

Kenny Anderson never impressed me much either but was a solid player who could play if he had good teammates. I'd take him over Strickland though Strickland's numbers are clearly superior.

AnSweR07 · Post #3 » by **AnSweR07** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:16 pm

Kenny Anderson is one of the best passers I've seen till this day. shame he couldn't put it together he had the talent.

fluffernutter · Post #4 » by **fluffernutter** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:17 pm

Strickland was Tony Parker before Tony Parker was Tony Parker.

If you know what I mean.

Dude could finish over trees. Relentless.

fourtyounce48 · Post #5 » by **fourtyounce48** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:35 pm

penbeast0 wrote:I disliked Strickland's attitude more than most, even in Washingont. This is the guy who left the bench to get a hot dog from a vendor. Strickland was the Derek Coleman of point guards . . . great talent, good stats, bad for team . . . getting him for Rasheed Wallace was a downgrade in team attitude (to say nothing of talent) and Strickland is one of my least favorite NBA players.

Kenny Anderson never impressed me much either but was a solid player who could play if he had good teammates. I'd take him over Strickland though Strickland's numbers are clearly superior.

I agree with your assessment of Strickland's attitude problem and how it could be a detriment to a team. However it was never so much a problem when he was with the Blazers and Spurs. It both places he was a main contributer on winning teams. Both teams having made the playoffs. I wouldn't necessarily say he was bad for a team though his attitude as you say was pretty negative.

As for Kenny Anderson, you should check out his early years with the New Jersey Nets. Him and Derrick Coleman was touted as the next Stockton and Malone. He also made it to the All-Star game and even Sports Illustrated ranked him as the second best point guard in one issue in which the cover story ranked all the point guards in the NBA around the mid 90's.

Point forward · Post #6 » by **Point forward** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 2:54 pm

I still remember Strickland's legendary bad no-look pass/turnover in the WCF Game 7 vs POR, which cost SAS the season. Apart from that, as already said, RS was a sick, SICK finisher, Tony Parker². But TP haswork ethic, which RS lacked.

Kenny Anderson was expected to be Stockton's rival, but then got stuck in relative mediocrity. KA and Stockton were about like Bargnani and Dirk: strong 1st impression, but then it went downwards. Also, him having perpetual problems with his wives and girlfriends did not help.

Post #7 » by **penbeast0** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:10 pm

Trust me, I know about Kenny Anderson's prime since I was going to college in NY State at the time and was constantly surrounded by Net fans convinced that Kenny Anderson and Derek Coleman were superior to Stockton and Malone . . . (my response was, yeah . . . except for shooting percentage, defense, work ethic, and passing ability they aren't too far apart ). Kenny didn't endear himself with his speech about the hardships NBA players were sufferring during the strike either, but he wasn't alone in his cluelessness.

AS for Strickland, I wasn't ready for just how bad his attitude was until he hit Washington so it might not have been evident before. And, in Washington, it didn't help that the team "star" was Chris Webber who was all too ready to be led down the "I'm a star and rules don't apply to me." For all the negatives about Juwan Howard (and I was one of those who screamed that his contract was killing the team), he, at least, always stayed very professional on (and from reports, off) the court.

fourtyounce48 · Post #8 » by **fourtyounce48** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:57 pm

Insightful opinions guys. Can anyone mention any positives regarding the two players?

Strickland aside from lapses of bad judgement had a very high basketball IQ. What sometimes overshadowed that was his flamboyance. Regardless he was very clever with the ball. Top notch vision and driving skills.

Anderson on the other hand had the best dribbling skills I've seen. At the time he was playing no was as fancy in his dribbling than Kenny Anderson. I'm talking about in consistently here. He used behind the back crossovers as well as anybody even to the present time.