San Antonio Spurs | SAN ANTONIO SPURS TICKETS

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

LAS VEGAS — The change came in James Anderson not long into one of his first games at the Impact Competitive Basketball series last week.

The second-year Spurs guard-forward was driving to the hoop, through a thicket of bodies, when an arm reached down and knocked the ball from his hands, making ample contact with his wrist and forearm in the process.

Hearing no whistle, Anderson did something completely out of character. He opened his mouth.

“That’s a foul!” the 22-year-old known to even his closest friends as “Quiet James” bellowed at the nearest official.

A few feet away, Joe Abunassar — the Las Vegas-based trainer whose gym hosted the so-called “Lockout League” and who has been working with Anderson since early June — couldn’t help but smile. For him, there was something heartening about watching Anderson finally behave as if he were entitled to a call.

“If you’ve ever talked to James, he’s a very quiet guy,” Abunassar said. “But I think his confidence level is sky-high right now.”

For Anderson, the No. 1 priority this summer was rebuilding confidence in the wake of an injury-plagued rookie season in which his self-belief became as fractured as the bone in his right foot.

Without access to the Spurs’ practice facility or the team’s player development staff, Anderson has leaned on Abunassar to help him in that endeavor.

“It’s frustrating,” Anderson said last week between games in Vegas. “I wanted to come show the Spurs what I had to offer. I feel like I’ve still got a lot to prove to myself and to the coaches whenever the season starts back.”

It’s safe to say no player is rooting more fervently for the NBA labor dispute to end than Anderson.

He entered last season with high hopes as the 20th overall pick and former Big 12 Player of the Year at Oklahoma State, and for a fleeting moment lived up to them.

Anderson appeared in six of the Spurs’ first seven games, missing one to attend the birth of his daughter, and made 10 of his first 20 3-point tries. He became the first Spurs rookie to make a 3-point goal in each of his first six appearances.

Then disaster struck. On Nov. 11, team doctors diagnosed lingering soreness in Anderson’s right foot as a stress fracture to the fifth metatarsal. It would be late January before Anderson played again, by which time his bench spot as Gregg Popovich’s instant-offense generator had been ceded to fellow rookie Gary Neal.

All told, Anderson appeared in just 26 games, averaging 3.6 points.

“It wasn’t a good start to my NBA career,” Anderson said.

At the Impact series, which Abunassar envisioned to be a souped-up replacement for the NBA’s lockout-stricken official summer league, Anderson appeared ready to make good on a second chance at a rookie season. All he needs is for the league’s labor impasse to end.

In three games in Vegas, Anderson averaged 19.3 points and shot a sizzling 68.4 percent (26 of 38). Testament to an offensive game blossoming beyond mere perimeter gunning, Anderson did most of his damage from 2-point range, netting all but three of his field goals from inside the arc.

“I see the most strides in him as he plays,” Abunassar said. “James is a great drill guy. He’s a pure scorer. But he needs to get used to where to be, when to go, when to cut, when to fade, when to do all those things. Playing with veterans every day really helps him.”

In a sense, Anderson feels as if his career is stuck on the launching pad, still waiting for liftoff.

The Lockout League was a nice diversion, but it’s no substitute for training camp. There is only so much Anderson can accomplish in the gym without Spurs coaches around.

“I still feel behind, team-wise,” Anderson said. “I feel like I haven’t got to be together with the team much. It will come. I can’t rush into it.”

After a season spent on the periphery in San Antonio as an injured afterthought, Anderson is eager to prove himself worthy of a more significant role this season.

“The games I played in before I got hurt, it was a sample of what I can do,” Anderson said. “I’ve got a lot more to offer.”

Indeed, Anderson’s confidence is quietly soaring. One day soon, he hopes to be able to do more than just talk about it.

ON HOLD

For second-year Spurs guard James Anderson, the lockout could hinder his progress as much as a broken right foot did in his rookie season.

First six games: Averaged 17.3 minutes and 7.0 points.

Nov. 10: Played in last game before going on injured list with stress fracture. Gary Neal took over, making the NBA All-Rookie first team.

NBDL: Anderson averaged 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in seven games for Austin Toros.

Jan. 29: Played three minutes in his return, finishing the season with a 3.6-point average in 26 games.

Source: Express-News research

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James Anderson at Impact Basketball

James Anderson warms up prior to an Impact Basketball game in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

James Anderson competes in an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

Players compete during an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

James Anderson competes in an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

Players compete during an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

James Anderson competes in an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

Players compete during an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

James Anderson competes in an Impact Basketball game on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken / Special to the Express-News)

Former Cole High School standout Shaquille O’Neal will go down in history as the most illustrious product of a San Antonio high school to play in the NBA.

And he’ll be remembered at his old college of LSU as well, after a 900-pound statue for O’Neal was unveiled outside the Tigers’ basketball practice facility.

The 900-pound statue — roughly about three times O’Neal’s weight during the peak of his athletic career — was paid for by $70,000 in private donations.

O’Neal seemed .

“I’m honored and humbled,” O’Neal told reporters in Baton Rouge. “There are a lot of great players that came through this university — greater than me. Pistol Pete (Maravich). Bob Pettit. Stanley Roberts, guys like that. So I’m just honored that they chose me to build a statue of. I had no idea it was that big because (LSU) Coach (Trent) Johnson sent me the email pictures and I thought it was going to be some little thing. I think it’s beautiful. It’s fabulous.”

The statue shows O’Neal in a rim-rattling dunk that was his trademark during his career, showing off his power and strength. O’Neal never led LSU past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament during his career with the Tigers, but he averaged 22 points and 14 rebounds as one of the most dominant players in college basketball history.

While at the school, O’Neal said that leaving college after his junior season was a difficult decision.

“When I had to call Coach (Dale) Brown and tell him I didn’t think I wanted to come back that was one of the hardest days of my life,” O’Neal said. “There will be no more Tiger Town, no more sports on Thursday, no more football games, no more tailgating, no more crawfish. There would be no more fun. Now I’ve got to go to work.”

Since then, O’Neal has earned a degree from LSU and now plans to return for his doctorate after his retirement from the NBA earlier this year. He’ll always be a memorable player for the Tigers.

The larger-than-life statue only guarantees it.

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