Former Boston Celtics point guard Kenny Anderson talks about his time playing with forwards Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker.
Former Boston Celtic point guard Kenny Anderson was an integral part of the Paul Pierce-Antoine Walker era, bridging the gap between the tail end of Boston’s last dynasty and the Banner 17 crew.
An underappreciated era due to the long shadow cast by then-general manager Rick Pitino’s mistakes, Anderson, Walker and Pierce have not always gotten their fair share of love despite going as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002.
Anderson spoke a bit about that period with Heavy’s Brandon Robinson on Robinson’s Scoop B Radio Podcast, and what it was like playing with two offensively-minded forwards like Walker and Pierce.
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“[I]t was great being a point guard playing with that much – power as far as scoring, rebounding,” began Anderson, “it was just great and I was glad that I had the opportunity to play with those guys. I loved it.”
“Paul Pierce was coming into the league, he was a great individual talent. He’ll take you to the basket, he could shoot the jumper, he could dribble, he could rebound – and Antoine was both … Antoine lived and died with the three, but when he was on, he was on! You know what I’m sayin’?”
“It was just great playing with those guys and I’ll never forget it; being the point guard for that team, playing with those guys and going to the Eastern Conference Championship was a great experience for me,” he added.
On the topic of what it was like playing alongside a younger version of our favorite H-O-R-S-E disaster, the Georgia Tech product spoke glowingly.
“Young Paul Pierce was … getting to know himself early in the league, but you could tell that he was going to be a player. And once he got it, it was over. He was a great talent and he was a great player, a great teammate – and really, he’s just a great guy.
“I loved playing with him,” added Anderson. “He was awesome.”
The former second overall pick still feels a strong bond to his former home base of Boston despite being traded away to the Seattle Supersonics at the end of the run in the spring of 2002, even revealing a surprising goal.
“I love Boston … I’m glad I had the chance to play in Boston,” said Anderson.
“I love Boston. I loved the teams, I loved playing there – you got to have a backbone playing in Boston. You can’t fool those people. You can’t fool them.
They know … They’re just like New York. They know when they see a player and where you’re not a player. It was just great. I wanted to end my career in Boston.”
“I didn’t. And I think, that’s just part of life,” he offered, obliquely referring to the deal that sent him with Joseph Forte and Vitaly Potapenko to the Pacific northwest, sending back Vin Baker and Shammond Williams to the Celtics.
That trade closed the door on the high point of the bridge years between the Celtics dynasty withering on the vine into the early 1990s and the explosive trades that built the Banner 17 team a half-decade later.
Gone, but not forgotten — thank you for your time in Boston, Mr. Chibbs.
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