Whether or not Anderson stays in Charlotte, though, he's more than happy to be away from the Nets. He wishes no ill will on his teammates, but he's skeptical that Nets management can keep its core of young players -- Chris Childs and P.J. Brown are both free agents at season's end, and Armon Gilliam can get out of his contract.
Said Anderson, "Hopefully, it can continue ... but knowing Jersey, they can't leave a good thing alone."
Not so hot Rod
P.J. Carlesimo doesn't want the already-bad situation with
Rod Strickland to get worse. But Carlesimo doesn't know why
Strickland bolted from the team last week and cursed out
Carlesimo before walking out of a shootaround.
The Blazers thought they'd put last year behind them, when Strickland was suspended for a game after getting into a halftime screaming match with the coach in Philadelphia. Strickland had been having his best season when he demanded to be traded last week just before the trading deadline. When he was suspended for a game, teammates expected him to return last Saturday. But he didn't show. He ignored an assistant coach who went to his home in Oregon, and he hasn't taken the team's phone calls.
Word is he's gone back to his native New York to wait out the storm. "I don't know that we can be much more cooperative than we've been this year," Carlesimo said.
Cap scratch fever
While most teams have tried to maximize their salary cap
room for next season, the Atlanta Hawks went in the other
direction. They lost about $2 million in potential cap room
when they picked up Christian Laettner and Sean Rooks from
Minnesota last week. Now, Atlanta's down to around $4
million in cap room for 1996. But the Hawks felt they
couldn't turn down a chance at two 26-year-old big men.
When they look at Laettner, they see Alvan Adams, the old
Phoenix Suns star who gave up pounds and inches in the
middle, but was an excellent high-post center.
When Laettner debuted against the Knicks last week, Atlanta had better ball movement than it had most of the season --even though Laettner literally didn't know any of the plays. The Hawks may be small, but name a more athletic quartet than Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Stacey Augmon and Laettner.
By the way, Atlanta is 18-9 since Augmon replaced Ken Norman in the starting lineup.
Unsung Hunter
His name is not well-known, but several player
representatives were very impressed with Billy Hunter's
pitch to become the union's new executive director.
Hunter is a former U.S. District Attorney and judge from Oakland, and his presentation during All-Star Weekend got a lot of people's attention. The players' union won't pick a successor to Simon Gourdine until after the season, but Hunter could have the inside track, ironically, in part because he doesn't have much union experience.
He isn't identified with the block of players and agents who tried to decertify the union last summer, and his non-sports background could serve him well against David Stern.
According to Chicago's player rep, Steve Kerr, "Stern dominates these meetings. We need a presence."
