He has missed two games this season, Nov. 20 with tendinitis in the right knee and Jan. 5 with a sprained left ankle.
Uh-huh.
That's the official list. The realistic one is that Denver's Chris Andersen has limped through too much of the first half to count to remain the same bench catalyst as he was last season. He is an energy guy trying to power up without the usual snap in his legs, and good luck with that. He's one of the top reserve big men in the league who has been absorbing a steady stream of hits while slam dancing for rebounds and blocks. There was one stretch of getting banged on the right knee, right around the tendinitis hot spot, five games in a row.
What Andersen is not, he insists, is content. That so wouldn't be him, but the popular Birdman re-signed in Denver in the summer with a five-year deal that could pay $26 million. Then came the the slow start to 2009-10. It wasn't a big jump to wonder if he had relaxed, the way the Nuggets as a whole had done in a poor early response to playing with a target as a defending Western Conference finalist.
"That really doesn't play a negative factor, I don't think," he said of the financial security. "If anything, that's a confidence for me to get out and play. I'm playing with ailments that I should be sitting out. But I'm not sitting out. I still go out and try to put my presence on the floor and let it be known that I'm still in the paint and I'm still going to jump at your shots when you come in the paint."
The statement comes with years of supporting evidence. Andersen was one of the great success stories of the league long before the armored bank truck pulled up to his house 6 1/2 months ago with a lifetime of riches, unique not merely as a self-made man but as someone self-made twice in the same career. While it's the free-spirit look that jumps out at people -- more ink on his body than in the Sunday New York Times, hair combed by an electric egg beater -- the actual Chris Andersen storyline is more about being relentless and scrapping than being settled.
He played at a junior college in small-town Texas but no four-year school, went undrafted, and played in China, the International Basketball League, the International Basketball Assn. and the NBA Development League before making the NBA. After establishing himself in the Nuggets rotation, Andersen went to the Hornets as a free agent in 2004, only to be kicked out of the league on Jan. 27, 2006, for violating the anti-drug policy. When he was reinstated, and subsequently re-signed by New Orleans on March 5, 2008, the climb would have to begin all over.
Andersen played five games and all of 34 minutes with the Hornets and became a free agent. The Nuggets brought him back for a second stint, on a one-year deal as a low-risk investment while admitting being nervous about signing someone fighting such public demons. Thriving while knowing the situation and the city well, the Birdman finished second in the league in blocks in 2008-09 despite averaging just 20.6 minutes a game and delivered bench play that became a key part of Denver's surprising level of success. That led to cashing in as a free agent.
That, in turn, led to the spotlight that made the disappointing, aching first half to this season impossible to miss. After blocking at least five shots on 10 occasions last season, he has done it twice this time. Despite the increase from 20.6 minutes to 22.4, Anderson has gone from 6.2 rebounds to 6.1, from 2.46 swats to 1.78 and from 6.4 points to 6.1.
"Playing with these injuries is going to make me tougher," he said. "It's taken me a couple more months to heal. I'm also doing a little extra in the weight room, doing a little extra in the conditioning part of it, to prepare myself for these next couple of months. It's going to come down the stretch and we definitely need to win a lot of games.
"I'm a little bit behind because of [the injuries], but that's what pushing me to get better. Push through these injuries to get back to my old self."
His health could play an important part in deciding the Nuggets' playoff fate. Coach George Karl labels the Andersen factor "really important. His energy. Every team likes to have that intangible hustle player that can win the game without numbers, that can win the game without scoring, and I think Chris is one of those guys in our league." Which means Andersen's health will matter most in April, not February.
The Nuggets need him to get back to his old self, and getting back to his old self requires good health after months of laboring through games. That's the resolute Andersen. There is no settled, content Andersen.
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